What To Know Before Buying Eames Shell Chairs  

ebay is a good place to...
ebay is a good place to start, just look for what color and style you want (arms or armless shells) and just make sure if you get without arms that it has the narrow mounting pattern to fit the base you want. the widemounts only will fit the stackable bases

wide mount
there are a couple ebay sellers that offer bases (e.g. rocker, dowel) for the wide mount configuration of the stacking side shells.
armchairs only come in the narrow mount configuration. you probably want shells that have mounts rather than holes drilled into the fiberglass (many of the upholstered shells have holes). also watch out for additional holes drilled in the seat which was commonly done for chairs used outdoors (for rain drainage). shock mounts should be in good condition with little or no cracking.
also look for reglued shock mounts. if the job was done well, it may not be an issue for you.

Dont
There is a seller on Ebay who used to go by the name Krypton or Krypton1 - a number of people had bad experiences with him, especially buying the low-rod base. I went with Modernica for mine for about the same price and am perfectly happy with it!
If you have a chance to look at armshells in person dont disregard the upholstered versions. I snagged mine with a crappy orange cigarette burned, stained, torn cover on it for cheap, underneat the cover, which came off remarkably smoothly, was a gleaming white shell! The biggest issues with the upholstery are some of it is glued down, and sometimes they drilled through the fiberglass.
If the chairs have to match there are a couple good pairs on ebay now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ORANGE-Retro-Eames-Herman-Miller-Shell-Chair-Pair_W0...
and
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Herman-Miller-Charles-Eames-armshell-chair-p...
Still 7 days on each of them - expect them to get expensive!

Read through the archives. (search box, upper right)
I'll post the link...didn't work. just type in 'eames shell chairs'
(The price extremes on e-bay relate to how old they are, condition, etc.
The early rope edge fetch high prices. The more you learn before you bid,
the better off. If you see a set, best to go with a seller that shows lots of
pictures)
Correct about getting ones with ratty soft-pad seats. Often a bargain,
and some clean up mint.

Kevan owned Kryton and ha...
Kevan owned Kryton and has left the business
I have a shell sent in today that is the first
I have ever seen, being a armshell with a wire
I took the cover off cause the fellow wants a new cover and the shell underneath was perfect.
all the shells that we recover all have the foam and glue and the crimp cord. this one was all brown vinyl underneath wire that you snip and off and it comes off in one piece,
any one know anything about these shells? what year,
I thought i had seen all of the Herman miller shell configurations but i guess wrong,
but I am amazed every time a shell comes in.

I had a number of those.
I purchased a lot of Eames shells at a government auction sometime ago.Anyways all the shells where dated 1954 ,and they all had the wire rimmed cover on them with jute on the other side.This was a number of years ago now ,but I remember there was a tag on the cover which indicated it was sewn in California for Herman Miller.So I am guessing the cover you mentioned is an earlier production.

this one came out of calif...
this one came out of california also and the shell is was real nice underneath, Never know why Herman miller chose so many ways to do the armshell and side shell
none of the dates match up.
I have shells from Mississippi state University that i bought that have no
Herman miller stamp but have the rubber mounts and I thought they retired them on the upholstery goods at the end of the 60's and have chairs with the screws hanging underneath the vinyl that requires a small lug nut,and last lots of screw ins so there you have it 4 different types of arm shells for this same chair,
strange yes or no???