tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11997332261219735382024-02-22T11:08:45.183-05:00Planner, Perimeter, Predictor, Paul McCobbThoughts, facts, ideas and discoveries as I continue researching the design career and life of Paul McCobbJonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-74025508114998329282018-05-09T08:07:00.000-04:002018-05-11T06:24:20.858-04:00Desk Accessories by Gift Craft<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb3uOSEiXi-HU_QZrW9y0aWLcXSh6tjkzCXh7j8cqdlcc1yjgU1-NZg4LjU0edtf8O-KmuwuAr8oZMoNV4jbjwkRkMBff_MO2eUKApQkNMe1UpWpIDA3Z9b3V29KdqFLfSmJvMDmWBmak/s1600/Desk+Set+Press+Photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb3uOSEiXi-HU_QZrW9y0aWLcXSh6tjkzCXh7j8cqdlcc1yjgU1-NZg4LjU0edtf8O-KmuwuAr8oZMoNV4jbjwkRkMBff_MO2eUKApQkNMe1UpWpIDA3Z9b3V29KdqFLfSmJvMDmWBmak/s640/Desk+Set+Press+Photo+3.jpg" title="The Paul McCobb Collection by Gift Craft Leather" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Paul McCobb Collection by Gift Craft Leather - Photo from Paul McCobb's archives</td></tr>
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I first became aware of the Paul McCobb Group by Gift Craft Leather when I acquired Paul McCobb's papers in 2010. There were three very good black and white photo's of the group but little else in terms of hard information, at this point I did not even know the name of the manufacturer.</div>
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Shortly after, in August 2010, I learned that the companies name was Gift Craft Leather from a visit to the <a href="https://www.nypl.org/locations/sibl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Science, Industry and Business Library on Madison Avenue in NYC</a> where I found the following snippet from Office Management Magazine's October 1959 issue (with help from <a href="https://books.google.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Books</a> and the <a href="https://www.hathitrust.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hathi Trust Digital Library</a>) in their Microfiche archive.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmR4D7jwqF-exjItCwizFLstd7S0hvIQE5gxMPcMk0rFsfs17EwCl5USYwHNYdmI4Rm-7JEqDceE_CZAJ9hCBgnDM9IyaImZKbGKsvrbsJVl3BnK6oDJaGehLvkd90xNvNVsVzcwJ5JgA/s1600/59-10-00+Office+Management+p.+70.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmR4D7jwqF-exjItCwizFLstd7S0hvIQE5gxMPcMk0rFsfs17EwCl5USYwHNYdmI4Rm-7JEqDceE_CZAJ9hCBgnDM9IyaImZKbGKsvrbsJVl3BnK6oDJaGehLvkd90xNvNVsVzcwJ5JgA/s200/59-10-00+Office+Management+p.+70.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Office Management October 1959 page 70</td></tr>
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It wasn't until January 2011 during a visit to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reformgallery/?hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gerard O'Brien</a>'s absolutely wonderful free design library at <a href="http://www.reform-modern.com/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reform Gallery</a> in Los Angeles that I learned that Paul McCobb's Gift Craft Leather groups' inception date was actually several years earlier in 1957.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBdB-iQ90PkBnEN8VzHhA5MeiKjzd2koR9sRqYgi4JUNGxXFBHlrPT0yAApnJ6xVNRA_UqBB3s4T4ng7WtyAh-TXWehiHLytLSn1N33Ujw-sZrcY00aWw1K9Arg6hmEj8O7g4vHd4fVU/s1600/57-02-00+Interiors.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="534" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBdB-iQ90PkBnEN8VzHhA5MeiKjzd2koR9sRqYgi4JUNGxXFBHlrPT0yAApnJ6xVNRA_UqBB3s4T4ng7WtyAh-TXWehiHLytLSn1N33Ujw-sZrcY00aWw1K9Arg6hmEj8O7g4vHd4fVU/s640/57-02-00+Interiors.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interiors Magazine February 1957</td></tr>
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Along the way, while I was digging, I learned that George Nelson had also designed a group for Gift Craft Leather in 1959.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-z5yi3WLaR0A2Qu8ZOJYsAsOUdFO7KBvJv1ii_n2d45b-r_E_J4-Y2_UtpybXrFY6fpu7lNrHwoXta6HPqcrZ1uBFHno0WC0rd-QltMZCtJ8u-ttymzqffHLCCmngegPXZbxsNSMuCs/s1600/59-10-00+Interior+Design+p.302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1179" data-original-width="1600" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-z5yi3WLaR0A2Qu8ZOJYsAsOUdFO7KBvJv1ii_n2d45b-r_E_J4-Y2_UtpybXrFY6fpu7lNrHwoXta6HPqcrZ1uBFHno0WC0rd-QltMZCtJ8u-ttymzqffHLCCmngegPXZbxsNSMuCs/s320/59-10-00+Interior+Design+p.302.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior Design October 1959 p. 302</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">And then we hit the proverbial informational brick wall. Try as I might there just was not any more information to be found. The trail had gone cold.</span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span> <span style="text-align: justify;">Then fast forward to the present day (last week in fact) when my friend and fellow Paul McCobb aficionado <a href="https://www.instagram.com/samuelhildreth/?hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sam Hildreth</a> reaches out to me asking whether I wanted the Gift Craft Leather catalog he had just purchased for my Paul McCobb archive. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdphLp0xmq1bmPzfrbJKfHgnNjs-s8sCpLSXTRM7r7VKuffUl8d-kySZykd5MrxNStmahsAERwl6F1VKcat7F-WqSJFm9Xx-lPUKq1v0SV5LPelqeiUGpeYuq5WQm_QTWnjdkUO6eREY/s1600/GiftCraft0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdphLp0xmq1bmPzfrbJKfHgnNjs-s8sCpLSXTRM7r7VKuffUl8d-kySZykd5MrxNStmahsAERwl6F1VKcat7F-WqSJFm9Xx-lPUKq1v0SV5LPelqeiUGpeYuq5WQm_QTWnjdkUO6eREY/s640/GiftCraft0001.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gift Craft Leather Co., Inc. - 1963 Catalog cover</td></tr>
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I immediately said yes...<br />
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The first thing that the catalog and accompanying price list tell us is that the Paul McCobb Group for Gift Craft Leather group was surprisingly durable in the marketplace. Starting in 1957 it was still being produced right up until Paul McCobb's death in 1969 as seen in the February 1969 price list from Gift Craft. 12 years was an awfully long time for any design group to be produced in the 50's and 60's, it must have been very successful for them.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_e638xnh3DTqGkQK8qMXF9oPHyEKZXp6Ccxztmslc1_aOqoCx4Ci0W3AojS73dQuuXVhdAWKSmLW4ujG-eBHkzO35Wr38CHiUzaEkP24Bfc8JvL9Emy3Q8AyO5qgyl2KsfYbHIsWF55I/s1600/GiftCraft+Price+List0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_e638xnh3DTqGkQK8qMXF9oPHyEKZXp6Ccxztmslc1_aOqoCx4Ci0W3AojS73dQuuXVhdAWKSmLW4ujG-eBHkzO35Wr38CHiUzaEkP24Bfc8JvL9Emy3Q8AyO5qgyl2KsfYbHIsWF55I/s640/GiftCraft+Price+List0001.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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We also get a thorough overview of the pieces in the group itself through the Paul McCobb Group catalog pages<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBc9wvaTQYdO893cUYky9dDViKi7rLFGwDhZGtyYjD6we2fB76Lb9YuQTx196VbIKCXiZCnrmQFmGfS1uYbXL9lK8EFq5eOq1V1VdZuZ4T3TEA5K8n8v2voVvt2M8MIEditM6nYR92k-s/s1600/GiftCraft0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBc9wvaTQYdO893cUYky9dDViKi7rLFGwDhZGtyYjD6we2fB76Lb9YuQTx196VbIKCXiZCnrmQFmGfS1uYbXL9lK8EFq5eOq1V1VdZuZ4T3TEA5K8n8v2voVvt2M8MIEditM6nYR92k-s/s640/GiftCraft0008.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdGpGoYBtyDteDXX9g4XjpN5C4vqIIxpixg2rLnT7JJV81G57cTtw5Vbmw-c72b6BEqbKHcLKSF9Ch-PsNz17TiPcRuYTOqtMyYNam7HoKxgbXf6DD2Dn8Ocicl9wOtZb-7aXmvyQeNto/s1600/GiftCraft0009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdGpGoYBtyDteDXX9g4XjpN5C4vqIIxpixg2rLnT7JJV81G57cTtw5Vbmw-c72b6BEqbKHcLKSF9Ch-PsNz17TiPcRuYTOqtMyYNam7HoKxgbXf6DD2Dn8Ocicl9wOtZb-7aXmvyQeNto/s640/GiftCraft0009.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul McCobb Group by Gift Craft Leather catalog pages </td></tr>
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And, as an added bonus, we also get the George Nelson Group pages as well. Well done Samuel!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilG26odyygeRsUdCEeXMV_TsqusBxWfRTMZpa4vRZbDsEjZrvLuxT6IRqHlghIwXunDuwGdk9o8IVufy6bsP6tMIwFmBhQ0-8piGif3CEIurM8JK39vgbkf32WZRdI9qvCqhFD_LrY4Wc/s1600/GiftCraft0004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilG26odyygeRsUdCEeXMV_TsqusBxWfRTMZpa4vRZbDsEjZrvLuxT6IRqHlghIwXunDuwGdk9o8IVufy6bsP6tMIwFmBhQ0-8piGif3CEIurM8JK39vgbkf32WZRdI9qvCqhFD_LrY4Wc/s640/GiftCraft0004.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYauMQTHZsHd_Pxp1HOed88Ji3A0ZNspTdggDoSvQZD6nzu8loECasL-PH1JBggmlscp2GYvinuudCvMHFBKzCPrwqSeFT6pBNYidR-E30UF6r4t5YACFPGSF8d_WFW81fj3VNGHoGGFc/s1600/GiftCraft0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYauMQTHZsHd_Pxp1HOed88Ji3A0ZNspTdggDoSvQZD6nzu8loECasL-PH1JBggmlscp2GYvinuudCvMHFBKzCPrwqSeFT6pBNYidR-E30UF6r4t5YACFPGSF8d_WFW81fj3VNGHoGGFc/s640/GiftCraft0005.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Nelson Group by Gift Craft Leather catalog pages</td></tr>
