Early 1950s Eames DAX chairs of Zenaloy (D = dining height, A = armshell, X = four point rod leg base)

These came from a Catholic elementary school here in town. I made an offer initially thinking that they were replicas or knockoffs of Herman Miller Eames chairs since I couldn’t find the HM logo molded on the bottom. After the buy and doing more research specifically about these chairs I now think it’s very likely that these predate the HM logo* and are real Eames chairs.

I had two nearly simultaneous “Oh, shit” moments. The first was in realizing that these were probably real Eames chairs and that I got them for a great price. The second was in that I may have dissuaded the elementary school teacher from her first thought that they were real Eames chairs. I told her that I wasn’t for sure if they were real but in my experience the real items had Herman Miller branding. We both looked and she took my first offer based on that assessment. And even though I was operating under the best information I had at the time (which wasn’t much), I now wonder if I need to let her know that I bought six chairs from her for less than the price one chair would fetch on ebay. (Please know that I’m not bragging here.) In that case, I’d probably end up with one chair.

Is it narcissistic to feel this kind of guilt? Or is that question a way to justify my feeling better about this all? It seems we both brought to the purchase the knowledge we had at the moment and used it honestly.

I’m told that I “just stumbled on (my) first mid-century modern find. That kind of thing does happen.” Clueless, dumb luck might be more like it.

* I don’t know when the HM logo did or didn’t go on similar chairs but eamesoffice.com and ebay both show models with and without the logos

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Guilt aside, now I see why these chairs have endured. Not only are they sturdy and weighty but they also seem to defy gravity! The skinny legs are surprisingly solid and the fiberglass seat seems to floats above them. After more than 50 years these chairs live both in the 1950s and today effortlessly. Though, for some reason, when I became more aquatinted with these I could only think: laundromat.

Does this chair seem dated to you?