While mining my local university surplus furniture store, I came across these two chairs bearing the university color (red for Stanford). Can anyone help me identify the composition of the red material -- Is it leather, vinyl, or Naugahyde? Also, does the wood look like Oak or Walnut? The manufacturer's label (see picture #4) indicates a vague reference to Walnut, but I would have guessed Oak just looking at the wood, but then I'm a complete newbie so what do I know (not much). The tag indicates the chair was made in 1962 so I wonder if that helps in identifying the red material (I'm supposing manufacturers had different tendencies to use these various materials through time). Also, since these chairs have the red school color, I'm planning to market them as "a little piece of mid century school history" and indicate their provenance as coming from university. Since Stanford has been celebrating its role in the mid century birth of Silicon Valley, I figured mentioning this might get some traction. Has anyone had any luck with that sort of school based marketing scheme for items acquired through school surplus furniture stores?
<img class="wpforo-default-image-attachment wpforoimg" src=" http://old.designaddict.com/sites/default/files/forum/Stanf 
They look kind of like maple to me. Oak has a very distinctive grain that is easy to identify. If you need help with wood identification and education, this site is really great:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/
It's usually possible to discern leather from vinyl just by feeling the stuff, but you can also look at the grain under magnication if you're not sure. The pores in leather are actual holes whereas in vinyl they're just molded indentations.
I wouldn't bother with the Stanford connection. Red is a good accent color in MCM interiors. Just clean up that wood and put them out there.
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