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And the pricelist for the Nelson items<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz4rM4gg-7hDulmZM-ShjzkXfU5f5ny5fgB5hEcchNTsPxrA2Klhyphenhyphen6aB-ZBReD6rvNC2bZr4ieVmHXD_eeNJVf1fbYdn2feZpOETWUb5gyqFzCz4Ns2MMipX0Z_FGa5EafaCbW5Z3l5Xk/s1600/GiftCraft+Price+List0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz4rM4gg-7hDulmZM-ShjzkXfU5f5ny5fgB5hEcchNTsPxrA2Klhyphenhyphen6aB-ZBReD6rvNC2bZr4ieVmHXD_eeNJVf1fbYdn2feZpOETWUb5gyqFzCz4Ns2MMipX0Z_FGa5EafaCbW5Z3l5Xk/s640/GiftCraft+Price+List0002.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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<br />Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-1061431945356408532017-06-25T21:47:00.000-04:002017-06-25T21:47:06.494-04:00Widdicomb: Researching the Grand Rapids Collection<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.wright20.com/auctions/2017/06/paul-mccobb/196" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="1600" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikmt3Z2nBFc5DfbR7UbuGigoZzBpGV8UU85HS6uo1EdWp1AKEBdImPUVbw3Xslg8R-UefxPFKMnrGgLyJSEnG8a8dzpb7NaVFXrvif3hynmWdYz4Wjyz0w-AoSdEXjNw5gyhdGqw5aAC4/s640/196_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_grand_rapids_collection_desk_and_armchair__wright_auction.jpg" title="Widdicomb Grand Rapids Collection desk and chair in the Wright Paul McCobb solo auction" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.wright20.com/auctions/2017/06/paul-mccobb/196" target="_blank">Widdicomb Grand Rapids Collection Desk and Chair designed by Paul McCobb</a></td></tr>
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If you've read the timeline on here you'll see mention of Paul McCobb's Grand Rapids Collection, a Widdicomb case piece group to go along with Widdicomb's upholstered Symmetric Group.</div>
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I first became aware of this group towards the end of my library research into Paul McCobb, around September 2009, it was then I came across a series of advertisements from A. H. Stiehl published in Interior Design magazine between October 1962 and March 1963.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVeW78nfcfdUbS7e_SKsl36HSaNvHquQKxgnmPJi-QQU9HhgAncREQ9p5YdXLVc4zrwUiSfSIaEwY1B2nwjqFBSBF9Q4wSOYwN7NFCfsh9AxS4N4bOmP1S0wubHbXekvMNm_Gat0NtFs/s1600/62-10-00+Interior+Design+p.85+Case%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1160" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVeW78nfcfdUbS7e_SKsl36HSaNvHquQKxgnmPJi-QQU9HhgAncREQ9p5YdXLVc4zrwUiSfSIaEwY1B2nwjqFBSBF9Q4wSOYwN7NFCfsh9AxS4N4bOmP1S0wubHbXekvMNm_Gat0NtFs/s640/62-10-00+Interior+Design+p.85+Case%2529.jpg" title="Interior Design October 1962 page 85" width="462" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnh5dkvsUqeSi7Za_h9gAowSFp8ron0K5ww3RZUn2JJqMZuasjoHXaw_4lzRf__hvTiY57HD5yh9GplEt2wIfx9pkVYWcJD52bIAfylozWfiQe9-n1fROI1tkcP-Tva0P6h_PBf_NrF0/s1600/63-03-00+Interior+Design+p.+97+%2528case%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1163" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnh5dkvsUqeSi7Za_h9gAowSFp8ron0K5ww3RZUn2JJqMZuasjoHXaw_4lzRf__hvTiY57HD5yh9GplEt2wIfx9pkVYWcJD52bIAfylozWfiQe9-n1fROI1tkcP-Tva0P6h_PBf_NrF0/s640/63-03-00+Interior+Design+p.+97+%2528case%2529.jpg" title="Interior Design March 1963 page 97" width="464" /></a></div>
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I had also found the Widdicomb case pieces mentioned in an article titled "Paul McCobb Opens his First Showroom" in the July 1963 issue of Interiors.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwC7IZaDZH_exHwUoBXaY0Upwg4LL_PNoZl5IML2bL_QSf8czmOXVUpsNih8XRRmR3fhmCWaVdY5bNJ1H_Q2LrU3kWyXQfNP0NjLensH7usTzgu1Mu7A5eW7r__wuhYYspxGn6cCmXT_o/s1600/63-07-00+Interiors+p.82.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1138" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwC7IZaDZH_exHwUoBXaY0Upwg4LL_PNoZl5IML2bL_QSf8czmOXVUpsNih8XRRmR3fhmCWaVdY5bNJ1H_Q2LrU3kWyXQfNP0NjLensH7usTzgu1Mu7A5eW7r__wuhYYspxGn6cCmXT_o/s640/63-07-00+Interiors+p.82.jpg" title="Interiors July 1963 page 82" width="454" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwcDEuk0hZbQE0L_ttKq-Seg9x47O-9TaUAB0aKYkzOx91T55RQKtHUhcA24FGcLQsAbsPmcAIqshmaWBQfpLyYJOqo4ozconp3HpLr8QJau0AvHZAHdZFVfkY21XjY5tGXpOIvKQvFbM/s1600/63-07-00+Interiors+p.83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1135" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwcDEuk0hZbQE0L_ttKq-Seg9x47O-9TaUAB0aKYkzOx91T55RQKtHUhcA24FGcLQsAbsPmcAIqshmaWBQfpLyYJOqo4ozconp3HpLr8QJau0AvHZAHdZFVfkY21XjY5tGXpOIvKQvFbM/s640/63-07-00+Interiors+p.83.jpg" title="Interiors July 1963 page 83" width="452" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">"(3) Widdicomb desk with refined architectural detailing in bleached walnut has three drawers. Also from the Widdicomb group are the small side chair and the armless chair with arched caned back."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"> "(5) Widdicomb case piece with caned open shelf is in bleached Walnut the "Custom Light" finish. Hardware is in nickel-silver finish."</span>
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The case illustrated in figure (5) in the article is the same as the case from the A. H. Stiehl ad, and, if you look carefully you'll see it's even the same photograph with the advertising copy overlaid over the painting.</div>
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We finally learn that the group is called "The Grand Rapids Collection" in the Market Spotlight section of Interior Design's July 1963 issue.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAY3OdHpGVGgjVtiamEVpp8lSHEm5kEhz8EjDQg2MvNmNF4ood9ARxzAFHwOWDMZrBFImSs9ziLM8hX-pUyaHW7BrXAMEWS26gqPGZa6WeHJBbVUD8DUO580cietlpXLkXDNQKUst7PK4/s1600/63-07-00+Interior+Design+p.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1119" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAY3OdHpGVGgjVtiamEVpp8lSHEm5kEhz8EjDQg2MvNmNF4ood9ARxzAFHwOWDMZrBFImSs9ziLM8hX-pUyaHW7BrXAMEWS26gqPGZa6WeHJBbVUD8DUO580cietlpXLkXDNQKUst7PK4/s640/63-07-00+Interior+Design+p.34.jpg" title="Interior Design July 1963 page 34" width="446" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">“Paul McCobb, well-known furniture designer, has opened showrooms at 425 East 53rd Street, New York, where his designs are shown in exciting contemporary settings with background sculpture and paintings from the Bertha Schaeffer Gallery. Mr. McCobb’s new designs of living room, dining room and bedroom furniture will be presented here exclusively in what he calls “The Gallery” and with this opening The New England Collection of H. Sacks & Sons, Boston and the Grand Rapids Collection by Widdicomb are featured.”</span></blockquote>
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And that's it... I wasn't able to find anything more in the period trade journals, in the same time period I had been going through various online newspaper archives accessible via <a href="https://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman" target="_blank">The New York Public Library's main branch research library in the Steven A. Schwarzman Building</a> and found that the Widdicomb group by McCobb is mentioned in a couple of publications at the time. The following quote from the New York Times is the most descriptive of the lot b<span style="text-align: start;">ut unfortunately there were no accompanying images</span><span style="color: inherit; font-size: inherit;">:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">“At Widdicomb-Mueller a new collection by Paul McCobb includes bedroom and dining room furniture as well as several living room pieces. The collection shows the designer's easy handling of wood in a contemporary manner, although in a more formal manner than previously. He has used caning in headboards, chair backs, cabinet doors and even table tops, which are covered with glass. The hardware is simple chrome pulls or handles.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">One versatile piece in the collection is a tall armoire with a lower chest section and doors above it, available in either glass or caning. The units also come with interior lighting for display of china or art objects. All the pieces are In walnut and may be ordered in a light finish or a dark, rubbed linseed oil finish. The oil finish is a departure for Mr. McCobb and it is a successful one” <b>New York Times - June 22, 1962 page 43</b></span></blockquote>
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And that about closed out everything I had been able to find as of late 2009.<br />
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Around July 2009 I had finally managed to track down Paul McCobb's Daughter, who was very nice, but did not think that she had anything to really help my research. We messaged back and forth for several months and I even got the opportunity to visit with her once or twice. Then I got a message from her one day saying that she had found several boxes of her father's papers in the attic. I could barely contain my excitement! It took a bit of wrangling but finally in July 2010 I visited with Melissa to set about scanning the archive. The actual scanning took about a month with me working on site and also at home once it proved that there was far too much there for me to do in go. Inside these boxes and folders was a veritable treasure trove of Paul McCobb related material the likes of which I had never seen anywhere else, including a single unmarked black and white photo (below) of what I took to be the Paul McCobb Showroom at the time...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4Sz6R9c9KN41kI7pGS8-T7DlUXc565MxfS6tQXEIOSbyqDXtUTQJeGUYwQ2HZR7oGgbF2Ir1Pl8q-6NKazXhFU1LQRM8rIo2fSZVUFfjvE-h1JZ4g8FeYd-DxDQUvKMpHfsnA5PZ6LI/s1600/Showroom+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1425" data-original-width="1600" height="568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4Sz6R9c9KN41kI7pGS8-T7DlUXc565MxfS6tQXEIOSbyqDXtUTQJeGUYwQ2HZR7oGgbF2Ir1Pl8q-6NKazXhFU1LQRM8rIo2fSZVUFfjvE-h1JZ4g8FeYd-DxDQUvKMpHfsnA5PZ6LI/s640/Showroom+1.jpg" title="Photo filed as "Showroom 1" in the Paul McCobb Showrooms file in the research archive" width="640" /></a></div>
