How to tell "Real" Vintage Furniture from Contemporary Knockoffs - Part 1: Talking to the Seller

Today in Janus Home's installment series "A Primer on Modern Furniture", we will start a “series within a series”, if you will, on a topic of great value to anyone considering buying modern furniture on the secondary market - "How can I tell 'genuine' mid century modern furniture from contemporary knockoffs"? Although this might seem like a daunting task, there are a few easy tips that we can give you that will make distinguishing the wheat from the chaff much, much easier. We are going to break this down into four separate posts: talking to the seller; powers of observation; commonly reproduced vintage designs; and last but not least, how to distinguish “quality” vintage furniture from lower-end or “middle of the road” vintage.

Part 1: Talking to the seller

Over the last five years or so, a little site called craigslist.org has positively revolutionized the way people buy and sell their stuff (in addition to making the newspaper classified section virtually obsolete!). You can find pretty much anything and everything you’re looking for on Craigslist – if you’re patient enough! It has also made it much easier for a buyer to connect directly with a seller without the intercession of a middleman or dealer. Let's say you're going to look at a pair of chairs that you found on Craigslist, and you want to be sure that they are actually vintage and not purchased last year at Target. The most obvious thing to do is simply to ask the seller where and when they got them! If you're at the seller's house looking at the chairs, and you ask them when and where they got them, and they say "Oh, I got them from my Grandmother and she had them for as long as I can remember", that's obviously a good sign. If they say "we got them at Macy's a few years ago", that's obviously not such a good sign. Admittedly, this is a pretty boneheaded example - however, sometimes the obvious solution to the problem is actually the right solution! It's pretty rare that a private seller of a piece of furniture will deliberately try to pass something off as something it's not, so you can usually get valuable information from them .

Things get a little trickier when you're buying from a resale shop, antique/vintage shop or antique mall. Of these three, the small antique/vintage store owner is most likely to provide you with accurate information about a piece. With an antique mall or a resale shop, it's usually almost impossible to talk to anyone who has any direct connection to the piece. Forget talking to the actual person who owned the piece, at that point you can't even talk to the person who bought it from the original owner! Although it’s something of a long shot, it can’t hurt to ask the antique mall staff if they could contact the dealer whose piece of furniture you’re considering. In any case, it's important to know the reputation of the shop that you're buying from! Talk to your friends and see if they've had any experiences, good or bad, with that particular shop. Social media sites like Twitter can also be a great way to get feedback from people on specific shops. These days, if someone has a genuinely lousy experience somewhere, it can get broadcasted to the web for all to see in a matter of minutes.

So, assuming you’ve exhausted all the possibilities listed above and are still unable to squeeze any pertinent information out of anyone with relation to the piece of furniture you’re interested in…you’ll have to fall back on your powers of observation! Stay tuned for our next installment, which will provide you with some great pointers on how to do just that.

Janus Home Stages a House!

3205 NE FREMONT ST, PORTLAND, OR 97212

We are very pleased to be finished with our very first home staging job! And what a canvas we had to stage - a 1951 mid-century marvel designed and built by noted Portland architect Kenneth Birkmeier! Although Birkmeier was responsible for quite a few homes in the NE Portland area in the late 1940s-1950s, this particular home has the distinction of being the one that he built for his own family to reside in. Boasting truly stunning south-facing 180 degree views from the floor to ceiling windows in the living room and dining room, this home is enough to make any lover of mid-century style salivate! Anything but your typical ranch home, this one has the loving touch of a craftsman written all over it.

Our take on this home was to bring in elements of vintage style, using all vintage furniture and artwork with a few new accessories to round everything out. This home is glamorous and stately, and we tried to echo that feeling with sophistocated, glamorous, yet practical furnishings that not only look great, but that one could actually live with (imagine that!).

If you're interested in further investigating this home, you can go here. You will also see some "before" pictures and see how it looked like before we got to it (although the living room furniture that you see in these photos, which isn't too bad, was NOT in the home when we started). The home has been open every Sunday for the last few weeks, and we assume this will continue. If you have any specific questions about the home, or would like to arrange a private showing, please contact the listing agent, Carrie Escobar.

Have any comments? We'd love to hear! We are ramping up to launch a full scale staging business focused specifically on mid century homes, so we'd love to hear your feedback! In the meantime, enjoy the pictures, and go check out the house if you are able!

The entryway. Piero Fornasetti poster, Curtis Jere style metal wall sculpture, pair of white cased glass decanters.

Wide angle view of living room. Faux ostrich sofa with cast aluminum legs, pair of button tufted barrel chairs with walnut bases, stainless and brass end table, root coffee table with biomorphic glass top, pair of Walter Von Nessen brass torchieres.

