eames dcm chair  

No exposed bolts,
unless it's been sloppily repaired.
But I could be wrong.

Mark's not wrong.
The backrest is glued to rubber shockmounts; no screws or bolts penetrate it. Same with the seat.
If the glue fails, sometimes people with no sense will "fix" the chair by drilling holes through the backrest and reattaching it to the frame with carriage bolts. This repair greatly devalues the chair, although I personally don't think it looks too bad on the metal-framed DCM or LCM (as opposed to the wooden DCW or LCW, on which it's horrible).

Repairing these chairs this...
Repairing these chairs this way does devalue them, but Ive personally always felt that adding bolts was actually a design upgrade. Eames wood chairs w/ shockmounts from this era, while beautiful to look at, are some of the most poorly designed and fragile chairs built in that period. The fact that you find so many today that needed serious repairing in their lifetime is a testament to how poorly thought out they were from a usage standpoint.

Apologies for what is probably a dumb question, but are there any legit cases of original HM drilled through backs for either DCMs or DCWs? I know there are numerous repair jobs with bolts going through the backrests.
I believe there are some fiberglass shells with through bolts for the seat where there was upholstery cover on top to hide the bolts.
A local refinisher has bought a set of 60 DCMs that all have black disks covering probable bolt heads on the backrests. My guess is that a school/library/etc had a repair procedure that that did this after shock mount failure happened. Then again, my knowledge of Eames history is very limited. She bought this set under the sales pitch that the black disks are original.
Photos attached, but no close ups of the black disks.

cdsilva- I'm going to go with NO.

I blame Ray.
Best,
Aunt M.

I was a 95% no until someone else confidently chimed in that HM sold through-bolt backrests for institutional use for greater durability. While it sounded like a bunch of bs, I was not holding enough Eames cards in my hand to call his bluff (sorry my poker obsession almost equals my Danish Modern obsession).
And by good timing, my inquiry to Herman Miller just arrived via e-mail two minutes ago. So my query is now officially a dumb question.
Hello xxxx,
Thank you for contacting Herman Miller.
Herman Miller has never has screws that go all the way through the wood back of the chair. There are screws that go thought the brace into the shockmount only. The screws do not go into the wood back.
I hope that helps you understand.
Kind Regards,
Jane Corey 🙂
Product Resources
Customer Excellence

A bit off topic since the question have been answered, but still, I have to say that Herman Miller Product Resources Department is off the chart in its excellence. Whenever I have any issue with vintage regarding Herman Miller's products, I always contacted them directly and got a very thorough reply in authenticating their product.
Knoll, on the other hand ........

some good stuff here . . .

Mark,
Ray's nom de plume?

Oh Grendel, those desirable naughty books make me quiver from the waist down, and necessitate reaching for my new lilac scented Glade air freshener and the Bible! I'm thinking that Anne Eames was probably Ray's former wife. Yup, all out "shivering fits". Meow.
and drinks are on me,
Your Aunt Mark