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The photo was scanned and filed by me in the Paul McCobb Showrooms folder and pretty much forgotten about.<br />
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Then in March 2011 I decided to take another stab at the Widdicomb problem, but this time instead of searching for Paul McCobb to come at it from a different angle and search only for Widdicomb between 1962 and 1965 (the year that Widdicomb was purchased by the John Widdicomb company) instead of Widdicomb and Paul McCobb. This idea immediately paid off and I found the following two Bloomingdales ads for Widdicomb from 1965 in the NY Times archive.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8wQkLsW-TexJlFe6S7FkByheJbcmOAzV0B0-sG23hyphenhyphenjQFXwqsptyllXXR2zkfo1v_uCzSvCBeXmsyr1A1_7DKoEiIVHEusikqs8kYG603NhF7iuUkCp0YO7ypYXYpqM4PMErEDlXqkw/s1600/65-01-06+NY+Times+p.+19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="1600" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8wQkLsW-TexJlFe6S7FkByheJbcmOAzV0B0-sG23hyphenhyphenjQFXwqsptyllXXR2zkfo1v_uCzSvCBeXmsyr1A1_7DKoEiIVHEusikqs8kYG603NhF7iuUkCp0YO7ypYXYpqM4PMErEDlXqkw/s640/65-01-06+NY+Times+p.+19.jpg" title="New York Times January 6, 1965 page 19" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5yckS94iwzwo9DCZdZfGTfT1SXCzHpt7ozMW0KIAMVmOyHWzYV_0Z0Ht0ERq8_Tmmn44wYT6_5-TsqeUgAHSsrPHuHKElA2OEM4zyAFXlIkawpuhHD5DbowCXWW39qBDv08VrbYL0TFQ/s1600/65-02-28+NY+Times+p.+46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="1600" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5yckS94iwzwo9DCZdZfGTfT1SXCzHpt7ozMW0KIAMVmOyHWzYV_0Z0Ht0ERq8_Tmmn44wYT6_5-TsqeUgAHSsrPHuHKElA2OEM4zyAFXlIkawpuhHD5DbowCXWW39qBDv08VrbYL0TFQ/s640/65-02-28+NY+Times+p.+46.jpg" title="New York Times February 28, 1965 page 46" width="640" /></a></div>
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So now I had a very clear idea that the furniture in my misfiled photo (above) was by Widdicomb, the dining chairs were already identified as being by Paul McCobb in the July 1963 <span style="text-align: justify;">"Paul McCobb Opens his First Showroom" article in Interiors (above) and the Gentlemen's Chest is identified in the March 1963 A. H. Stiehl ad (also above) so it seemed a fairly reasonable assumption that the rest of the furniture was the "missing" Paul McCobb group for Widdicomb.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Then in June 2011 I was able to put even any residual doubt in my mind to rest when I found the following articles published in the Dallas Morning News in February of 1963.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9eBey7foorScy6eij1kI_dJ5A_u-bqZ3AM4FjV9OXXqwoTYr5FKZrsdON9noKjVfW5l66VmcJK0vyHQiqApLeugEpMp4kYaMoSBF1JN9SwuDIYuijBfdRKVLvPzzmct5f7lwnTch-diI/s1600/63-02-24+Dallas+Morning+News+Sec+6-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1071" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9eBey7foorScy6eij1kI_dJ5A_u-bqZ3AM4FjV9OXXqwoTYr5FKZrsdON9noKjVfW5l66VmcJK0vyHQiqApLeugEpMp4kYaMoSBF1JN9SwuDIYuijBfdRKVLvPzzmct5f7lwnTch-diI/s640/63-02-24+Dallas+Morning+News+Sec+6-9.jpg" title="Dallas Morning News February 24, 1963 section 6 page 9" width="428" /></a></div>
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The quality of the clippings is pretty terrible, as they were scanned from microfiche, but not so terrible that we cannot clearly see that the furniture depicted is the same as that found in the photo (above) and the second article (below) even uses a cropped print of the same photo as my mis-filed showrooms photo (which I have since determined was a photo of the Widdicomb Showroom in Grand Rapids).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSf7RVCXglmyKGMaoh5xlIiQQrtQeeTguqRJKOkr06z3WOpLBrh-AfpS6EJA9-2c3SQceooy1BjBfACGUIT372eGdybn8U8j1u5e2BxYP1piIPvHSsoKVzplTvMLwE5UsBnDT4JmsMLFw/s1600/63-02-25+Dallas+Morning+News+Sec+3-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1568" data-original-width="1600" height="626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSf7RVCXglmyKGMaoh5xlIiQQrtQeeTguqRJKOkr06z3WOpLBrh-AfpS6EJA9-2c3SQceooy1BjBfACGUIT372eGdybn8U8j1u5e2BxYP1piIPvHSsoKVzplTvMLwE5UsBnDT4JmsMLFw/s640/63-02-25+Dallas+Morning+News+Sec+3-1.jpg" title="Dallas Morning News February 25, 1963 section 3 page 1" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">
"Sculptured contemporary furniture in walnut in a light sable finish as designed by Paul McCobb and produced by Widdicomb has the precision and refinement he seeks to achieve to perfection." - <b>Dallas Morning News February 25, 1963 section 3 page 1</b></span></blockquote>
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Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-10296973458577284442017-06-20T04:03:00.001-04:002017-06-20T04:03:59.750-04:00Lane: By The NumbersA short time ago I put up a little bit of info on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/straylight.wandering/?hl=en" target="_blank">Instagram</a> about Lane's Signature and Components groups by Paul McCobb now here's the rest of the info.<br />
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McCobb's work for Lane, produced between 1961 and 1965 was comprised of three group: <a href="https://www.wright20.com/search/delineator" target="_blank">Delineator</a>, <a href="https://www.wright20.com/search/mccobb+signature" target="_blank">Signature</a>, and <a href="https://www.wright20.com/search/mccobb+components" target="_blank">Components</a>. Signature and Components pieces have proven to be relatively hard to come by so far (which is not to say that Delineator pieces are exactly littering the planet, but they are far easier to obtain than their cousins).<br />
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Lane pieces (at least the tables) are easy to understand as they're typically marked with not only the design group number but they also have a "serial number" right below the design number, which is actually the production date written in reverse, so, once you know what you're looking for the tables are easy to identify. And that nicely brings us right around to the topic of this article which is a quick and dirty primer on how to identify Paul McCobb's designs for Lane<br />
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Lane production numbers follow the pattern XXX-XX or XXXX-XX where the first series of either three of four digits signifies the group and the second series tells us the design number within that group, fairly simple and straight forward...<br />
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The McCobb design numbers are as follows:<br />
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<u>Delineator Tables - 1961-1965</u><br />
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<b>987-XX = Walnut Veneer</b><br />
<b>995-XX = Rosewood Veneer</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/280_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_delineator_group_occasional_tables_model_995_86_set_of_three__wright_auction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="638" src="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/280_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_delineator_group_occasional_tables_model_995_86_set_of_three__wright_auction.jpg" title="Paul McCobb Delineator Group occasional tables model 995-86, set of three" width="640" /></a></div>
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<u>Signature Tables - 1962-1964</u><br />
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<b>1000-XX = Teak w/ Black Leather Insert</b><br />
<b>1001-XX = Walnet w/ Black Leather Insert</b><br />
<b>1005-XX = all Teak</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/285_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_signature_cocktail_table_model_1000_01__wright_auction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="638" src="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/285_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_signature_cocktail_table_model_1000_01__wright_auction.jpg" title="Paul McCobb Signature cocktail table, model 1000-01" width="640" /></a></div>
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Lane cedar chests also follow the same type of rules but they have different design numbers. There are two Lane Chests designed by Paul McCobb for the Delineator series:<br />
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<b>1957-77 and 1960-77</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVh8m0rj19Lb-aSNYynMrRpbPdvY1b3nn9hcTXFGfnGO79sR8uLT7L9Fww1FYxjvSoriphiRW8HV6OxtHaJTzqIiH9_EaXps9ArGjAXzv5TxweBEyrh7fxDYN2Ov8_7jisFzbwYXLrWA/s1600/Delineator+designed+by+Paul+McCobb+p23+detail.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="1600" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVh8m0rj19Lb-aSNYynMrRpbPdvY1b3nn9hcTXFGfnGO79sR8uLT7L9Fww1FYxjvSoriphiRW8HV6OxtHaJTzqIiH9_EaXps9ArGjAXzv5TxweBEyrh7fxDYN2Ov8_7jisFzbwYXLrWA/s640/Delineator+designed+by+Paul+McCobb+p23+detail.jpeg" title="Paul McCobb Delineator Cedar Chests" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Lane case pieces are a little bit more oblique as the production numbers are rarely (if ever) marked on the cases. But the production numbers do exist so I'll lay them out for you then I'll start to show you some pictures<br />
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<u>Delineator - 1961-1963</u><br />
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<b>270-XX = Walnut w/ Rosewood Tops</b><br />
