Herman Miller Lounge chair worth a 3000$?  

and two more...
and two more...

nice chair hate to see yo...
nice chair hate to see you spend 3000.00 as the old chairs do have problems.

I think you need to first dec...
I think you need to first decide whether it's something that you want to keep for long or not. This old one seems to be in pretty good shape although I'm not a big fan of brown leather. The cushions seem to be in good condition. Some people don't like the 100% foam which this one seems to have even though it'll probably hold up better over the years compared to the down/feather cushions which tend to sink. Also, the ones from the 70's are most prone to having shock mount issues and that's something you should be aware of.
Investment wise, I personally wouldn't be inclined to taking this one because it doesn't have much characteristic to it. If you're buying to keep, then like you said, why not get a new one for $500 more, so you won't have to worry about maintenance at all for a long time? I think with 3K, you'll have a lot more options even with the vintage pieces. Just my 2 cents.

That's interesting feedback...
That's interesting feedback - I thought you'd be more positive about this chair, but I can see your reservations. Shows me that my learning curve stills has to climb.
I plan to keep whatever chair I will get, but a vintage piece is always a nice backup, in case something goes financially wrong.
You say the chair has not much character: do you mean the lack of a more pronounced grain, as seen on other models?
I personally don't like the brown either, so that's one of my problems too.
The other is that shipping/freight seems to be a huge PITA.
I'm not worried about he shock mounts, as I would always glue new ones on to a used chair.
What would you pay for this chair in particular? What's fair given the expected problems/weaknesses/chair's character?

We all have much to learn abo...
We all have much to learn about this classic beauty in fact. You're right about the character of the chair; for me, the grain looks a little boring although it's very clean. I personally like very heavily grained veneer, but of course they're hard to find.
I could be wrong, but even if you buy new, resale value wouldn't be too bad as long as you keep it well. The problem with buying brand new is there's no way you can choose the grain pattern on the veneer whereas buying used, you can pick and choose as you like. In that sense, it's a crap shoot buying new.
A word of caution is installing shock mounts may not be as easy as one thinks. Of course, if you've done it on this particular chair (the 670's), then by all means, but if you're not familiar with the characteristics of the shock mounts on them, the potential consequences can be big.
Personally, I wouldn't even consider this chair because of the leather and the grain. Hope this helps.

Joe, I say go for it (as long...
Joe, I say go for it (as long as it does come with the ottoman)! A new chair is boring and not terribly sustainable. Buying a vintage example is undoubtedly the way to go and in terms of condition, the brown chair looks fabulous. For 3k or 2500 if you can, I would surely buy it if I were you. You should be able to get 3500 for it any day on eBay. I own a few sets of 670's and 671's and love my brown chair out of them all. In fact, when I finished restoring my brown one, I had a few individuals email me asking whether I wanted to trade my brown cushions for black ones. I kept them, but nonetheless, I support the vintage example without a doubt. It is not the most exciting in regard to grain, though the cushion condition makes up for it. Newer walnut chairs and cherry examples seem to hold a significantly lower premium than rosewood after a few years because, well, the original was rosewood. As an investment and for use, do it and do not regret it. You'll come to love the brown I suspect and it is rarer than black as well. Just my two cents!
Kindly,
David
P.S. Maintenance is not a huge deal. You may need to splurge 100 dollars at some points to buy new shock mounts or can spend 300 to have HM do it for you. It would not surprise me if that did not occur for 15 years or more though.

If you don't like the brown cushions
then don't even consider buying the chair.
I've expressed this sentiment here before, but it's been a while so maybe it's ok to repeat myself:
If you buy exactly what you want, you'll enjoy it every time you use it and you will quickly forget how much it cost. If you purchase something less expensive but which you don't like as much, you'll feel a little disappointed every time you see it regardless of the great deal you got.
Herman Miller has sold thousands and thousands of those chairs. The overwhelming majority have black cushions; if that's your preference, you won't have to wait long for the right one to appear.

I have all the respect in...
I have all the respect in the world for David since he's an absolute expert on the 670's (maybe other things too =))But I really think it's a very individual thing when it comes to furniture and I have to agree with Fastfwd. I've owned a few sets of 670's, from a terrible repro, to one which I initially thought was a vintage but it turned out to be fake, to one that's pretty much brand new and authentic, to a set from the first generation, etc. Every time I see them (minus the repro and fake), I have a smile on my face.
If you're impulsive, like I have been at times, maybe you can purchase this one first and then like what David said, sell it on ebay after you find your "true love". You probably won't lose anything. Happy ending....

3000 seems a lot for something you're not entirely sure about
or something you want to sell through..
I agree completely with fastfw.

Well,it was just a first impression...
It's the quality of the pictures and my eyes were used to black leather, but after I have been looking at a ton of brown ones, I must say, that I'm not sure that I can't appreciate that color. I start kind of liking it.
Do you guys have experience with shipping these chairs?
It's too big for UPS. Have you ever used freight, and how much did it cost you?

Hi
I like brown.
Brown is cool.

As is shown at the end of...
As is shown at the end of this video clip, these chairs break down and fit in two relatively small boxes for shipping. I believe they are well within the size limitations of UPS/FedEx packages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SWL4gTQfTA

For the full $3K
I'd want to see good photos of the seat and otto cushions as well as the arm pads if I couldn't inspect the chair in person. In fact, I'd want good photos from every angle. The condition in the photos provided looks very good.
Fastfwd is absolutely right about getting what you want. I consider 3 grand to be retail for these sets. You'd likely be able to buy one in similar condition for close to that price in almost any major US city today.
As for the brown-on-brown scheme, well... everybody and their uncle has black/rosewood. In the right room, it might be a fantastic choice.

disassembly
Thanks for the video link - it didn't even come up to do that, since the current chairs come fully assembled in one box. UPS it is...
I'm fairly close to Chicago (2 hrs). Where would you send me?
The only sources I had so far are craigslist and ebay (sometimes ridiculously high prices).
Regarding the chair of interest: would you consider 2500$ a fair offer (for both parties)?