We have discussed this...
so often on this forum that I am NOT going to go their even when it is this tempting, but...I think Angela came up with an excellent piece of vocabulary that we have never used here: the "prefered manufacturer" I like that! Whenever something is in the public domain and made according to specifications but by another than the "licenced" manufacturer we could call that last one the "prefered manufacturer"...
Sooo........
I understand this whole prefered manufacturer of pieces, but it seem as if those pieces (Eileen Grey table for example) do not have any markings on them (as my piece also does not have and that was my concern in buying the piece for the price I paid!)how do we know if they are Real McCoy, copy, fake or whatever. I do have my sales receipt and it does state that I have an Eileen Gray E1027 but I do not know where it was manufactured, as it came with no tags. If we plan on passing this piece to our children, how the heck will anyone know if these pieces were original, a great TARGET copy, or a make by the prefered company copy? And how can WE as Design Addicts know if what we are buying is worth a couple of bucks or make big auction result big bucks? Any thoughts?
once again i do not ...
once again i do not want to offend any one....
buy a good stainless or solid chrome
table at the best price you can get it for, they are all the same, you will not get eggs thrown at you!! cause you have a fake eileen grey table '!!!! you will not be thrown out of the mid century society for buying a fake on this one.
Even Lucifesum would find it in his heart to agree that this reproduction will not damage the image of the designer, or ruins one reputation.
this table has been made by several manufactures for over 75 years when Eileen Gray was a live and after her death,
It is like Kleenex in the vernacular of furniture,
Real value of this object
If you wanted to buy something to pass to your children, sorry to say, but I think that you should have buy something produced in limited edition, or some handmade object, peinting or simply non-industrial object. This kind of table is certainly great piece of furniture, but produced by thousands!
What is sure - your children will once, in long, long time I hope 😉 - have your furniture and they will keep it affectionately, because you loved it and you choosed it. Not because of its value.
Angela
I would urge you to go through some of the discussions in the forum archives. There are many good (and many, many bad) arguments both for and against licensed and unlicensed products - everything from environmental issues, to the US economy, to simply wanting something 'authentic'. I agree that sentiment plays a huge part, especially when things are passed through families. However, as has been discussed, there are many issues of quality that authentic manufacturers are likely to address - making an authentic pieces (most of the time) superior to a knock-off - in materials, production impact, longevity, inherent value, and -though we may not always like to think about it - resale value.
All you have to do is watch Antiques Roadshow to see the look of disappointment when the appraiser says in his British accent (why are they always British??) "if this had been an original I would recommend that you insure it for $10,000. However, this is a copy, and as such its worth approximately one copper hapenny."
And as for LRF - Kleenex may be in the pulic lexicon as a generic name for a facial tissue, but I guarantee that if someone slapped "Kleenex" onto a product they'd get their butts sued off.
Lucifer, I red already those discussions, very interesting, indeed.
Lucifer, I red already those copy/original discussions, very interesting, indeed.
But that is not what I'm talking about. I suggested that, for being sure that you have some valuable object, you should buy some limited edition, or designer-signed, or hand-made object, not an industrial object made by thousands!
This EG table, even if produced by agreed manufacturer, won't probably have its value increased with time.
It's my supposition, but I'm not a professional in that branch. I'm happy to learn more about it, by reading those interesting discussions.
(sorry for my english, it's quite approximative!)
Old thread, new dilemma
So, having read this in its entirety, is there any other way to tell an Aram from a knockoff besides the presence of the little knob on the top of the chrome piece that comes out of the glass?
I have a chance to buy a pair from a person who has owned them for three years who bought them in the UK off of UK-ebay and paid over 500 pounds. Would there be any other markings that anyone knows about?
Nice response
which I will post here for future people with questions regarding this table:
Hello Mrs. Campbell.
Many thanks for your enquiry.
ClassiCon produces and sells the Eileen Gray Collection as worldwide licensee of Aram Designs Ltd, London. In the early 1970s, Eileen Gray began to collaborate with Zeev Aram to develop her furniture and lamps for series production. Eileen Gray transferred marketing rights for her designs to Aram in 1973.
In producing design classics, the accent is on quality. High quality means in concrete terms that pieces in the Classic Collection of furniture are indelibly marked and numbered consecutively. The ClassiCon signature provides a guarantee that only high-grade materials and methods are used in production ? meeting all ecological requirements ? and that every piece of furniture has passed strict quality control. The ClassiCon logo offers the assurance that each limited edition is an authentic replica of the original, made with the consent of the rights holders.
With regards to verifying whether these two E1027 tables you are intending to buy are authentic, it would depend on the age of the tables. The E1027 tables, produced today, are stamped with a serial number, the Classicon logo and Eileen Grays signature on the inside of the upright stem and there is also a sticker attached to the glass top, just beneath the handle, authenticating it as a Classicon piece. I am unsure as to how long Classicon have been using this form of identification, I believe the sticker is a recent addition but I imagine the stamping has been in use for many years.
I have attached a PDF document that contains a little info about this piece and also the dimensions. If these tables have no visible identity then measuring them may be a good indicator as to their authenticity.
If I may be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Myles>
Myles Brown
Assistant Store Manager
ARAM STORE
110 Drury Lane
London
WC2B 5SG
Tel: 020 7557 7557www.aram.co.uk
. . . . .
There are also two pages attached to the email (see the pdf file above) but I can't figure out how to copy them here.
There must be some weakness in the rights
regarding Eileen Gray's furniture, because her stuff is among the most knock-offed of any 20th designer. Alphaville and probably other companies freely sell her glass side table, as well a number of her chairs openly without any fear of reprisials.
I have that side table, which is clearly a knockoff, and the quality of the table ain't bad.
Barry
All boils down to money. As in - it costs a lot of money to retain lawyers to pursue knock-off companies. Which is why most people don't do it. Once in a while the big giants like Herman Miller will grumble and make some noise just to scare folks. But the reality is that it is too difficult top chase down even where the companies are located. And I would imagine that after a while you just assume that people get it, or they don't.
(edited by DA)
I kind of like the attitude that Knoll takes - similar to the English Royals: they do not even acknowledge contenders to the throne.
More pix
that the seller has forwarded. No knob that I can see on top of the crossbar. What do you think? There is some pitting of the chrome so I do believe that they are older but that doesn't make them real.
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