Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Yesterday's Post Made Me Think About How Many Chairs That Have Made An Appearance Here. Let's Look Back! Status: It's A Lot...And That's Being "Chair"itable.

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This chair was not only the first chair to be featured here at Mr. Modtomic...it was the first post EVER!  I'm creating this post as I write so I don't even know how many chairs I have featured and I don't know how many I'll review in this particular post.  Click through to find out how many made it!
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Yep, this great danish style barrel side chair was the very first item to be featured here on the

blog
.  I about couldn't get the chair up to the cash register and out to the car fast enough when

I found it at the St. Charles Salvation Army.  The chair was later sold and sent to Chicago for

somebody's daughter.

Selig Z Chair 1Selig Z Chair 2

Then along came this beautiful Selig "Z" chair. It was posted on the Springfield Mo. craigslist

by Funtiques Market antique mall. Small world story: I ended up meeting the seller of this chair

again a few months ago at an estate auction that was just down the street from me! Thus far this

is still the nicest chair I have...but not the most comfortable. There is no nap taking in this chair.

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These "Pod" chairs were advertised on craigslist and we stopped by to see / buy them on our

way to the Belleville Flea Market.  There were four of them together and we used them often

for extra guest or party seating.  They were really light and comfortable.  The set got split up

and sent in different directions and are now all gone.

Dscn5098Sold Striped Mod Task Chair 08Sold Striped Mod Task Chair 04

This task chair reupholstery was my first feature of a before and after.  This chair was very high

quality.  It rolled and swiveled so so smoothly.  It was a nice first project to get my feet wet in

reuphostery work.  The "new" fabric was actually a panel from some drapes that I got at a

thrift store.  I still have the other panels and have even found a few more at an estate sale!

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These beautiful bentwood and chrome steel Pagholz / Royal - Royalmetal chairs just left my

collection this evening...to the same guys who bought that coffee table from Gus (at

Vandeventer Vintage)
last weekend.  Small world!  In another twist of small world irony...I

bought the Pagholz chairs FROM Gus myself way before he opened his current shop or his

former shop in Soulard.  Weird.

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Ah...the OMC, Original Man Chair! This was another craigslist find. It was super cheap as the

seller just wanted it gone and the seam between the fabric seatback and the vinyl headrest was

split. It was an exceedingly easy fix. I just had to sorta "skin" the chair, re-sew by hand the

seam and replace the upholstery upon the frame. It took some time but it was worth the effort.

The chair was saved and served me well during it's time at the Modtomic household.

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These two Knoll Bertoia Diamond chairs were a "freestyle picking" score.  I found them on a

porch in East St. Louis Il. while we were on our way to the drive in theater in Belleville Il.  The

sad part?  There was only the two and the seller told me that their former employer had given

them about a dozen or more that they had sold at yard sales.  ::sob::

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This pair of Douglass fiberglass shell chairs were bought at different times.  I got the first at the

St. Charles Antique Mall and it isn't labeled.  I posted about the mystery of who made it and

a reader, Kim, came through with the second chair which I also purchased from her!  Now I

have a pair and I love them.  What I really need now is a matched pair of bases for them.

Unfortunately I don't think the mounts are the same configuration as a Herman Miller / Eames

shell chair or I'd get some Eiffel bases for them!

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This was my second real "designer" chair find, the first being the Bertoia Diamond chairs above.

I had to do a little reluctant haggling before I was able to bring this ever so stylish piece of

seating home from the Belleville Flea Market. It's identification was a mystery until some

information gleaned from Jonathan Goldstein revealed it to be designed by Kipp Stewart and

Stewart MacDougal for Winchendon Furniture. Except for the pics of another on Jonathan's

blog, I've never seen another like it. Anybody else? I oughta drag this out to get appraised at

an Antiques Roadshow some day!

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This amazing Googie Orange Slice or Clam Shell chair was found on craigslist and is still one

of the Girlfriends favorites.  I gotta admit...looking at these pics, I too harbor a great admiration

for it's kitschy lines and retro vinyl upholstery.  I have from time to time tried unsuccessfully to

sell this and a pair of other (nearly) matching chairs.  I'm glad to still have them to this day.




Well, that's the first ten.  I think that's enough for one post.  I'll drop some more another time.

  Note that these Ten chairs or chair sets were all from only the first 45 posts.  I've got another

500 posts to sift through!  Yikes.

13 comments:

  1. Haven't seen your Z chair before. I assume that's one of those "goes into hiding during parties" pieces. Love those things.

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    1. Exactly! It got stuck in the garage for the party. I'll not wake up hung over to find water rings on that baby! Unfortunately, things have gotten kinda out of control in the livingroom and I haven't been able to bring it back in yet.

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  2. Quite a nice assortment of chairs there! And, yes, after you get over that 500 mark of posts, things do get harder to find...especially when your labels cloud isn't working...grrrrrrrrrrrr.

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    1. And have you ever noticed how lousy the search function works sometimes?

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  3. I think switching shock mount positions on shell chairs is a fairly easy process. Check out the step by step on a blog called "chairfag".

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    1. Now that's using the ol' hat rack! I'll do a little research on that. I might end up being able to use some Eames style repro bases after all! I actually prefer these shells to Eames / Herman Miller because of the "hair" strand patterning in them.

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  4. I just wanted you to know that i really "chairish" your blog.

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  5. Fantastic collection of chairs... the Bentwood, the Z chair, so many great finds. And I am really drawn to the OMC, quite fetching.

    What a coincidence, I just posted about my chairs just now.

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    1. Nice Eames shell chairs! There was an ad on craigslist here in St. Louis from a seller who had 500 (!!!) stacking shell chairs available. I offered $50 each for as many as 50 (original asking was $85 each w/ discount for buying more than 10) but the seller ended up DONATING almost all of them and I ended up empty handed. Oh well.

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  6. So that's where they went! I was going to make the same offer, but the add was down by the time I came up with the scratch. After seeing Momoderne's CL add, I figured they got 'em all!

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  7. Hi. I have 3 Pagholz chairs purchased at a university surplus store but, unfortunately, each was without a base. Can you provide any info as to any sources for purchasing the base for these chairs? I have been scouring ebay, Craigslist, etc. with no luck. Thanks.

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    1. That's gonna be a tough order to fill. I rarely see the whole chairs and have Never seen just bases. Plus, the bases are Riveted to the seat so it's kind of amazing that you've managed to find just the seats! My guess is that they were spares in case one got broken. I'd suggest selling them as such and buying complete chairs with the proceeds. Good luck, I hope you work it all out!

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