<b>271-XX = All Walnut</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/281_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_delineator_group_cabinet__wright_auction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/281_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_delineator_group_cabinet__wright_auction.jpg" title="Paul McCobb Delineator Group cabinet model 271-63 and bookshelf model, 271-83" width="640" /></a></div>
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<u>Components - 1963-1965</u><br />
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<b>272-XX</b><br />
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<img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/290_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_components_cabinet_model_272_07__wright_auction.jpg" title="Paul McCobb Components cabinet, model 272-07" width="640" /></div>
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<a href="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/286_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_components_cabinet_model_272_11__wright_auction.jpg?t=1496347833%22/%3E" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/286_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_components_cabinet_model_272_11__wright_auction.jpg?t=1496347833"/>" title="Paul McCobb Components cabinet, model 272-11" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/291_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_components_cabinets_model_272_13_pair__wright_auction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/2000/291_1_paul_mccobb_june_2017_paul_mccobb_components_cabinets_model_272_13_pair__wright_auction.jpg" title="Paul McCobb Components cabinets model 272-13, pair" width="640" /></a></div>
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Lane's Delineator collection taken from House Beautiful October 1961<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuP4jrCkO79-hrVAFOcIgX_gQH_Joe1ZtWS3yNT2j15JuJRehJ0Tp5vGp7POTczBUDRgv7E0Xx1r_U6hfftITRmRjdein-XRsGBh08_pMKgQny30ZyOn3EOnmsG_uOCdMX6pAGYS_VF8Q/s1600/61-10-00+House+Beautiful+p.143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1221" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuP4jrCkO79-hrVAFOcIgX_gQH_Joe1ZtWS3yNT2j15JuJRehJ0Tp5vGp7POTczBUDRgv7E0Xx1r_U6hfftITRmRjdein-XRsGBh08_pMKgQny30ZyOn3EOnmsG_uOCdMX6pAGYS_VF8Q/s640/61-10-00+House+Beautiful+p.143.jpg" title="House Beautiful October 1961 p.143" width="488" /></a></div>
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Lane Signature catalog pages 1962<br />
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Lane Components in House & Garden June 1963</div>
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<br />Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-52464855332461575262016-11-12T10:47:00.003-05:002018-05-11T06:30:15.754-04:00The Baron and The Baroness<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> years of searching, I have finally managed to acquire a copy of the </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Electro-Voice brochure for their short-lived and mostly forgotten 6200/6210 Electronic Organs</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> titled respectively "The Baron" and "The Baroness", designed by Paul McCobb in 1960.</span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoe9Ko_rJ8TSsVgSpd79N0EAmw7ZWDxIGMeWqRYBNXqT3vftT0a11Mt6JH887a1f5WwFm8lUDR8e9yInWoSEbHV0Oed-C6XCeijOWSLknp3efkLaQcqcrNRI8DjisdFEdV0WmWM7mLytE/s1600/Electro-Voice+The+Compact+Electronic+Organ+%25281960%2529_Page_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Form No. EV-530131-50M" border="0" height="491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoe9Ko_rJ8TSsVgSpd79N0EAmw7ZWDxIGMeWqRYBNXqT3vftT0a11Mt6JH887a1f5WwFm8lUDR8e9yInWoSEbHV0Oed-C6XCeijOWSLknp3efkLaQcqcrNRI8DjisdFEdV0WmWM7mLytE/s640/Electro-Voice+The+Compact+Electronic+Organ+%25281960%2529_Page_1.png" title="Electro-Voice: The Compact Electronic Organ" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1960 Electro-Voice brochure showing their Model 6200 "The Baron" electronic organ</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Looking back through my research I see that I initially learned of Paul McCobb's work for Electro-Voice in 2009 from a UPI syndicated article published in the July 6, 1960 issue of the Tyrone, Pennsylvania Daily Herald. The article is an interview of Paul McCobb by Joyce Schuller in which McCobb talks about the new organ he designed for Electro-Voice and the best ways to present it in the home. This was not the earliest mention of the organ in the press but it was the first mention which I managed to find, which pointed me in the direction of further McCobb organ research.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2-jyNLqgVSqkkHzvA9we99jFbERbQt-kNQJHr_08xoNdwpB_RioCWUbZTkSGPy6K1sQM5g-BCszqaz5G9BXrxf9leXQl2N9ScKHGyDd5Fvr4ZXr-_XVT2PD5nOi2U0TxiYVjZbc7OCE/s400/60-07-06+Daily+Herald+-+Tyrone%252C+Pennsylvania.png" title="Daily Herald - July 6, 1960 - Tyrone, Pennsylvania" width="157" /></td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"By JOYCE SCHULLER Chicago (UPI) -There's a place in today's small home for a piano or organ, but it should be a special place, furniture designer Paul McCobb says. McCobb recently designed two compact electric organs (for Electro-Voice, Inc.). Each Is only three feet two inches by one foot six inches. small enough for even a city apartment. But the designer advises against squeezing them Into any space smaller than nine by four feet. He recommends the extra space for gathering around to sing in old-fashioned style. Because even this small an organ is basically an important piece of furniture, McCobb suggested giving it a corner of its own or at least half of a large wall. Make an organ or spinet the center of attraction in the room, he advised, or let it share the spotlight with only one other important item, say the fireplace. The sound or a spinet or organ is, of course, even more, important than its looks. McCobb, therefore, cautions against placing it in front or heavy draperies, which, along with carpeting, tend to absorb sound. In most cases. the instrument will sound best when placed against a wall or other firm surface."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The earliest mention of the Electro-Voice Organs in the press is a February 29, 1960 article in Billboard titled "Dealers to Get E-V Organ Franchises" which talks in detail about the upcoming organ, the technology and design behind the organ, the article also mentions Paul McCobb's involvement in the project and available franchise opportunities for the new products.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAQylzKYAgoP61Pu82GVwoNpCEe8zzD3yysra45v2_OEs2zoh5sMfkV8dqBEwesjrXc-dErkiu4lBfJfEX_mto2t8Q-F41iMnp_eKpHdV4EJlLywJOklsoRaBOMwKJR0KXy_u91tDchew/s1600/60-02-29+Billboard+p.+21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAQylzKYAgoP61Pu82GVwoNpCEe8zzD3yysra45v2_OEs2zoh5sMfkV8dqBEwesjrXc-dErkiu4lBfJfEX_mto2t8Q-F41iMnp_eKpHdV4EJlLywJOklsoRaBOMwKJR0KXy_u91tDchew/s640/60-02-29+Billboard+p.+21.png" title="Billboard - February 29, 1960 - page 21" width="370" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dealers to Get E-V Organ Franchises</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Images of the organ in the press do not surface until October 10, 1960, as best I can determine, in the Chicago Daily Tribune. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtdzsmhRqiwUcpkNRjIyQuz-BdVnMRXn-zOfbLrshkVSWqphlL2mIBIuX_8zW6w6tiRi_pPaWEgHjlo-BbfSaYRvf2Q7rK8GOW5HM60ilLHtbiGKbbPAxeBJ1vpdQnpq_QTPTUy1IJ88/s1600/60-10-28+Chicago+Daily+Tribune+p.11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtdzsmhRqiwUcpkNRjIyQuz-BdVnMRXn-zOfbLrshkVSWqphlL2mIBIuX_8zW6w6tiRi_pPaWEgHjlo-BbfSaYRvf2Q7rK8GOW5HM60ilLHtbiGKbbPAxeBJ1vpdQnpq_QTPTUy1IJ88/s640/60-10-28+Chicago+Daily+Tribune+p.11.png" title="Chicago Daily Tribune - October 28, 1960 - page 11" width="410" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">A full-page advertisement from Allied High Fidelity stores with images cribbed directly from the Electro-Voice brochure. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb5N5yMOxa0gCQRNAdwJrOh8xZYqMatZU2d4ROn6tpwf1iaM_jvASiluByvfKNcqlwfTpmP-pXn5fzpt63Ds4QtnxE9k6h3BngDByLirkdllMotMqXQIIARo9o9fVFw9U-q4QQjnpwiY4/s1600/Electro-Voice+The+Compact+Electronic+Organ+%25281960%2529_Page_5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb5N5yMOxa0gCQRNAdwJrOh8xZYqMatZU2d4ROn6tpwf1iaM_jvASiluByvfKNcqlwfTpmP-pXn5fzpt63Ds4QtnxE9k6h3BngDByLirkdllMotMqXQIIARo9o9fVFw9U-q4QQjnpwiY4/s200/Electro-Voice+The+Compact+Electronic+Organ+%25281960%2529_Page_5.png" title="Electro-Voice: The Compact Electronic Organ - page 2" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirebe8vyE7ukSMAUa8Q5xgG-uwH_qPtJTOZRIf1-bri52RmAoOTr3Ma8kjL5YdX4hQzD9bXOqSpNCUcPH-JgzvpX89WArl2MWrx4RUskA1RHOQlQobxdFtOJgMmginYKX7hTF8RDrZzAA/s1600/Electro-Voice+The+Compact+Electronic+Organ+%25281960%2529_Page_6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirebe8vyE7ukSMAUa8Q5xgG-uwH_qPtJTOZRIf1-bri52RmAoOTr3Ma8kjL5YdX4hQzD9bXOqSpNCUcPH-JgzvpX89WArl2MWrx4RUskA1RHOQlQobxdFtOJgMmginYKX7hTF8RDrZzAA/s200/Electro-Voice+The+Compact+Electronic+Organ+%25281960%2529_Page_6.png" title="Electro-Voice: The Compact Electronic Organ - back page" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From the very scant information in the press we never really get a good look at the 6210 organ, "The Baroness", it is seen on the last page of the brochure (above right), but only in a small vignette. The image below is taken from Paul McCobb surviving personal papers.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-jE_Lj3uCbval9a_Tr3bI4tos8Ycokl2gDzdSTmXzW96NeMbJnNWnGYzNm8LXt2P53iy-KGoLkJylgqf6jcZoxUhVnwBamy9RFCyAB0B_Ps97ZmvEYOvJNcP-3inR3IVGEXUtLsxiKQ/s1600/Organ+-+Press+Photo+2+%25286210+-+The+Baroness%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-jE_Lj3uCbval9a_Tr3bI4tos8Ycokl2gDzdSTmXzW96NeMbJnNWnGYzNm8LXt2P53iy-KGoLkJylgqf6jcZoxUhVnwBamy9RFCyAB0B_Ps97ZmvEYOvJNcP-3inR3IVGEXUtLsxiKQ/s640/Organ+-+Press+Photo+2+%25286210+-+The+Baroness%2529.jpg" title="Electro-Voice 6210 "The Baroness" - Press Photo" width="497" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Electro-Voice Model 6210 electronic organ "The Baroness" - Press Photo</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Sadly, less than a year after the Organs' introduction Electro-Voice discontinues production and the remainder of the inventory is sold off as seen in this July 30, 1961 advertisement from Keys to Music in the Valley News.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4ZEXw5U20oYYkKNYZzmSxMib5RmKZyymE0-L2LwUGEeP0XCkoG_Z-tJoJFTzBmH81-gk60d9Vdgju20yuFd6hPZ0KD93catkUJzFLrHLTgdhRPpR0mRw0G7gsq650fMcY2B9S_iW5pM/s1600/61-07-30+Valley+News.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4ZEXw5U20oYYkKNYZzmSxMib5RmKZyymE0-L2LwUGEeP0XCkoG_Z-tJoJFTzBmH81-gk60d9Vdgju20yuFd6hPZ0KD93catkUJzFLrHLTgdhRPpR0mRw0G7gsq650fMcY2B9S_iW5pM/s640/61-07-30+Valley+News.png" width="224" /></a></div>
