This is one for the Thrifty! Hall of Fame.
Vintage. Herman Miller. Eames. 670. Lounge Chair.
Sadly no ottoman.
It did come with some unfortunate Thrifty! issues:
- A broken spider base…look at that aluminum peel.
-Missing seat buttons and some wear and tear on the leather.
-The urethane coat was flaking off the molded plywood panels.
-Deep gauges, scrathes and paint on the wood.
-White paint on the seat.
-Dry and FILTHY leather.
The bad boy could be fixed up a bit to restore some of it’s original luster. I sanded off the urethane and treated the molded plywood with Danish Oil and eventually buffed with Feed-N-Wax.
The spider base had snapped in two places. I used JB Weld to epoxy them back together. Ugly but works! Still not sure how to handle that peeling aluminum base…
The chrome got buffed with some steel wool and the leather got treated and cleaned with a spray on leather conditioner.
So here is the best part.
I was driving to the lumber yard near my work and of course was keeping an eye out at a couple of the weird thrift stores on the way. I drove past this small thrift store (I can NEVER remember the name) called the Help Center something or Earth Aliens or something weird and SLAMMED on my brakes. Backed up (on the main road through town) and pulled into the dirt lot.
Sitting outside was the saddest dusty but very obvious Eames lounge chair. Hello beautiful.
I waited patiently next to it while the owner chatted on the phone and after he was done I casually asked after the price.
“Oh this chair? I just picked it up a half hour ago”. Then this other lady owner shouts. “Hey, ain’t that one of those Eames chairs?” BUSTED.
Then for like five minutes everyone discussed that yes indeed it was an Eames chair, and wow those are pricey, and what a nice chair, and oh we should clean it up it’s so filthy…
Then the owner man was like “Well do you know who’s chair this is? It’s Richard Page from that band from the 80’s, oh you know – Mr. Mister. He’s a wonderful artist, you should see his work. Just amazing. I know you like the chair don’t you? I saw you in the road stop and back up…”
I have to confess, I had NO CLUE what Mr. Mister ever sang (it’s Broken Wings BTW), but it just seems like such a weirdly specific thing to lie about that I’m inclined to believe it may have actually been the lead singers from Mr. Mister old Eames chair.
Finally the topic of price came up after an excruciatingly long time…
“Why don’t you give me $60 for it.” I countered with $50 because of the poor condition. “Alright sweety, $50 it is. You got yourself a good deal.”
FUCK YEAH I did.
82 Comments
YOU DID NOT. My jealousy is totally showing.
GAH!
Sort of angry and sort of excited. Not sure how to articulate what emotion I’m feeling, but I think it might be jealousy, too.
GAH!
I hate you! These things couldn’t happen up here in Sweden. Not enough crappy moderately successful bands here in the eighties…
Not too sure what I’m more impressed about – the $50 chair or that it was owned by the guy from Mr Mister. Great story.
Thrifty Karma came good for you again, of course it did. Enjoy, you lucky duck.
Everybody elses thrift success stories pale in comparison. This is F*CKING incredible !!!
so you got 2 chairs, no fair!
amazing! it’s gorgeous
oh man,
i think its ugly. you should give it to me.
what? sooo jealous.
I CANT BELIVE IT!! 50$!! You have really good thrifty karma!
Hahaha! That’s freaking awesome. I love, love finds like that. And don’t you wish people would keep their big mouths shut.
Excellent find! You may be able to remove the piece at the bottom and take it to a machine shop to see if they can custom make a piece. Maybe not the cheapest solution, but I’m not sure how you “fix” a part that is so busted.
Holy thrift! unbelievably jealous!
i just recently found your blog (through ApartmentTherapy) and i’ve been checking back every day since … love everything.
HOLY SHIT. You are the fucking rockstar, not that Mr. Mister fucktard. Awesome!
nice. congrats. jeals.
love the story too. i’m glad that painful convo wasn’t wasted on a rediculously high price! $50 is a steal for the real thing!
insanely jealous over here in NYC where that just don’t happen. im ashamed now that i bought my plycraft knockoff for $135 in Pittsburgh,
BEST story ever. Still can’t believe you spent $50!
You’re going to have to play “Broken Wings” by Mr. Mister to welcome that chair into your house. It only seems right.
Nice score!
this will go down in great finds fame! btw, what city did you snag this in?
I am green with envy! Love the Mr. story.
holy fuck! that’s awesome! i love the Mr. Mister tie in.
Take…that broken base…and make it work again, that chair was almost free…
one hundred thousand percent jealous
I need to hire you to do some thrifting for me… fantastic find!!!
Mazel tov a second time.
I knew you’d Danish Oil his backside. Eames loooooves it when you do that.
Yay! Happy Day. Good things come to those who wait (and obsess). You did a great job cleaning it up too!
yeeeeeeessssssssss!
I bet the base was broken during some hot groupie action. ew!
Ah – I love a good thrift story. Yours just made my day! It’s lovely…missing button and all. I love furniture that comes with an odd story (or two!?!). Congrats! I imagine you’ll be a repeat customer now?
-Jordana
j.e.a.l.o.u.s. — about the deal and chair equally. i never remember who mr. mister is but my boy does and will be so excited when he hears this story.
You hit the mother-lode of thrifting! Stories like this keep me looking and hoping for awesome finds too.
That is a stinking awesome find! I’m tres jealous, but congrats to you.
