Hey I was wondering if Herman Miller ever made an aluminum group chair with a 4 star base, not 5. I was thinking about buying a used one from the early 80s. But I was looking on the HM site and they all seem to have 5 star bases. Aside from stickers are there any other identifying markers? Will there always be a Herman Miller marker stamped into the Aluminum? Thanks!
Would it have to have an HM imprint in the Aluminum?
First let me say, I'm new here and have been reading old posts, and am just so impressed with the depth of knowledge that people have. Really admirable.
I was wondering, would the chair have to have an HM imprint in the Aluminum, the one I'm looking at just has a sticker on the base. THe one under the seat fell off.
And what is a fair price for a beat up version of this kind of chair? Fabric doesn't have holes, or glaring stains, but is dingy...Aluminum very tarnished.
I am debating because I'm an architect and get half off Herman Miller Office stuff. So I could save up and get one for maybe $600-800. And I read in another post that someone got quoted $700 for recovering this chair!
What do you guys think?
Be careful
As an architect you get half off 'list price', which is usually about 40% more than online retailers sell the chairs for.
As to the stamp - most are stamped on the underside of the antler, but not always legibly. Mine, for example, is a mess - you can just barely discern the M logo and you cannot read any of the text.
If you want a task chair you can usually find decent ones available for cheap. A good condition lounge chair was a little harder to find, so I shelled out the $$ to have it redone.
If it doesn't have bad...
If it doesn't have bad stains and no tears or undue wear, it can be professionally cleaned and made serviceable. Don't even think about reupholstering it...not worth it. The oxidized base will take awhile to get clean...use mag wheel polish from your local auto parts store and a lot of elbow grease.
I've had both chairs with the HM stamp and chairs without...just a sticker. I think the ones with a sticker were from the 90s, but they were 5-star bases.
Not sure how much the price is of the one you're looking at, but it if's less than $150 and meets the above specs, you should be OK. If it's more, you might want to wait for another nicer one to come along. I sold 5 really nice ones on Craigslist about a year or so ago for $350 a piece. I saw one for $75 last week on CL in SF, but I'm sure it's gone now. It was pretty dingy IIRC. Prices have come down from 2 years ago...the economy and all. You should be able to find a good one for $200-300. Leather will be more, of course. Also, keep in mind that many of the "leather" chairs you see online are actually vinyl.
fm
if the clear coat
if the clear coat is chipped on the arms it can be repaired. You need to strip/sandblast off the old coating and have it re-clear coated.
I disagree with FungusMungus about it not being worth reupholstering. I spent a bunch of money on mine - but it was still far less than buying a new chair. The frames are pretty much bulletproof - you can bring a worn out chair to life with a little cash and elbow grease.
The base of my chair cleaned up with aluminum polish and scotchbrite pads. It took an hour of some scrubbing but I brought it to a lovely satin sheen.
Well, I agree that you can...
Well, I agree that you can have a nice chair that costs much less than a new one if you get the right person to do it (not many people do these chairs). But frankly, if you check eBay, there are scores of them all the time. Some of them are in bad condition, but every once in awhile there are nice ones and they're still way less than a new one.
Lucifer, the bases on mine were all shiny rather than matte...did you opt for that look intentionally or is that because of the scotch brite? Just curious...I have an Eames EC-127 that came out with matte legs because the chrome was in terrible shape when I took to it with steel wool. I like it like that, but the matching sibling has shiny legs, so they have to stay in separate rooms. 🙂
fm
Even the new ones
Even the new ones only have the clear-coat on the arms and antlers. Which means the aluminum base will oxydize over time - making it that leaden grey color. I spent about an hour cleaning my base to get rid of the oxydation - but without a mop-wheel it's difficult to get the bright finish. Personally I like mine a little better thant the very bright ones. It's clean, but not flashy and attention grabbing.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com