I'm not an expert on these...
I'm not an expert on these chairs, so please correct me if I'm wrong...
To my knowledge the screws should only be visible from the back of the back rest. I have seen examples where screws go through all the way from the front to the back, but these have been chairs that were broken and then refurbished like this...
Yeah, pan head screws on the...
Yeah, pan head screws on the front of the backrest tell prospective buyers something. Namely, put away your money. The backrests have rubber shock mounts glued to them. Screws go through the support pieces (i.e. the piece that attached the seat to the backrest) and screw into the shock mounts. These shock mounts have a tendency to peel away from the backrest over time. So a screw in the face of the backrest is just somebody's attempt to repair the piece (function trumping form big time there). So, yeah, stay away from chairs with screws in the backrest. No good.
look at this auction -- it's...
look at this auction -- it's for a chair whose backrest has fallen off. Maybe it'll give you a better idea of how things go together.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Early-EAMES-LCW-Foil-Label-EASY-RESTORATION-Must-Sel...
LCW Chair manufactured by Herman Miller
I've looked at many pictures of the LCW Chair manufactured by Herman Miller, and I've seen that the screws are never visible from the front. I think (just an opinion) that the original LCW Chair hasn't got the screws visible from the front. Also I think that it wouldn't harmonise with the style of the other chairs designed by Charles Eames and Ray Kaiser.
I called Herman Miller . . .
The chairs I WAS considering had been repaired. The nice man at Herman Miller confirmed that the LCM and DCM chairs were NEVER sold with screws showing through the front of the backrest (or the seat).The repair was botched. I've seen several other examples of the DCM and LCM that have been repaired the same way (i.e., screws through the front of the backrest). This repair is done in lieu of properly refastening the shock mounts to the back of the backrest.
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