Just saw these two Nelson benches which were posted tonight- in Wedgewood Blue with older Herman Miller sticker on the side(??)One appeared to be 72 inches,the other very stubby-like 24".VERY strange,but the guy has top (100%)feedback.I can't post pics,but maybe the DA community can help.
Not original color, CLEARLY
Look at the close-up photo of the label. At the factory, these foil labels were tacked on with 2 small nails, one on each end. The one picture clearly shows 2 holes on each end of the label where the nails used to go through, but there are no corresponding holes in the wood. Also I see creasing (presumably from when the label was removed from it's original position).
In the three Herman Miller catalogues
of the late 1940's and early 1950's it says:
On the Basic Cabinet Series (including the bench):
Standard wood finishes for this case series are Tawny Walnut (TW), Comb Grain Oak (CGO). Standard lacquer colors for fronts of cases (where desired) are Bittersweet Red (BR) and Gunmetal (GM). Special finishes are available at an additional charge of 15% (on our standard walnut and comb grain oak veneers only) upon submission of sample to the Herman Miller Furniture Company; lacquer colors can also be matched. All cases may be ordered with finished backs at an additional charge.
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So,back then, special colors could've been ordered, so perhaps the baby blue benchs are real...but I don't think HM ever made a short one like the one in the eBay ad, did they?
my 2 cents...
in picture 11 (next to last) it really looks like they were spray painted (albeit maybe with a house paint sprayer) and they missed a spot where the leg meets the bench bottom. It also looks like there's slight color unevenness in between the slats. Not saying the benches aren't real, just that I think they've been painted. It also doesn't help that the Herman Miller tag is stuck to the side of the bench instead of the bottom.
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