What's your best story associated with a design object?  

Nice chair, and a good idea for a thread.
I once purchased a pair of Peter Hvidt lounge chairs from a guy which were accompanied by a hand written letter from Poul Cadovius verifying the design with a copy of an old France & Son catalogue.
I sold the chairs but kept the letter.

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Ca, 1965 Jaguar Mk2 hood ornament.
My best friend and I found the car deep in "our" woods a day or two after it was torched by thieves when we were about 13. It took hours of work with improvised tools fashioned from metal bits wrested from the hulk, but I was finally able to remove the gleaming, leaping cat without ruining it.
I kept it for years as a curio mounted onto a piece of black granite I repurposed from a discarded trophy and ended up trading it in art school for a 10-inch carbon steel Sabatier "Elephant" cook's knife which I still have and even sometimes use.
Stock pic:

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Its a bit off topic but I only heard about this a couple of weeks ago. I laughed.
"The Dutch people viewed Van Meegeren as a cunning trickster, who had successfully fooled the Dutch art experts, and more importantly, Hermann Göring himself. In fact, according to a contemporary account, when Göring was informed that his ?Vermeer? was actually a forgery, "[Göring] looked as if for the first time he had discovered there was evil in the world".[14] Han van Meegeren remains one of the most ingenious art counterfeiters of the 20th century".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren

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Off topic a bit too Heath.
I have a history not unlike Van Meergeren and an interesting number of tales.
The funniest albeit it embarrasing now:
I had 'faked' a painting by adding a signature to a artists work of similar style to a very famous artist now deceased.
The auction house I had consigned it to then faxed of an image to the well known artist.....The message comes back 'Yep it's one of mine'.
Ironically I now consult for fine art buyers.
Yeh so some may think and judge what I truly was but that was a long-time-ago-drug-induced-stupidy. I have judged who I was more harshly than anyone here ever could.

Mark, your place is starting to look a bit crowded.
If you buy any more stuff I may have to call the Hoarders tv show to do an intervention on you.

I never would have thought
there were such criminal minds, here on DA 🙂
My story:
When I was a student (age 19) in Ghent, here in Belgium, I would take lunch with my girlfriend (now ex) at here campus.
Something we did regularly.
On my route to the university I always passed an old garage, owner lived upstairs. Doors were most of the times open, so when walking by you automatically looked in: 3 eames fiberglass chairs stood between the cars, smudged with oil and grease.
I assume Herman Miller wasn't sold much here in Belgium. I know of one dealer in Brussels, long time ago, but in essence there's not much to be found. So I was somewhat excited seeing these chairs.
After passing several times, I rang the bell and asked the mecanic about the chairs. I made up a stupid story about research in plastics and fiberglass, used in furniture (being a student). He didn't bite and said: come back in 5 years or so, when I'm retired (while laughing his head of)...
10 years later, I'm painting backgrounds for an animated shortmovie, in Ghent and I pass by the same garage, week after week.
I noticed the doors stayed shut and tried the bell again.
Woman picks up and asks after my business, she states here husband doesn't do any work anymore and I tell here I want to ask something else.
The man sees me, instantly recognises me and takes me to his garage. After a pint of lager and a very modest exchange of money, the three shells are in my boot!

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It's the treadmill more than anything.
It must go.

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Everyone's stories are...
Everyone's stories are great!
Thank you H.moon. When I acquired the chair, I intended to sale it, but I've come to appreciate it to the point that I would have a hard time letting it go.
Interestingly enough our mechanic here in town (population under 600, very rural US) has a Herman Miller Eames armchair with the upholstery and wheeled base. I've not been able to talk him out of it; it has sentimental value to him.
Mr. Chopper is very handsome!

Meadmore Dining Table
I recently bought a dining table designed by Clement Meadmore. The original owner had purchased the table with matching chairs to go in the kitchen of her 1950's modernist home she had designed by Australian architect Robin Boyd. The Ednie house, named after the owners, was featured in home magazines of the period, including photos of the dining table. I spoke to the original owner of the table over the phone prior to the auction and she informed me that she had used the table for painting throughout her life. Mrs Ednie is a highly regarded botanical artist.
In the 1950's Mrs Ednie made a decision to buy designer pieces for her modernist home and the purchase of the table and chairs, along with a rare lamp made by Clement Meadmore, we're amongst the first furnishings in the home. Talking to Mrs Ednie reminded me of my mother, who had also furnished her modernist home with a few good items, preferring Hardoy chairs to a lounge suite. A few days after speaking to Mrs Ednie I saw the table prior to the auction. Traces of paint and pencil, small chips to the vaneer and a soft patina of age. My partner bought the table for me as a gift, so I can use it as my art table to do all my digital photography and writing.
Knowing the history of the table and speaking to its previous owner has really changed my experience of owning a designer object. I feel honoured to be the custodian of this table. To me the table is an example of how design can bring great joy and foster creativity in your life.