Hey guys,
i just found a nearly perfect Eames chair at store here in cologne. Its all original, seafoam colored with a partial rope edge in the two front corners.
I got a few questions that you might be able to answer.
1st thing: Its partial rope edged. I've never seen a partial rope edged seafoam colored chair before, the checkerboard label is 70% intact.
--> What do you think: Does the partial rope edge makes it more valuable or less? The only information i could find is that it has to be slightly younger in age than the full rope edged chairs.
The chair has no cracks or chips, the only thing i'm a little concerned about is that there are clearly visible marks at the seat where the large shockmounts are installed.
Relating to the store manager its just dust very deeply embedded in the fibers over the decades. the gel coat sems perfectly fine.
--> Do you see a chance to remove those dust marks? Anyone who did that before? the store manager offered to clean it with some kind of hot steam device.
I will try to upload some pictures soon.
Thanks in advance.
Ben
partial rope shells
are extremely rare. That is for sure.
Seems like less than one out of 200 rope shells is a partial rope shell. Possibly less. This is a transitional/developmental phase that may have happened concurrently with the full rope shells, before they did away with the rope altogether. Probably dates anywhere from 1949-53, just like the full rope shells. There does seem to be an assumption that the partial rope shells came later than the full rope, but those are most likely just guesses based on some kind of "orderly transition" logic. Who knows exactly when they tried it?
As to how that translates to the value, it is hard to see how a partial rope shell could be of less value to any serious collector. It may depend on the knowledge of the buyer. For instance, if a collector is obsessed with getting their first example of a full rope shell, then they might value a partial rope less. But to me it is a rare and important developmental detail, and far more desirable. Time will tell.
The shock mount discoloration is probably not embedded dust. Rather it is "bleed-through" from the epoxy used to glue the mounts, and probably cannot be removed. For some, this is a major aesthetic problem. For others it is just an honest part of the chair. It usually does bring down the price, however. I would be very careful about attempting to remove the discoloration. Don't want to lose the shine of the fiberglass.
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