If I were any more jealous I would be on fire. This totally makes up for all of your unthrifty disappointments!
AH MAH GAWD!!!! SCORE!!!!!!!!!
I am so jealous. How do you find all of these awesome things?!
Great Score, Nice Job!! I’m Jealous too.
I just started reading your blog a few days ago..
This is an amazing find.. I thought the $90 you paid for your Eames surfboard was great, but this takes the cake.
YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a good way
STFUP!
i think i’m going to copy and paste your house in my life. your thrifting is unequaled.
“Sadly no ottoman”
Oh, the nerve.
Alex…I paid $90 for my freakin’ Plycraft, so don’t we feel spendy. Nice job….
Lucky girl! Fun story. The chair obviously went to a good and loving home.
WHAT?! i just paid 50 for two eames shells and I thought that was good. So not fair. Love your blog.
I can’t believe you countered from $60 to $50! That cracks me up. I would have given Mr. Mister the $60 and ran with it. Miss balls-o-steel. Cheers on the great find!
HOLY MOLY!!!! I can’t believe you got it for that price! I’m seething with jealousy! Even the knockoffs are more than $60..at least in my neighborhood!
NO. WAY. NO WAY. NO WAY. AND it belonged to Mr. Mister??? You may have to stop thrifting now because there is no way you’ll ever top this. Congratulations, Morgan. Well done.
Holy Shit, I just about choked when you got to the price. You must have been a reeeeeally nice person in your past life. Nice score, and great story – a thrifting twofer. Oh and Tim Young, I have not laughed that hard in days. Thanks.
Since you spent only $50 on the whole chair, you may want to just replace the base with genuine parts either direct from Herman Miller or one of the other outfits that specialize in the repair of them like humemodern.com.
I hate you…that print you got, the one that’s worth thousands? I saw it at the DIA ( Detroit Institute of Art) on the weekend. Oh and did I tell you…I hate you.
Awesome story! and damn you and your $50 Eames chair.
I hope it made up for the bad thrifty not too long ago. That find rocks! You have one already right…but not an original? I’m jealous, but happy for you. You sounded so sad after the drive to that bad estate sale.
This hurts so good.
I could be wrong, but I think the peeling aluminum part might be non-original spacer, added to raise the height of the chair. Maybe you can just take it off somehow. The spider mount on my lounge sits flush with the base, with no spacer, just like this:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/MarketFacingTech/hmc/products/Eames_Lounge_Chair_and_Ottoman/hero_eames_lounge_1.jpg
What what what? How does this always happen to you and never to me? I mean, Mr Mister for fucksake!
Oh, and if you buff chrome with aluminum foil, it works WONDERS.
Lucky lucky girl! I’m sure there’s a place with a lot of after market eames buttons you can find. That chair has so much character, and a great story!
You are the almighty Queen! Enjoy!
Holy shit! I’m SO jealous right now I could scream. You are living a little dream I have just about every f-ing night.
Enjoy your new chair!
DYING!!!!!!!!! So jealous but so happy for you. See that is the true amazement of the States, here in Australia mid century thrift finds of that calibre are like hens teeth.
Love your blog by the way.
NO YOU DID NOTTTTTT I do not believe that you are a real person that has these things happen to you.
I think I need to go thrifting with you!
hats off, seriously.
i’m actual speechless at this.
good work.
Great good luck story! So what is the Eames chair worth on the market?
Check out FirstDibs.com for a possible taker. Or maybe you’d like to enjoy it yourself. Fair play to you in any case.
Coveting.
.
Evil, blatant coveting
omg I can’t wait to rest my broken wings on your mister mister chair!
SCORE! I’ll bet that you were high all day off of that.
It’s the sweetness of junking.
Congrats
I bow before your thrifty godliness! We are not worthy, we are not worthy! (but that chair sure is!)
Forgot about the chair, Broken Wings is an awesome song!
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I bought 2 of these pieces of art about a year and a half ago from a little old lady for $2500 and felt like I got the steal of the year and then you publish these lies hahaha! I guess I can be happy mine are the old version from the 60’s although I wouldn’t mind the $2450 in my pocket!
Chances are that office chairs of that era shared the same bases, therefore your goodies can be poached. I make quick cardboard templates in lieu of carrying the actual hardware with me. Fixes are there just like the scores. I get a bigger rush from the fix than I do from the score very often.
…..now they have a big sign up with “SALE” on it. Maybe I should stop by there some time but I just think that guy is creepy. Of course, for $50 I could deal I suppose.
WOWZERS! I did not see that punchline coming. Well done.
Yay! You earned it, with all the repairing and restoring, schmoozing and bargaining. Enjoy it.
Shuuuuuut uuuuuup. You didn’t. Ugh!
These ones with real rosewood (not santos palisander) are apparently extra expensive with pieces selling for over the price of new ones,
HFS!
I cry.
why don’t you take it to a shop and have it professionally welded as oppose to the jb weld. it should be quite cheap and well worth it.
Holy hell I can’t believe you even dared to counter the $60! Congrats!
unreal.
job well done!
I just knew it could be done…..
damn…all i can find are fakes on craigslist and those assholes want over $200….for a FAKE!
I just found one in the garbage with the ottoman except the chair has no base, I have to find one somewhere. It is also a little beat up but I think I can clean it up some. I like your story too.
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