I picked up this chair along with a Baughman scoop lounge armchair in similar condition and a teak surfboard table with an iron base. I can't for the life of me figure this chair out but am hoping someone might clue me in.
It seems to be a pretty high quality piece. There's absolutely no hardware visible, the arms and legs are solid walnut, very stable. I cleaned the left arm just to see how well it would clean up.
It's pretty ridiculous, but any ideas?
@Jerrywc
Seriously. This makes up for the bad string of luck I've had lately. The last few times I've been on the way to buy stuff, the seller sold them out from under me after we already arranged a time and everything.
This chair will definitely become part of the personal collection. The wood is actually in great condition, just very dirty. A couple dents that I can iron out but it should clean up very nicely. It might have been reupholstered judging by the lack of buttons, but maybe they've fallen off because the welted seams are all intact. It's actually covered in a sort of floral ikat pattern, but it's so faded it doesn't show up in the photos.
I would like to keep it as original as possible, so any thoughts? Should I just clean it up and leave it as is? I'm not too familiar with Nakashima stuff so any info as far as rarity or preservation or anything would be greatly appreciated.
good eye
Congrats on your great find!
This is why I feel one should go by one's eye and one's gut when deciding to buy a piece, rather than just learning the names and doing homework.
Even if you HAD been aware of all kinds of Nakashima stuff, this would probably not have been a piece that you would be familiar with (because it is so rare, and not widely known)
But you trusted your gut IN SPITE of not knowing who the hell made it, and pulled the trigger. Sure it's often hit and miss when you do that, but hits like this are well worth the misses.
If one is not careful, one can learn their way into blindness. Cool to see you didn't let your "better judgement" talk you out of going after this great and weird chair!
Thanks. When I first saw...
Thanks. When I first saw the listing I was only interested in the Baughman scoop armchair. The pictures of this chair were so bad and the arms were so dirty that it looked like they could have just been a DIY plywood project.
It wasn't until I saw it in person and realized they were solid wood and felt how heavy the chair was that I thought it could be something. Even then I figured it was just some generic piece, nothing crazy.
Even the surfboard table I picked up in the lot is more than I was expecting. It's completely solid teak with inlaid teak end grain sandwiched in between the planks. Super dirty, someone put poly on the top and looks like it had been used outdoors but I've already started refinishing it and it's coming out great. Kind of reminds me of some Arbuck pieces because of it's metal base. I'll try to post some pictures of the other pieces tonight.
Way more than I bargained for but I'm not complaining. I'm still on cloud nine.
Wait, wait, wait . . .
Who's saying this is Nakashima ? What proof of that is evident ? Wouldn't a Nakashima piece be marked ?
Goofy is right. Sorry, but I'm not convinced . . . in the absence of some substantiation.
Or maybe Transubstantiation ?
First, show me another Nakashima upholstered armchair.
well here you go....
someone has the catalog for sale on ebay right now...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Widdicomb-Nakashima-Furniture-Catalog-Free-Shipp...
Aaak. OK.
Thanks. Man, they all sell out sooner or later, don't they. I wonder if George made it "goofy" as an inside joke. "Buy my name, will they ? The joke's on them." Take a gander at that caned headboard !
My private theory about a lot of modernists, Wright among them, is, "Different ! First, last, and always, make it Different."
Wright's sell-out was to Heritage Henredon. He gave the design job to his apprentices, with instructions to each to concentrate on a geometric type (triangle, circle, square). Only the angular designs were accepted for production. Wright did no more than sign off on them. The whole affair occurred at the very end of Wright's life and was promoted heavily by wife Olgivanna.
The lines of pieces, with some good thinking toward modularity and inter-combination, were dressed with a figured molding vaguely suggestive of a greek key. Talk about slap-on decoration . . .
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