Wide angle view #2 of living room

Living room, incorporating the fantastic view!

Dining room: Paul McCobb Planner Group drop leaf extension dining table, set of 6 stripped steel industrial chairs with leather seats.

Dining room looking into the kitchen.

Dining room view from kitchen.

Master Bedroom. Milo Baughman for Glenn of California king size bed with attached walnut nightstands, Danish shell slipper chair reupholstered in pink silk, Danish teak stacking tables, Bernard Buffet print.

Master Bedroom #2.

Master Bedroom #3.

Master Bathroom/Master Bedroom.

Upstairs bedroom. Paul McCobb Planner Group rod iron & maple bed, Danish prints, Gabbeh rug.

Upstairs bedroom. Edward Wormley for Drexel dresser/sideboard, Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios table lamp, Danish print.

Office (or 3rd bedroom). Walnut executive desk with ebonized top, modernist oil on canvas by Seiker, Victor Vasarely print, Paul Klee print, Danish Modern lounge chair, reupholstered.

Office #2.

Wide angle view of Den. Danish oil on canvas "Abstraktion Over Fra Angeliko", geometric kilim rug, African drum coffee table, pair of walnut benches reupholstered in spring green velvet, abstract pen & ink by Milton Wilson.

Den #2.

Den #3.

A Primer on Modern Furniture - Part 1 of a Series

Today on the Janus Home blog, we thought we'd take a little time out for some education. We realize that when someone does a web search for "Modern Furniture", they're going to be inundated with hundreds of products from hundreds of shops, all selling different kinds of furniture that they are all labeling "Modern". Because of this, we though it would be beneficial to our readers to get some of the "back story" on modern furniture and design. So, let's begin at the beginning!

What period is Modern furniture from?
Loosely speaking, modern furniture originated with the Bauhaus movement in the 1920s with designers and architects such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer. Although the roots of modern can certainly be traced farther back than this, this is when Modernism truly started to assert itself as a singular style. Looking back at some of the designs produced during this period by the aforementioned designers, and others such as Gerrit Reitveldt and Eileen Gray, one would be hard-pressed to not assume that these were contemporary designs.

Classic chair designs by (L-R) Mies van der Rohe, Gerrit Reitveld and Marcel Breuer.

What is meant by the term "Mid Century"?:

Although Modern had its roots in the 1920s and continued to gather steam in the 1930s and 40s, the post-war period of the late '40s and early '50s is when what we know today as "Mid Century Modern" truly came into its own. Designers such as Charles & Ray Eames, George Nelson and Paul McCobb helped to truly bring modern design into people's homes, with affordable, accessable, high quality pieces of furniture that are still highly desirable and collectable today. The clean lines and lack of fussy ornamentation of this furniture fit right in to the ranch-style homes that were popping up all over the country at this point in time. It was a time for the country to regroup and rebuild after the tragedy and devastation that World War II had wrought, and the clean, fresh designs that these men and women brought to the table fit in perfectly with what Americans were looking for.Designs by (L-R) George Nelson for Herman Miller ("Thin Edge" dresser in teak), Charles & Ray Eames ("Rope Edge" rocker) and Paul McCobb for Calvin (mahogany extention dining table).

Where did Modern Furniture first originate?:
This is a tough question to answer, as there isn't really any one place where the Modern aesthetic first originated. The easiest answer would probably be the USA, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate, because at the same time seeds of Modernist design were sprouting literally all over the Western Hemisphere, from Scandinavia to Germany to the UK to Russia - if not in furniture, than certainly in art and industrial design.


What were it's influences?
Modernist furniture design was clearly influenced by the Modernist period of art and literature, but also certainly by earlier furniture styles, from Art Deco to Shaker to Japanese and Chinese furniture. Modernist designers were fond of taking classical forms and stripping them of all excess decoration and ornament. Paul McCobb's famous Planner Group Windsor Chair is a great example of this, taking its inspiration from a classical antique Windsor chair, and was one of the best-selling chairs of the 1950s. Hans Wegner's "Chinese Chair" and "Papa Bear Chair" are also good examples of classic antique forms given a modern kick in the pants.

(L-R) Paul McCobb's "Planner Group" Windsor chairs, Hans Wegner's "Papa Bear" chair (a modernist adaptation of the classic wingback chair), and Wegner's "Chinese" chair.

Why is it still popular?
Modernist furniture is still popular for the same reasons i became popular in the first place: it is simple, has clean lines, is usually very comfortable and ergonomic, it is built to fit in smaller spaces, and it is, for the most part, extremely well made. One would have to spend thousands of dollars on a new piece of furniture in order to get the quality present in even a garden variety piece of 1950s furniture. When you add this to the fact that so much contemporary furniture out there today is nothing more than a direct ripoff of mid-century designs (how many versions of the iconic "Barcelona" chair are in existence at this point?), investing in real mid-century furniture makes sense in many different ways.