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<br />Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-11284116982343810842013-05-01T16:43:00.001-04:002013-05-18T22:52:38.535-04:00Blair Aluminum Furniture<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">It's important to realize that time does not stand still. For a designer this means that design ideas change, new approaches are tried, new materials become popular/available, in general - things move on. Paul McCobb was no different from any other designer in this regard, his designs changed over time and his design work in the 60's was really very different from where he started in the late 40's/early 50's.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Some time around 1960 Paul McCobb and Directional broke the ties that had bound them together and each went their separate ways. Paul McCobb, now a free agent for the first time in a decade, was at first unsure how he was going to proceed (according to interviews with friends and relations) but soon enough opportunities presented themselves, amongst these new opportunities was the chance to design a group of office seating for Blair Aluminum Furniture. This new group of office chairs was very synergistic with the continuing design work McCobb was doing with the Mutschler Bros. in the form of their 1961, McCobb designed, "Series 800" group of office furniture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Now it's not entirely clear whether Mutschler Bros. themselves brokered the deal with Blair or whether Blair contracted with McCobb directly, but, whatever the case might be, the results were the "Series 690" group of 6 office chairs designed by McCobb, manufactured by Blair Aluminum Furniture and marketed by Cranbrook Inc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">The chairs are first shown and mentioned in an article about Mutschler's Series 800 office furniture in the June 1961 issue of Interiors Magazine and then again in the July 1961 issue of Interior Design Magazine. In 1962 Blair and/or Cranbrook took out a few full page ads in Interiors Magazine advertising the group.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXO_mzMPodTVWzudLZ3rHEoZxD59u22NBx0Aonei_LKUodlXuW5NuV3XF1d3SWgBneLIHNTZYZtUhynAvxfHAj9VnPOlF81J3rLxApTlFey1ljimml13u3RMlwW8ocTi6uXe210333z0/s1600/62-04-00+Interiors+p.+80.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXO_mzMPodTVWzudLZ3rHEoZxD59u22NBx0Aonei_LKUodlXuW5NuV3XF1d3SWgBneLIHNTZYZtUhynAvxfHAj9VnPOlF81J3rLxApTlFey1ljimml13u3RMlwW8ocTi6uXe210333z0/s640/62-04-00+Interiors+p.+80.jpg" width="448" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interiors Magazine - April 1962</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Considering the scant few historical mentions for this group (there are four total that I have found) we are very lucky to have complete information on it in the form of the original catalogs and brochures courtesy of Melissa McCobb.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg33vknQqOQ4-KpGsZEd9dSPMgyecm4nhu5SVwxzTU-kuTpdWykidPW0poga3__oFpKy3QOmod5QNGBlt3tfvyI1kh5oF9univifiAWpssy87gL-LVgJc2jxVpbo0H3Io94RCOjN_zGMqo/s1600/Series+690+designed+by+Paul+McCobb+p1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg33vknQqOQ4-KpGsZEd9dSPMgyecm4nhu5SVwxzTU-kuTpdWykidPW0poga3__oFpKy3QOmod5QNGBlt3tfvyI1kh5oF9univifiAWpssy87gL-LVgJc2jxVpbo0H3Io94RCOjN_zGMqo/s640/Series+690+designed+by+Paul+McCobb+p1.jpg" width="486" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blair Series 690 by Paul McCobb one sheet page 1</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGcMNkDDC211vjuRS14i_XFkMJQJai9BSar-yEohgEmwyraFJFpskuoCoaWfr5yPaaEdH5_mZFKKO4aXIv43Bd5f_khQFV5E_XA-5QLeAtmjlF1B2dYLezwEIaKpnJdu57E6SKI38W0k/s1600/Series+690+designed+by+Paul+McCobb+p2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGcMNkDDC211vjuRS14i_XFkMJQJai9BSar-yEohgEmwyraFJFpskuoCoaWfr5yPaaEdH5_mZFKKO4aXIv43Bd5f_khQFV5E_XA-5QLeAtmjlF1B2dYLezwEIaKpnJdu57E6SKI38W0k/s640/Series+690+designed+by+Paul+McCobb+p2.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blair Series 690 by Paul McCobb one sheet page 2</td></tr>
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<br />Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-62035835063558581302012-08-12T10:26:00.002-04:002018-05-11T06:30:58.269-04:00Lee L. Woodard Sons 1952 Allegro Collection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilu1im6kWVOJ27EiW6VQH-Rge54wJaKBwJSPEIW8H-m6GZlSozz8NGGGSYcBi-ciQnIs6PRV7FtaJOisVmzV8YDRWn1kyFyc6rLMLsE9E-KHLgLiHHb_Mi4D6bcuPjjPyoloXRAr_GqHk/s1600/52-04-00+Interiors+p.+41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilu1im6kWVOJ27EiW6VQH-Rge54wJaKBwJSPEIW8H-m6GZlSozz8NGGGSYcBi-ciQnIs6PRV7FtaJOisVmzV8YDRWn1kyFyc6rLMLsE9E-KHLgLiHHb_Mi4D6bcuPjjPyoloXRAr_GqHk/s640/52-04-00+Interiors+p.+41.jpg" title="Interiors April 1952 page 41" width="462" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The very McCobb like Lee L Woodard Sons Allegro group of wrought iron and white Ash was introduced at the Fourth Annual Summer Furniture Market at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago on October 22, 1951 and was in stores in early 1952. The group was a success and was sold throughout the 50’s. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">It was not designed by Paul McCobb.</span></div>
Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-57162468016807611492012-06-18T14:09:00.001-04:002012-06-18T14:09:40.764-04:00NYC20 2012<div style="padding: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; width: 500px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395435274/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #1" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8004/7395435274_62ed930740_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #1" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395434640/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #2" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/7395434640_117c32068a_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #2" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395437648/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #3" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7241/7395437648_928b31f3c2_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #3" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395437136/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #4" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7232/7395437136_b4b86990da_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #4" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395433580/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #5" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5113/7395433580_b059d397b3_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #5" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395432404/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #6" style="display: block; padding: 0 0 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7071/7395432404_cdf39c321c_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #6" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><br clear="all"/><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395431812/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #7" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/7395431812_d5765d6fb9_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #7" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395436322/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #8" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7395436322_e9c7b9251c_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #8" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395430868/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #9" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7225/7395430868_18ffb422ea_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #9" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/7395434176/in/set-72157630179425922/" title="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #10" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5071/7395434176_ca6cb6f849_s.jpg" alt="Paul McCobb Exhibit at NYC20 #10" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><div style="padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/g/images/gallery-empty-icon.gif" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"></div><div style="padding: 0 0 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/g/images/gallery-empty-icon.gif" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"></div><br clear="all"/></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px"><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/sets/72157630179425922/">NYC20 2012</a>, a set on Flickr.