Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Mr Modtomics Best Score Or Biggest Boo Boo? The Infamous FREE Pearsall Sofa And Letting It Go. Status: Sniff Sniff...Still Miss It.

Pearsall sofa 3

Free. That's right. We picked this up for FREE. The low low price of nothin'. Three easy payments of absolutely nada! I know...wow, right? Eh, it was a long time ago and the thrill is gone.

So here's the "acquisition" story. In the old days (like 5-6 years ago) the Girlfriend and I would

get up Saturday morning around 6am, jump in the car and make the estate sale rounds. We

are not Saturday morning people. I'm not a morning person at all and the Girlfriend, the poor

doll, only gets to sleep in on the weekends. But I'd drag us up and out the door. This was way

before the discovery of estatesales.net where you can get a pretty good visual idea of what

might be waiting for you at any given sale. I was just getting an address and a limited idea of

what they had from ads in the paper. It was pretty hit or miss but we usually found a little

something at each.



Well, we had been at it all day and were at the last sale on our little list. It was a modest

bungalow in south city just on the south bank of River Des Peres. The thing about these kind

of places is that you just never know. These folks lived through the depression and learned to

appreciate what they had come to have in life. So much so that they threw away nothing it

would seem. When an item was replaced it was put on a shelf in the basement or garage. It

was not thrown out. It might be needed again! When this sofa was replaced it apparently made

it's way to the sun porch. The sellers were having people come in through the back door and

leave through the front. It was about 1pm when we arrived and were likely the last buyers of the

day. We found nothing in the house but as we were exiting through the sun porch I spotted it. It

was waiting there with a note that read "Free Take". Really! "Free Take"! Uhmmm...Ok.

Pearsall sofa 1

We were driving a two door Honda Civic at the time. No way was this going in that! The sellers

were eager to have it gone and agreed to set it out next to the house while we procured a van

to move our booty. We borrowed the Girlfriends mothers van and were just able squeeze it in if

we pushed the seats all the way forward. It was quite comical in that I felt like I was driving like a

clown with twenty other clowns stuffed in the car with me waiting to spill out. But we got it. It was

ours. Did I mention it was free?

Pearsall sofa 2

Now the sad story. You see, this was early in my informal vintage modern education. I knew it

was something special, just not what. I just thought it was Jetsons looking for real! I had never

heard the name Adrian Pearsall before, or Craft Associates. But I knew a little. Just not enough

to hold onto it. I had a couple come by to look at a record player that I had available. When

they arrived they noticed and admired the Pearsall sofa (of course!) and asked if it was

available. We hadn't really been using it as it was itchy (wool? fiberglass insulation? who

knows?) and we kept stuff on it since I was afraid Kennedy would destroy it with his sizable

claws. So after giving the Girlfriend a "what do ya think" look, I said sure. They asked how

much and after a few more seconds of (lame) thought I shrugged and asked (asked!) $125.

Well of course they snapped it right up. They blinked twice and said they'd be right back with

the additional cash. They were moving to Chicago. They bought a sofa that they were then

going to have to MOVE TO CHICAGO! I shoulda' known something was up! I shoulda' known I

was gonna miss that couch.

9 comments:

  1. I did the same thing once with a Herman Miller chair. I bought it at a moving sale for $20.00 and tried it out in my living room for a while.
    I didn't think it was working so well with my decor, so I posted it on Craigslist for $40.00. Within minutes I has several responses, but the first was from a lady in Minneapolis who was willing to drive 3 hours for it.
    About a month later, I was reading Apartment Therapy and there was the chair, featured in a house tour from Minneapolis! The lady was talking about how she "scored this Chair for $40.00 off of craigslist. I knew it was special, I just didn't know it was "that" special.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very cool sofa! I love how all of the good finds come with a good story!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh Man! How much do you think that particular sofa could have been sold for (fairly)?

    That's a really good newby find!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I did the SAME thing. I got a sofa free off CL - it was a gorgeous MCM sectional. Then I got the bid to have it reupholstered and restuffed - ouch. I could buy 3 new sectionals for that price, so I let her go. I gave it away on CL - had people fighting over it. I was offered several hundred dollars... maybe it was more special than I knew. It went to someone who was a MCM lover and planned to rehab it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Before we decided to open the store, I got an Adrian Pearsall sofa for $125. I knew what it was, and I wanted to use it in my own home, but when I got it there, it just didn't work, so I sold it for nearly 6 times what I paid for it...in less than 24 hours. In the store we could probably sell it for $1250 or more. At the same estate sale, my daughter got Adrian Pearsall coffee table and end table bases for $4 each. We just recently found out that the poor guy we harassed for the glass never had it in the first place...but we did find out where it is and now need to bargain with the lady or at least cut a pattern.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow... bittersweet story. On the bright side, you did make some money on it and now you won't pass up an Adrian Pearsall.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is SUCH a gorgeous couch. It would go very well with the Lane Perception Coffee table that's enduring great abuse downstairs in my dorm's "Lounge." *cry*

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMG,OMG,OMG... I would have carried it home on my back-and yeah,it has happened before. Beautiful. Wish it were in my L.Room. Have a great day. TheCatsMomma.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am trying to buy a Pearsall today...wish me luck!!! I am so nervous though. I am about to post my H miller chair@
    https://www.etsy.com/listing/109668881/kimiko-glasses-mid-century-barware

    Stephanie

    ReplyDelete