We hope you've enjoyed this first installment of the series, and please check back soon for the next installment, where we'll be discussing how to actually distinguish "real" mid century furniture from contemporary knockoffs!

Set of 4 Rosewood Safari Chairs

Sometimes I buy pieces and immediately know that I've knocked it out of the park. Other times I buy pieces and 10 minutes later I'm slapping my forehead saying "WHY did I BUY that??" Still other times, and this is probably my favorite, I buy something feeling a bit lukewarm towards it, and it slowly grows on me the longer I have it, until I am totally enamored of the piece. That's what happened with these rosewood safari chairs.

Despite the fact that they are obviously good looking chairs (and surprisingly comfortable), I was not sold immediately. The Safari chair is a fairly common form, and even at its best, has sort of a limited value and saleability. It's sort of an in-between chair - not quite substantial enough to be a lounge chair, but certainly too wide and low to be a dining chair. Also, these chairs were, strangely enough, made in Pakistan, which is not usually known as a destination for fine furniture.

However, the price was right, and I was talked into them. I'm sure glad that the guy I bought them from persevered, because they are now some of my favorite pieces that I've bought in a long time! Once I got them into the store, I started to notice the extremely high quality craftsmanship that went into the creation of these chairs. First off, each chair is comprised of solid rosewood, with nice thick black leather seats and finely made brass fittings. Then I looked closer at the brass fittings and realized...these are hand-hammered, not machine made!

Being that they are safari chairs, they of course break down into 10 sticks and 2 slings each. These chairs take it one step further, however. When I was buying them, the guy who had brought them to me said "you don't want these bags, do you"? "Which bags?", I asked. "These carrying bags. Each chair has it's own little carrying bag". "Are you kidding me??" I stammered. Of course I want them! That's maybe the coolest thing about the chairs!"


So here I am, ready for a day at the beach with my portable rosewood & leather safari chair, complete with carrying bag!

The maker's mark.

Oh boy, more great stuff!

Some great new pieces that have hit the shop in the last few days!

A very cool studio pottery vase, c. 1970s.

A pair of down-filled cube club chairs by Charles Pfister for Knoll.

A mystery desk lamp that is giving me hives with the effort of trying to identify it. I KNOW I've seen this thing somewhere before!

A beautiful walnut coffee table by T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings for Widdicomb. Currently in the process of refinishing it.

A really gorgeous fused glass vase. This one might be coming home with me!

A California modern split-reed cane and iron table/bench.

AND...last, but not least, a lovely little teak & oak desk chair with rush seat by Aksel Bender Madsen & Eijnar Larsen.

A Chair or a Sculpture? Leather Hoop Chair by Borge Mogensen

This week I was fortunate enough to acquire the above piece of art, a bent beech and leather lounge chair by Borge Mogensen. This chair has incredible presence, almost like it's a throne for some primitive tribal leader. It demonstrates how the masters of Danish furniture design were able to synthesize different styles with the more traditional "Danish Modern" and create true works of art (see also Hans Wegner's "Chinese Chair" or Finn Juhl's "Chieftan Chair"). Chairs of this quality just exude a certain je ne sais quoi - it's almost as if you can feel the presence of the designer and his intentions for the chair when looking at, and especially sitting in, one of these pieces. Interestingly, while I find this chair to be one of Borge Mogensen's most striking designs, unlike his "Spanish Chair" or "Hunting Chair", it does not seem to have a name. The only instances I've found of the chair refer to it simply as a "lounge chair" or, slightly more helpfully, a "leather and beech hoop chair". There is only one other pair that I can find currently available for sale, priced at a heady $7500 for the pair, which makes this find all the more special.

A Tale of Two Cabinets

I have two cabinets in my shop. One of them is an overpriced, rusty, crusty, old metal cabinet. The other one is an industrial steel cabinet with great patina that has been carefully preserved (wet sanded and clear coated so it won't rust), and is half the price of what a similar piece might be in a bigger city.
OK, so the catch is (if you haven't figured it out yet) there's only one cabinet, and depending on their point of view and knowledge of the antiques market, people have had VERY different reactions to it. While in truth, no one has outright called it "an overpriced, rusty, crusty, old metal cabinet" (this IS Portland, after all - that would be a VERY un-Portland thing to do), there have definitely been a few incredulous looks from people when informed of the price (which is $550).
On the other hand, there have been others who have said "wow, that's a great price". One guy specifically said "I live in LA and dealers down there are selling cabinets not half as cool as that one for $1200". I guess it all just depends on your point of view.