</p></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-21534977089612120942012-03-22T13:59:00.001-04:002012-03-22T14:49:11.323-04:00The CBS-Columbia Model # 5110 Radio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Xy0znYyEX_hXyvucxYWhVlO-yQI0LuVbyqj-p2s-yEhVSHb6nduH9gugtJ2XA5EqBH5AqaCbr_3U5X3EiamE6jzq8U0KKVXRRvzV86EtrDkURSWVHqPHZBK5F2_gKWq1NeUMNM1PzuQ/s1600/Radio+-+Press+Photo+520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Xy0znYyEX_hXyvucxYWhVlO-yQI0LuVbyqj-p2s-yEhVSHb6nduH9gugtJ2XA5EqBH5AqaCbr_3U5X3EiamE6jzq8U0KKVXRRvzV86EtrDkURSWVHqPHZBK5F2_gKWq1NeUMNM1PzuQ/s1600/Radio+-+Press+Photo+520.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of the McCobb family archive</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">This story starts back in 2009 when I first found out about a radio designed by Paul McCobb from a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> teensy little mention in House and Garden.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"For those who like to travel with music, there's a perfect portable for $29.95. Designed by Paul McCobb, it's about the size of a pocket novel, weighs only 2 lbs. and has a carrying case with shoulder strap."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">[1]</span></i></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Not much to go on... but now that I knew that such a thing existed I had to find out the rest of the story. So I hit the books, which in this case means I did a search in Google Books, that invaluable resource for the historical researcher, to see if there was anything that jived with Paul McCobb and Radio (I think it's important to mention that Google Books has gotten progressively better over time, back in 2009 it was kind of a bear to deal with).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The responses were few, with most of them referring to the better known Paul McCobb designed Bell & Howell Hi-Fi and it's built in radio, but there was one mystery reference to "USA Tomorrow". Those of you who use Google Books frequently will know that the greater majority of book results have a bit of scanned text attached to them showing your search in context to the books text, which is really quite helpful, but every once in a while down at the very bottom of the list of search results there will be one or a few without any scanned text attached, the USA Tomorrow hit was one of "those" responses. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Having eliminated all of the stuff which was clearly about the Bell & Howell designs I was then left with an exceptionally short list of potential sources of information about this other McCobb radio. Getting a look at "USA Tomorrow" was pretty high up on my list of things to look into for my McCobb radio research along with getting a look through the run of Industrial Design magazine which was already on my research priority list. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">After some misadventures with WorldCat I finally manage to track down a copy of "USA Tomorrow" in the NYPL Arts and Architecture collection, which was a really great thing with two big advantages for me:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The library is freely accessible and doesn't require making an appointment in advance to view items in their collection </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Even more important, it's <u>local</u>.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">And in case anyone is wondering why they've never heard of USA Tomorrow before, it's because USA Tomorrow was an exceptionally briefly lived periodical lasting only two or three issues. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">It was in one of these few published issues that I found the best information about the McCobb radio thus far in my research endeavors </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Personal portable radio and carry case designed by Paul McCobb for CBS-Columbia, WINS good design award, 1955. This is the first radio of this type that has ever been accepted by the Museum of Modern Art for the Good Design exhibit. Paul McCobb has achieved this within the restrictions of cost and engineering. Colors --Cabinets: Stone, Sand, Avocado Green, Cardinal Red. Secondary colors: Lemon Yellow, Charcoal. Leather Carrying Case in Luggage Brown and Black. Cabinet material: Polystyrene. Handle: Spring steel, 4" Speaker. Battery operated. Retail price--$29.95."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">[2]</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The article also included a photo of the radio, the very same photo at the top of this post in fact (but not the same print). </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">So now that I knew what the darn thing looked like and that it</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> was included in the Museum of Modern Art's 1955 Good Design show. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Thus equipped </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">I put on my curator and collector hat and started scouring the internet in hopes of finding one. Part of the problem in searching for this is that I do not know, at this point, the model number of the radio, so I go about searching out any and all references to CBS-Columbia radio's on the net only to find precious little out there. Not only was I unable to find a McCobb radio sitting Un-noticed in some online radio boutique but I very quickly learned that CBS-Columbia radios are kind of hard to come by, irregardless of the model you're searching for. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Only slightly daunted by this I created an automated search on Ebay and waited. It took quite a while before I got my first bite from this Ebay search but sure enough after about 6 months I land my first radio (stone) which once it gets delivered gives me the final piece of the puzzle, the model number of the radio. It is a CBS-Columbia Model #5110!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> A few months later a second color (sand) appears and is successfully acquired, it takes almost a year between these first two finds to score the third (cardinal red) with a partially complete 4th radio (case only in avocado green) arriving just recently. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">While I was busy collecting radios I was also occupied in continuing research on this subject which resulted in my acquiring a scan of a 1955 press release from Paul McCobb Design Associates (text reproduced below) for the radio's inclusion in the 1955 Good Design show. It's interesting to note that the USA Tomorrow text blurb is taken directly from the text of this press release.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Ironically about a year ago I got access to the Pratt University Library which includes a complete run of Industrial Design magazine, where the McCobb/CBS-Columbia radio is pictured and written up quite prominently at least twice... had I gotten there first this would not have been a very interesting story at all and certainly might have taken a lot less time.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] House and Garden December 1954 page 166</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] U.S.A. Tomorrow June 1955 page 54</span></div>
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<br /></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-31062957046305212011-12-28T10:46:00.000-05:002017-05-05T07:24:51.703-04:00Arbuck Style No. 76 by Paul McCobb<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/520/177_1_modern_design_october_2011_paul_mccobb_vanity_and_chair__wright_auction.jpg?t=1486730076" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://www.wright20.com/items/index/520/177_1_modern_design_october_2011_paul_mccobb_vanity_and_chair__wright_auction.jpg?t=1486730076" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In a recent conversation with Mike Pratt, a fellow mid-century design researcher and the author of </span><a href="http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/book_template.php?isbn=0764315676" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mid-Century Modern Dinnerware: A Pictorial Guide </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Schiffer 2002)</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> he mentioned to me that one of the things he had learned doing his research is that we are getting newer, better information all the time and that what we publish, when we publish it, is really only an encapsulation of the state of our research at that moment in time, that there is every chance, given time, more will be revealed. Truer words could not have been said. Case in point:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Back in September I got an e-mail from Wright asking for information authenticating the above items which would ultimately appear as <a href="http://www.wright20.com/auctions/view_search/L5UL/L5UM/177/LA/mccobb/MVDK" target="_blank">Lot 177 in their October 2011 Modern Design auction</a>. Their request was for "information regarding the manufacturer and date of production" but what they really needed was confirmation that the table and chair in the above image were by Paul McCobb as they had been unable to find any historical reference to support the attribution; information which I had ready to hand and was more than happy to provide them. I did not know exactly who made the chair and table for McCobb so I gave them a very tentative guess that both the chair and table would have been manufactured by Furnwood Corp., as they were the only other producer of wrought iron furniture for Paul McCobb whose total output was not fully understood by me at that stage in my research. It was an error on my part to make any statement about a manufacturer when I had absolutely no information to either support or discredit the idea, as it turns out I could not have been more wrong about who made the chair.