We recently purchased an older Eames Lounge chair from a historic social club in Chicago through a silent auction. Though the chair has very obvious signs of wear and tear, and was missing the ottoman, we still feel we did pretty well with the price. Since the source of the chair was a club known as the Cliff Dwellers which is focused on arts and design with a history dating back to the early 1900s, we were hoping the chair was authentic.
After doing some research online we were able to verify its authenticity based on the Herman Miller / Eames labels on the bottom as well as other features. A bit more research and now we feel that we have a very early version of the Eames Lounge. I've posted some photos and have a few questions:
What we've read online seems to say that if the chair has down feather cushions, the round white Eames sticker, round cushion fasterns, and three screws for each arm rest than it is probably of late 1950s vintage. Our chair has all of these... can anyone confirm that these are the primary ways to date the chair?
As you'll notice from the photos, the major modification seems to be 4 bolts on either side securing the arm rests. Was this a common fix for the Eames Lounge? Knowing that the overall value has been affected with this modification, if we decided to restore the chair, would we be better off keeping the bolts or trying to have the arm rests re-attached and the bolt holes plugged?
One other thing that we noted was that the number "185" is engraved on both the upper and lower backrest and seat. Does this number have any meaning in terms of dating or vintage?
Do older vintage Eames Lounges have a higher resale value than 70's through current versions?
Any ballpark in cost for what we may be looking at to restore/reupholster the leather on the cushions?
Thanks!
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a42/adamrosa/Eames%20Lounge/
rough!
Wow! that chair is beat up!, I bet they put a high value on it when they donated it and are going to take a nice tax deduction. I'm sorry to say, but my opinion is that the value is shot on the chair and not worth very much. Both the seat shell and lower back shells have been drilled and have substantial chips in the veneer, the cushions look shot and worn out. The shells can be repaired but I dont know if its worth the cost.
Yeah, it's pretty banged...
Yeah, it's pretty banged up.. but that's to be expected for a chair that's been used daily for 50 years or so. Part of what we think is cool about the chair is that it is both historic in a design sense as well as being a small part of local history as the Cliff Dwellers are/were a center for creative arts in Chicago with members that included Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Carl Sandburg and Daniel Burnham (who designed the building that this chair sat in for years)
Here's a photo of the chair and its twin when it was still at the club: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zJpnTu57Koc/TTl-glhAAOI/AAAAAAAAaXE/lX9jSnpakY...
Any thoughts on the dating/vintage? Is the condition of the chair beyond the tipping point for the cost of restoration (at least cushion reupholstery)?
Thanks!
That's great... were you a...
That's great... were you a club member or visitor from out of town? Apparently they moved from Orchestra Hall in 1995 to their current space at 200 S Michigan. They are now doing a full renovation (hence they are getting rid of a lot of the old worn out stuff)
Been redoing those chairs...
Been redoing those chairs for a long time. the chair is really no big deal, once it has been drilled like that.
Find somebody to fix that, like plug, wood glue, sandpaper
paint the chair. Also get new pucks and re glue them the correct way.
Do not want to insult you but don't be so quick to throw good money after bad. Study what you are buying the numbers mean nothing they are part numbers from the factory. for what you paid that is a ok price if you want something to talk about .
sorry.
Which leads one
to ask, Is it worth the expense and trouble to turn this poor old girl into something like a tarted-up wanna-be "original" ? Is an extra bolt really so terrible ?
And that question (which I hope is not impertinent) raises another: When we pay little for something, is it worth less, somehow, than if we'd paid more -- or is it worth more for that very reason ? I've pondered this puzzle for a long time.
Personally if I could get an...
Personally if I could get an early 670 for $250 I'd jump on it - even in that condition - at least it's complete. It would make for a delightfully bougie piece of garage furniture. As for the bolts, the least I'd do is find something "finer" that doesn't look like I found it in a shed toolbox. Maybe even countersink and fill. As for the leather, I'd probably just patch it from the inside. I've had finds that ended up being too costly to repair properly, and not rare or valuable otherwise. That said, they're valuable to me, usually have a great story to go with them, and as long I have it I might as well repair it to the best of my abilities and put it to good use. There isn't much a few tubes of JB-Weld can't fix...
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