Today I found this George Nelson Thin Edge chest. Since we mainly collect Danish furniture, I don't know a whole lot about this stuff and am hoping you guys can advise!
1) I'm pretty sure this is the "combed oak" finish. Yes?
2) It has no legs, just some plastic discs where legs would go. We set it on a Herman Miller slat bench and it doesn't look right: too tall to be on a bench. Does anyone know any source for vintage or reproduction wood legs? It seems the ebonized ones would look best, but what are your thoughts? We could try to approximate them ourselves from photos, but would prefer to find authentic ones of course!
3) The chrome pulls are quite tarnished as you can see. Should we leave them as-is, or polish them? We never do anything to patina'd brass hardware on old Danish pieces, but is this different?
4) The finish needs some cleanup. Anyone know what the original finish consisted of? Would Howard's Restore-A-Finish be appropriate to clean it up with? Or what do you all use?
5) As you can see in the photo, the bottom of the case is bowed upward. Very odd- usually you find it the other way! Perhaps it was stored on a hard point for a long time? Or is this maybe something you've seen before on these Herman Miller cases?
Thank you very much!!
Stacey
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not thin edge, it's Basic Cabinet Series, in birch I think
pictures of "ebonized" legs can be found in catalog reprints, they're not real fancy or complicated, and an approximation should present fine. I would just have them cut out of a plywood sheet, and paint them black.
other than that, I'd pretty much leave it alone
all boards are bowed somewhat, and things can twist in time. Also, photos can show parallax, accentuating this further
Thank you! My husband will be vindicated as he really did not think it was oak... but the 1963 Herman Miller catalog book we have does not list birch as an option so we didn't consider it! Also thanks for clarifying the series.
Interestingly, when we removed the bottom drawer for cleaning, we noticed that the bottom edge of it has been sanded to accommodate the bow in the bottom of the case. So obviously it has been that way for some time!
I actually think it is primavera! We were looking a photos on line. My husband used to work for a wood company and he thinks that is what it is, rather than birch. It's like a golden mahogany, which I gather is what "primavera" is...
What do you think about the pulls? Polish or not?
Aha. I found that it's model number 4640. It appears in an 1940-something Herman Miller catalog, but not the 1953 one we own, so perhaps it is an early piece?
By the way, I found this terrific link to a digitized Herman Miller catalog: https://archive.org/details/hermanmillercoll00herm
In case anyone is interested!
Oh, and it is actually a bit surprising that the bottom has bowed upwards. I expect the case is made of particle board, or plywood, which is to say a dimensionally stable material. Of course stability is a question of degree, but that is quite a severe distortion. (It would be a pretty sever distortion even for solid wood, which is NOT dimensionally stable).
I would think that something out of the ordinary happened to cause that bowing. I am just curious, but is there really no indication of what happened to it?
Thanks all. I do think the pulls are silver plated. I've gently cleaned them with soap and a soft rag, but I think I'll leave them be.
Regarding the bowed bottom: there is no indication at all that anything happened to it. It's very mysterious, especially now that we can see that the bottom drawer has been very carefully sanded to accommodate the bow. The case is plywood.It is very strange!!!
Also, for what it's worth, I did clean it yesterday and used Howard's Restore-A-Finish (in neutral) on it. I hope that was OK to do, and I'll report that it worked REALLY well. The original finish was somewhat alligatored and dull. The product sort of smoothed it out. I think it re-keys the original finish in some way. The alligatoring is still there, but it's reduced, and the finish is now more even and brighter. There were also areas where someone had used some kind of solvent to attempt to remove metallic paint splatters, where the finish as very dull in rag-wipe marks, and the Restore-A-Finish completely removed those. I was nervous to try it, but I am glad I did!
Look for water stains to the upper surface of the bottom panel. I'd be surprised that plywood would move that much. I'd consider removing the bottom, saving the front molding, and putting a new piece there -- especially if there is any problem opening the bottom drawer. Perhaps the new piece should bow upward just a bit, to help close the gap now present because the drawer front was trimmed. With some searching, a slightly bent piece could be found. Or, you could place a block on the floor to bend it upward, temporarily. Panels should be finished on both faces (or neither face) to help prevent movement.
If you're going to put it on legs, the latter trick won't work, of course.
SDR
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