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But let's step back a bit because researching the chair alone is an interesting story. I found my first reference for this chair design more than two years ago in the 1953 W. J. Sloan and Company advertisement from the NY Times </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> seen below.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Apartment size table (36' x 54" with 1 - 12" leaf) designed by Paul McCobb<br />Plastic top in birch or black, wrought iron legs 89.50<br /> Side chair, white plastic seat, wrought iron 18.95"</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I should mention that there's a rule which I have established to help make sure that I don't go off half cocked spouting about some new discovery only to find out later on that my original source was in error, it's pretty simple and straight forward: "Make sure that you have more than one source of information for any attribution." Truth is that there are errors and omissions in the period literature every bit as bad as some of the worst of the current day. Best to dot your i's and cross your t's...</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">How that applies here is that in the ad above only the table is clearly attributed to Paul McCobb and though it seemed likely to me that the chairs were also a Paul McCobb design I needed more than one solitary blip to even think about making a determination of this nature, and so the snippet was duly filed away in hopes that more information might surface at a later date.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Unfortunately after a protracted period of time no new information was forthcoming. The only other scant reference I had found in over two years of searching was a 1954 Bloomingdale's ad </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[2]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> where the same chairs were tantalizingly displayed without any attribution information whatsoever. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Then over the summer I learned of an online newspaper repository whose depths I had not yet scavenged. And there, lo and behold, was another reference to the mystery chair design </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[3]</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> (below), the earliest I had found thus far, pre-dating the Sloane ad </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">[1]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> by several months, and this time complete with a clear Paul McCobb attribution for the chair. Paydirt!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Besides the chair the article also describes a table as part of this un-named Paul Mccobb group and by the description it was not the same table design shown in the Sloane ad </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">[1]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">. So we have a new design for the further research files. There's still no information about who was manufacturing this group of wrought iron furniture, but at least now its pretty clear that it existed and that it was introduced to the market sometime in the middle of 1953.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Now after more than two years spent researching a single subject I was starting to become a bit frazzled. When I first started out I firmly believed that I would have everything I needed to do the complete Paul McCobb history given a years worth of research time. Ahhh, how little I knew back then... I hadn't lost interest, I wasn't giving up, but I most definitely needed to take a break. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So what do you do to take a break when you've spent the past several years researching mid-century furniture and design? Research other designs and designers of course! During my tenure researching Paul MCcobb I have developed an increasingly expanding database of information about Paul McCobb's imitators and competitors. Now with a little bit of discretionary time on my hands I delved a little bit deeper into subjects, such as mid-century wrought iron furniture production, which I had become increasingly interested in, expanding my database even further and accruing information for what very well might eventually become a book on the subject (providing I ever get this Paul McCobb project finished and published...) It was while doing this "side research" that I stumbled upon what would ultimately be the rosetta stone to unlock the mystery of these wrought iron tables and chairs in the form of a small snippet from a 1955 Bloomingdale's sale advertisement </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Here at last we have a pictorial reference for the round table mentioned in the Dallas Morning News editorial (above) and of course yet another image and attribution for the wrought iron chairs (it's interesting to note that the textured Madagaska plastic upholstery has been replaced with white denim at this point). But what was really important about this image was the fact that I had seen that table before on page 38 of the 1958 "Wrought Iron by Arbuck" Catalog!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Wrought Iron by Arbuck" catalog page 38</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Since there is so little authoritative information floating around about the various Arbuck groups I suppose a note of explanation is in order if this narrative is to make any sense from here on out. The designs in the 1958 catalog are unattributed, nowhere is there any mention of who designed them and there is a reason for this; In the Mid-Century when a company contracted a designer to design a product for them they frequently also contracted with the designer for the use of their name in marketing the product, there would be a finite term that the company would be allowed the use of the designers name in associated marketing after which, even though they still might retain the rights to produce the furniture, (furniture designs were typically a "work for hire" where the designer was paid a fee for the designs along with a percentage of sales) the designers name would revert to being the property of the designer. In this case it seems the George Nelson and Paul McCobb designs were still the property of the company in 1958 but they likely no longer had the rights to use the designers name to promote these designs. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This catalog page (above) contains designs by George Nelson and Paul McCobb. The small stool and chair pictured lower center and the side chair on the lower right, listed as Style No. 70, are three of the George Nelson designs from Arbuck's 1950 George Nelson designed group </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[5]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. The chair pictured top left as Style No. 74, along with the chair pictured top right as Style No. 75 and the room divider pictured bottom left as Style No. 75 are all Paul McCobb designs manufactured by Arbuck as seen in the 1953 "The Pavillion Collection of Wrought Iron designed by Paul McCobb " catalog.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJrUg_2I4d2S6dFPE7QYT7ZOR5vIkVbWZ84G5aUUD0s6ICiPvoOysy2v6DGAQ_-8R5k__R7Be76R9Nw1HJaoY1gezWqlr4TMKfOiVobrmIigZYbCF5AIrJe51ORUgA9Ht2iTyj5fjk3o/s1600/The+Pavilion+Collection+of+Wrought+Iron+designed+by+Paul+McCobb1953+-+Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJrUg_2I4d2S6dFPE7QYT7ZOR5vIkVbWZ84G5aUUD0s6ICiPvoOysy2v6DGAQ_-8R5k__R7Be76R9Nw1HJaoY1gezWqlr4TMKfOiVobrmIigZYbCF5AIrJe51ORUgA9Ht2iTyj5fjk3o/s320/The+Pavilion+Collection+of+Wrought+Iron+designed+by+Paul+McCobb1953+-+Front.jpg" width="247" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"The Pavillion Collection of Wrought Iron <br />designed by Paul McCobb"</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Leaving only the top center table listed as Style No. 76 unidentified. Now this table I had ignored previously, it didn't appear in anything else I had ever seen and honestly I had no idea about it, that is until I came across the 1955 Bloomingdale's ad </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, compared side by side we see that the tables are identical. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGV1w8cxcp52eNxIdaEhyphenhyphenwIMLHk9j9x0ErNBUkvr1m5nM5vGteOapM_7y0kchl-rKqfICHjzhWD6UtgBmV41rz67yilsmBYNU58FrGZe5WF8rISfyY4YevxCItdSdBxS_1TF1bL2p4PY/s1600/Arbuck+Catalog+1958+p+38+%2528detail%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span id="goog_1979215699"></span><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGV1w8cxcp52eNxIdaEhyphenhyphenwIMLHk9j9x0ErNBUkvr1m5nM5vGteOapM_7y0kchl-rKqfICHjzhWD6UtgBmV41rz67yilsmBYNU58FrGZe5WF8rISfyY4YevxCItdSdBxS_1TF1bL2p4PY/s200/Arbuck+Catalog+1958+p+38+%2528detail%2529.jpg" width="200" /><span id="goog_1979215700"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwtFn2KZuaMx2sLCRpX8R8IaJoLo_8EbzB5NVinc47vA_cQ41pUP7-7ypXJ3j-CFQF3oNJOYRca5q8SGN-zBX8TKuRwQ-NPFi3ChzCh_ByQ987zYnCAheyL_z6oOr-ejh_RNH1IqR2sN8/s1600/55-06-19+NY+Times+p.+48+%2528detail%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span id="goog_1979215704"></span><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwtFn2KZuaMx2sLCRpX8R8IaJoLo_8EbzB5NVinc47vA_cQ41pUP7-7ypXJ3j-CFQF3oNJOYRca5q8SGN-zBX8TKuRwQ-NPFi3ChzCh_ByQ987zYnCAheyL_z6oOr-ejh_RNH1IqR2sN8/s200/55-06-19+NY+Times+p.+48+%2528detail%2529.jpg" width="200" /><span id="goog_1979215705"></span></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The most likely conclusion I can draw given the evidence at hand is that the chairs and table seen in the 1955 Bloomingdale's ad </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> and by extension the chairs and table seen in 1953 Sloane ad </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> were manufactured by Arbuck. And that's where my research stands at this point.</span><br />
