I have a leather Wassily chair with Stendig sticker on it. What I know it was purchased by The Hudson River Museum in Yonkers N.Y. in 1965. Then they were in the director's office in the old Yonkers Public library which no longer stands. The chair ended up in the basement of the new Yonkers Public Library in a pile of Wassily chairs that must have sat in the basement of the temporary library for years. Finally they started to dryrot & the library let staff have them. How do I know this my brother has work their over 35 years & the chair was cataloged by the library has a plaque on it with (cat.# 01232).
The seat & one arm is ripping the rest is worn but good. Is this chair worth saving? Is it worth anything.
Interesting
Stendig did do imports. But in 1965 - at that time - Gavina was producing the Wassily chair and not Knoll as yet.
Prior to Gavina it was Thonet.
What will help us is photos showing the following:
A. Labels.
B. Stitching.
C. Especially important are the caps you will see at the ends of the Chrome pipe where it terminates - get some good picks of these up on the board here.
D. Also, where the bars on ground touch, there will be a point in the middle on each side where the two pipes join, take photos showing the bolts used in this - nice and up close, please.
- A.S.
Hey there
That is strange that there would be caps at all.
Before I say more, time line is:
Produced by Knoll 1968 to the present. (Yeah there are copycats but I am talking licensed copies)
Gavina produced them 1962 (I think) until 1968.
Prior to that it was Thonet going back to 1920 - if I am not mistaken - and I may be because there may be another producer in there.
Gavina made them at the time you have referenced - 1965. When they produced them, they had the tube ends totally sealed, polished down so when they chrome dipped them, you did not see any cap.
It is interesting because to my limited knowledge of the previous producer, and the fact that Stendig did a lot of importing of various items, that the item you have could be special even though it has caps. I have other chairs with the Stendig Label - so I know what they should look like from that period.
Do not get me wrong - a Thonet produced chair of Breuers Design goes for $20,000 as they are rare - and I would not think you would have one.
But I would think it is in your interest to get some pics up of these chairs.
I have been meaning to get more familiar with the Wassily chair and it's production in pics prior to Gavina, and I would very much like to see these pics of this chair.
If you would, please email me at aaronDOTeDOTsaxtonATgmailDOTcom and if I can not help, I am certain that others on this thread will help out - but really, without pics, they will get frustrated. I have seen comments by some guy on here that can tell you down to the darn thread and shape of he bolts where and when it was done - I wish I had his knowledge.
Anyways, email and lets somehow get pics going - it is worth your time and effort. And I have a genuine interest in digging into the history of this chair for my own personal satisfaction and it will help both of us to help you out.
- A.S.
I am also hoping on some...
I am also hoping on some verification of authenticity on my Wassily chair. I just purchased it an auction in my hometown, way out in Iowa. The niece of the woman whose estate it was said that her aunt lived in France for 13 years and then New York City before moving back to Iowa. A timeline I do not have and I cant find any markings on the chair save for a small piece of a label on the bottom of the seat cushion. The caps are dipped in chrome and seamless and on the bottom the tubes meet. I can get pictures to you. Can someone please help?
Lets see if this link can...
Lets see if this link can get you to my facebook album http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150470001309042.432005.664524...
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