Hans Wegner GE240 "Cigar" Chair, ca. 1955
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GUEST:
This chair is a part of the living room furniture set that I grew up with. Um, my parents were both teachers with the American Civil Service, and they met and fell in love and got married in Germany back in the 1950s. And so they married in 1955, and in the spring of 1956, they traveled to Denmark a, to purchase furniture set for their first apartment together. And this is a part of that set, and it's traveled all over the world. And this came with me to, first, Texas and then to California, and now it's been with me here in Anchorage for the last 30 years.
APPRAISER:
Wow. This chair has a lot of miles on it, doesn't it?
GUEST:
It does, yes, it does.
APPRAISER:
Holy cow. This chair was made by a very famous furniture designer of the 20th century.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
It... Absolutely. A guy named Hans Wegner.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And he worked out of Denmark.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And of all the great Danish furniture designers, he is probably the most well-known and the most collected.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
He designed this chair in 1955. So my suspicion is that your parents bought one of the first ones off the factory floor.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
So, the official name of this chair is a GE240.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And there's nothing too sexy about GE240, if you ask me.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
(chuckling) It's sort of industrial. But people in the, in the business have, have referred to this chair as a cigar chair for years.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
And, and the reason being, is, the arms are somewhat cigar-shaped, and I personally would much rather call my chair a cigar chair...
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
...than a GE240.
GUEST:
Well, I can just picture my dad sitting on these, smoking a cigar. (laughing)
APPRAISER:
And I think one of the reasons that people loved Hans Wegner furniture was that he very successfully commingled, um, organic design, modernism. If you look at this chair, it just screams Danish Modern, and it's actually in remarkably good condition. I was born in 1956, so chair looks a lot better than I do, I can tell you that.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
There are a few wounds it's got, and in modern furniture, unlike some of the earlier period furniture, damage can be fixed without hurting the, the, the value of the chair.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Um, reupholstering does not affect the value of the chair. You have some, some, a little bit of wood damage over here. Uh, again, you could get that sanded and, and redone, and again, that... And I don't think that's severe enough to have to do.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
But if it, if you were so inclined, you could do that. Mm-hmm. And again, the, the value of the chair is not affected by that-- a matter of fact, you'd probably raise the value of the chair. The back is interesting. I, it, it's not, it's not necessarily quintessential Hans Wegner.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It, it, it's a little more narrow and a more vertical. I think that's one of the things that people like about it. It's just a s, it's a tad different. Not as different as the arms.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
But, but the back is also slightly different. You had mentioned the orange moving tag. I wouldn't worry about that in the least bit.
GUEST:
Okay. And if they don't like it, they can take it off. I tried to take it off myself, and couldn't get it off, and it's such a nice re... I just left it on there as a reminder of all our travels that we've had.
APPRAISER:
Do you have any idea what your parents might have paid for it?
GUEST:
I have no idea what they paid for it, and I'm pretty sure they couldn't afford much. (laughs): 'Cause they were both teachers and they were very early in their careers, and they didn't have a whole lot of money, so I don't know.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, yeah. Well, today, Hans Wegner furniture is really sought after.
GUEST:
Yeah?
APPRAISER:
Peo, people look for it all over. I just read an article the other day about people going door-knocking in Denmark looking for furniture just like this.
GUEST:
Seriously? (laughing)
APPRAISER:
Yeah. It's very, very, very much desired.
GUEST:
Wow, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So value-wise, at auction, just the chair...
GUEST:
Yeah?
APPRAISER:
...would probably bring $4,000 to $6,000.
GUEST:
No way-- no way! (chuckles) It's a chair! (laughing): Are you serious?
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm, I am serious.
GUEST:
That's amazing.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
We should have taken better care of it, maybe. (laughing)
APPRAISER:
No, you've taken great care of it.
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