Lane is looking for some design detection work: We bought this chair at a yard sale in Alameda, Ca. this weekend. It's in great shape, but there's no tags or manufacturer info anywhere on it. Any idea who made it, when and it's value?
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It's got such a large seat that you could almost fit two people on it! (bottom cushion measures 30.5" wide x 25.5" deep.) The chair stands to about 27" so it's low to the ground. It's covered in a pale yellow velvet with wooden legs and while the underside of the bottom cushion is covered, you can tell it's filled with big springs.
Love your site, and hope that your readers can help identify the chair! We love it!
Please share your ideas on the identity of the chair with Lane in the comments below...thanks!
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The scale and funkiness make me think it's from the 80s.
I hear that Antiques Roadshow is coming to San Jose in August - Maybe you can get a free appraisal there...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/ontheroad.html
Horchow sells a similar but more opulent chair for $800 - so I'm sure yours is worth quite a bit less...
http://www.horchow.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=cprod33430012&parentId=cat5720732&masterId=cat5720731&index=38&cmCat=cat000000cat000001cat1290731cat5720731cat5720732
I don't know what it's worth, but I love it! What a great find.
I'm not so much concerned with it's value other than it needs a few minor repairs and if it was some special piece, I would take more care. I really just want to know who made it so I can get another!
Thanks for the tips so far, @bepsf, the chair you posted, aside from the upholstery the legs and wood back are identical.
They look like William Haines' "low chairs", as seen in the NY Magazine Home Design section last fall:
http://nymag.com/homedesign/slideshows/2008/greenhouse/index5.html
It looks a lot like a Mitchell Gold chair I have had my eye on. I cant find it on their website but a furniture store in my neighborhood had it in their window for a few years ago.
I thought Mitchell Gold too, but they're very dear and unlikely to show up at yard sales ... but, maybe this is on of those happy exceptions. Great lines, no matter who the maker.
Just because a similar chair is sold at Horchow, does not mean that a simalar yard sale find is not worth anything.
It's a familiar style going back to deco 20's and 30's, popular in the 50's and 60's as a 'boudoir' chair i.e. not for lounging, thus the dainty back. This looks a lot like this current custom line from Donazella:
<A HREF="http://www.donzella.com/itemdetails.php?id=83287" target=#NEW></A>
Watch ebay to find a match at a better price.
Can't this blog take HTML image tags?
http://www.donzella.com/itemdetails.php?id=83287
It's a chair.
It is in the style of William (Billy) Haines. There were a lot of similar style chair made during the 50s patterned off his original design.
http://www.williamhaines.com/
"Just because a similar chair is sold at Horchow, does not mean that a simalar yard sale find is not worth anything"
Nobody implied that - Reread my response.
I was just walking through Dania today at lunch and saw a chair very, very similar to this. I didn't have my camera with me - bummer! - so I tried to look it up online. The chair I saw today is not on their website so I don't have an image to show you, but just wanted to give you a heads-up.
The avenue six curves collection has one that's similar too.
I guess we can come to the numerous conclusions here:
1.) It's a popular style and many people/companies make it.
2.) You probably never gonna fiigure it out unless their is a tag underneath the chair.
3.) People really need to chill the FC_uk out.
I have a VERY similar chair I got from Home Decorator's collection about 1 year /- ago (mine is mustard yellow). Yours has far nicer legs and fabric (velvet?), but maybe it was a different version?
http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Curves_Button-Back_Chair/610/
This design is inspired on William (Billy) Haines chair design called the "Pull up chair", however, he had few different creations that look very similar to yours.....therefor, few different companies manufacture variations of this chair!
Modern Flavor has 2 different styles w/ great quality and price:
Bucket chair
http://www.modernflavor.com/seating/bucketchair/index.html
Classic Bucket chair
http://www.modernflavor.com/seating/bucketchairclassic/index.html
Price: $765 C.O.M (w/o fabric cost)
thank you everyone! I googled every search term I could think of and nothing came up, so this is really helpful.
The damage to the chair is a cracked leg and a tear in the fabric on the back, very small, and both are pretty invisible from the front.
I paid $20. for it. You can't go wrong for that much. :)
The good news, is that at best, it has the general feel of a William Haines chair.
You can't go wrong with that!
"it's" means "it is;" "its" is possessive. How many people at AT read this question without bothering to fix the grammar?
I have a set of chairs that are almost identical to this. Mine are covered in a gold velvet too, but the wood on mine are blond. They were sold to me at a flea market in South GA for $50 for the pair. The seller told me they were part of her bedroom suite from the 1950-60s. She said they were called "shoe chairs", and they were designed to go at the end of the bed. You sat in them in the morning to put on your shoes - thus, they are low to the ground. I have mine in my living room, and I get raves over their midcentury mod style!