I bought this at Steve's Antiques over the summer. I had seen it there languishing in the back for quite a while and finally realized that it just needed to come home with me.
It had the sad fortune of having had it's top surface painted in 80's or 90's with
"fleck stone" paint. Ick.
I have since sanded it down to bare (ply)wood but haven't decided what to do
next. From observation I get the notion that it was originally painted a light cream
color. The Wood has a nice grain so I'm thinking about staining and finishing it. I
think it looks like an Arthur Umanoff piece but I've been fooled before. I thought
the same thing about my (former) Dorothy Schindele desk.
It took me about two days of "off and on" searching to figure out who designed it.
My first thought was Mr. McCobb...then Umanoff...when they didn't pan out I just
sorta' randomly found a pic of another desk just like it. I usually end up finding
what I need through these thin threads of similarity. Google Image search is
invaluably helpful!
Speaking of Google Image search, while trying to ID the table above I found out
the ID of the Danish style chair I found at the Belleville Flea Market back in
September!
Turns out, according to the author of paulmccobb.blogspot (whom I am not a fan
of for other reasons(EDIT! Please Read Comments Below!), namely his impertinent behavior on my flickr page) this is a
"1959 American Design Foundation chairs designed by Kipp Stewart and Stewart
MacDougal manufactured by Winchendon Furniture". So I guess I have to give the
author props for this info. It's just that I've seen his comments on several sites
espousing his opinion concerning a particular chair and it makes him look like he's
on some sort of mission from God to correct everybody's wrong ideas. I generally
have no time for that kind of behavior. Enough ranting. I may be totally wrong
about the guy. Anyway, I'm sure there is at least one person out there who thinks
I'm a jerk!
Sorry if I came off like a jerk! Reading back I can certainly understand why you might not have the best impression of me.
ReplyDeleteI'm just trying to do my level best to provide authoritative and accurate information wherever possible.
It was never my intention to piss off folks while do so.
JG - I may have Jumped The Gun a little bit on my judgment of your comment on my Flickr page. When posting here I try real hard to keep in mind that a lot is lost in translating thought to text and then text back to thought. Keeping that in mind while reading other peoples comments is equally important. Plus, I kinda baited you into an argument cuz I was a little irritated. So, I guess I should apologize as well. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteSo how is the book coming along?
I'm so glad the origins of the chair have been discovered!
ReplyDeleteIt's coming along. Still trying to tie up some loose ends as far as debunking the most onerous bad attributions. Most of them I have tracked down successfully with the notable exception of those Oak and Iron chairs...
ReplyDeleteI know where the attribution started, in a private conversation the originator agreed that they were in error, but has made no effort thus far to retract their published findings. So the error continues to compound. My only hope is seems is to find the proverbial "smoking gun" as far as authoritative proof of who actually designed and manufactured them and publish that far and wide if I ever hope to stem that particular bleeding tide.
Beyond that I am working on obtaining the archives of Paul McCobb's photographer who I am in touch with. Once I secure that archive I will be ready to start putting it all together.
And to think I had originally thought to have the book out about 6 months ago...
Want to make god laugh? Tell him your plans
I'm not much of a plans kinda guy. I still don't know why I'm blogcasting. There is a nice sense of accomplishment each day when I manage to get something up, but I didn't decide one day "Genius! I'll start a Blog and be able to...". It (as most things in my life) was more of a "Genius! I wonder what will happen if I...".
ReplyDeleteMonoG - It's the little things that make it all worth while!
ReplyDeleteLooks like your iron and rattan table is a 1955 design by a California company called "Wroughtan".
ReplyDelete"This California inspired blend of solid Phillipine rattan and heavy 1/2-inch wrought iron gives you that smart casual touch in your living room, dining room, bedroom, playroom or den. Tables have scratch-proof Splatter-stone tops... reversible cushions of solid foam rubber covered in exciting new fabrics. Wroughtan is easy to keep clean... high in quality, yet SO modest in price!"
see the following links for more details and images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5201474280/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5201474352/
Looking a little bit deeper it's interesting to note that Wroughtan was a Herb Ritts Company (as in the famous photographer...)
ReplyDeleteThe chair is incredible!! It would look sooo good in my house. haha
ReplyDeleteHmmm, looks like I may have removed the original finish on the table. Oops. Eh, it really was ugly. I'll look so much better when I get it done. No fleckstone.
ReplyDeleteThanks JG! Sending that nugget of info concerning the table was mighty kind of you. While none of the pieces are an exact match, my little table obviously belongs to the line.
Rhan - Thanks, haven't you seen the chair before? It now resides in the Reading Nook in our bedroom.
The drawings are really kind of rough but I think that the step table (top middle sketch) on http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5201474352/ might be your one.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you guys called a truce, because I really like both of you, and things were feeling a little awkward for me.
ReplyDeleteDana - Going back though the "archives"?
ReplyDeleteWell, for someone who knows nothing about furniture, but likes a steal...my fiance and I drove by some furniture out on the curb for city pick up the other day and scored a nifty little vintage asian couch...and it's actually a Ritts company piece, which with some research, turns out to be the product of Shirley Ritts, photographer Herb's mother, so in the interest of there not being more inappropriate attributions, it would be incorrect to call a piece by Ritts "a Herb Ritts Company", as it was not his company, but his parents'.
ReplyDeleteHe did work for them at some point tho. I'm a Herb fan, as I'm a photographer too, so it's cool with me to own a piece somehow connected to him, but even more neato that his mom made some pretty cool stuff!