Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

I was at a flea market and found it sitting on a table. It was so wacky that I had to buy it.

APPRAISER

Well, it's certainly a wacky chair, no doubt about it. Do you know anything about the history of it?

GUEST

Mulhauser designed it, but that's all I know about it.

APPRAISER

It was designed by George Mulhauser. George Mulhauser is one of those people in the whole 20th century design movement that is really kind of moving up with popularity amongst collectors, and this chair is really an iconic example of what he did. He actually designed one of George Nelson's most iconic chairs, the coconut chair. He's largely credited with the design of that chair. George Mulhauser designed this chair for Plycraft. Plycraft did a lot of work for Herman Miller. When you look at it, it definitely combines several things. I love these arms. They remind me sort of of a nautilus, or ram's horns, which is interesting and sort of rare in 1960s furniture. This chair was designed in 1965.

GUEST

Oh, wow.

APPRAISER

It's also made out of bent plywood, and I love the way the plywood's bent and rolled. Plycraft did almost exclusively bent plywood, and they did such a good job with this one. It screams 1965 to me. It was also part of a patio set, because it's a very short chair, or part of a small dining set. Usually when you see this chair, it comes with a table. The table has all these great almost like Thonet legs coming down. So how long ago did you buy this chair and what did you pay for it?

GUEST

I bought it maybe two years ago, and I think I paid $250 for it.

APPRAISER

Generally, they're sold in sets. Sets are generally the table and two chairs that bring $6,000, $7,000, $8,000. So a single chair is probably worth, at auction, $1,500 to $2,500.

GUEST

Cool.