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<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">New York Times - November 8, 1953 page 94</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">New York Times - August 29, 1954 page 39</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dallas Morning News - July 26, 1953 part vi page 3</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">New York Times - June 19, 1955 page 48</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">New Furniture 1 edited by Gerd Hatje (1952), page 118</span></li>
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Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-26152936209078629252011-10-04T09:20:00.000-04:002011-10-27T10:11:17.346-04:00The Anatomy of a Paul McCobb Lamp<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Time and again I have seen the most spectacular misattributions when it comes to the Paul McCobb lamps. Some are entirely figments of an overactive imagination and as such are easily discounted, others being of very similar design to the actual lamps are the far more difficult to debunk since the <a href="http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/blind_men_elephant.html">three blind men and the elephant</a> principle applies. Partial information almost always leads to incorrect conclusions.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">So let's pose the question: What makes a Paul McCobb lamp a Paul McCobb lamp? Are there any specific design features which separate out the McCobb lamps from all the others on the planet? Not surprisingly the answer is yes... the greater portion of the McCobb lamps manufactured by Northcraft Lighting and Excelsior Art Studio had specific and unique design elements which are not repeated anywhere else in the centuries long canon of lamp manufacture.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">First off no McCobb lamp for Northcraft Lighting and/or Excelsior Art Studio used a lamp harp to hang the shade. There are no lamp harps on these lamps. None whatsoever. Rumors of lamp harps are greatly exaggerated. Did I mention that there aren't any lamp harps? Yup, no lamp harps here, not even the hint of a lamp harp on a cold and blustery winter's day. No lamp harps!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So how the hell do you put on a lamp shade? The lamp shades would sit atop a piece of conical glass which was also used as a diffuser. Now those of you who know something about lamps and lamp manufacture in the 40's and 50's might say "Oh you mean those fairly common Milk Glass diffusers..." to which I would reply with a slight sigh of exasperation "No, not those"... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The McCobb diffuser was a specially produced 7-1/8" tall tapered cylinder of white glass </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(called opal glass in the catalogs)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> measuring 3" at the base and 4-1/4" at the top, this conical glass diffuser would then sit into a purpose made metal cone. You can see this arrangement quite clearly in the photo (below left) of a Northcraft #2001 floor lamp currently offered for sale by <a href="http://www.reform-modern.com/">Reform Gallery</a> and also (below right) in this 1951 Directional advertisement introducing the Northcraft Lamps.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">And though you cannot actually see the glass diffuser in these images of the Excelsior Art Studios lamps below, you can clearly see the cones into which the glass diffuser sat. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The arrangements are almost identical for both lighting groups, the one subtle difference being that for the 1954 Excelsior Art Studios lamps the receiving cone is not quite as deep as it is for the the 1951 Northcraft Lighting group. The 1951 Northcraft Group uses a cone 6-1/2" deep and the 1954 Excelsior Art Studios' cone is 5" deep. Northcraft lamps manufactured post 1954 also frequently use the same 5" deep cone. The Northcraft lamps came in either bright brass or a matte black finish btw, the Excelsior Art Studios lamps are only ever found in an bright brass finish.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Unfortunately time and the elements take their toll. These glass diffusers were quite fragile and easily broken, and, since their design was unique to the McCobb lamp designs, once one became damaged there was absolutely nowhere to go and get replacement parts. I imagine that once a diffuser got broken the lamps were most likely taken out of service (i.e. thrown away), this I suspect is one of the major contributing factors to the exceptional rarity of these lamps today. </span></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-51184414663620680422011-07-27T13:22:00.002-04:002011-07-27T13:32:14.055-04:00The Real McCobb<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Here's a link to an article by Larry Weinberg of <a href="http://www.4pmny.com/html/index.html">Weinberg Modern</a> in the July 2011 issue of Interior Design magazine which I contributed to.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.interiordesign.net/article/541212-The_Real_McCobb.php">The Real McCobb: Mid Century's Paul McCobb is finally getting the recognition he deserves.</a></span>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-43663281241195865252011-06-25T03:16:00.003-04:002011-12-29T05:15:09.078-05:00Pomona Tiles' Distinguished Designer Series<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The earliest reference that I have to the Distinguished Designer series is in the June 1957 issue of Art & Architecture where a two page Ponoma Tile ad announces the forthcoming release of their new "Distinguished Designer" tile series. The following text is quoted directly from this ad:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"Working under special assignment from Pomona Tile Manufacturing Company, five distinguished contemporary designers —Liebes, McCobb, Bass, Laszlo, and Sheets — have opened the way for scores of beautiful new uses and applications of decorative tiles for both residential and commercial construction. The project was an interesting challenge. The results...as usually happens when the true artist applies his talent to a new medium of creativity...are totally unexpected and unprecedented. And this inspiration, in turn, should beget a great new school of ideas, from architects, decorators, and builders. The first in the series will be introduced, in full color, in the forth-coming issue of this publication. Don't miss it! POMONA TILE, the creative name in ceramic floor and wall tile."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The second page contained brief bios of each of the designers:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">PAUL McCOBB: functional furniture designer and originator of the "Linear look" in contemporary furniture. Famed for his imaginative uses of unorthodox materials, he recently introduced designs combining structural aluminum and natural woods. Winner of many "Best Design” awards</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">MILLARD SHEETS: water-colorist, muralist, illustrator, mosaicist, architectural designer, director, teacher, and lecturer. Winner of scores of awards for watercolors and other paintings, his works are to be seen in the permanent collections of more than forty museums and galleries.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">DOROTHY LIEBES: textiles de-signer and colorist, and the winner of many national and international awards in art and design competitions. Director, trustee, and member of more than a score of art and professional societies and schools, her work has been exhibited in countless museum and gallery shows.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">SAUL BASS: designer, consultant in integrated design-planning for industry; also well-known for unusual movie- title designs. Teacher, lecturer, and member of the executive board of the International Design Conference at Aspen. Winner of scores of national and international awards</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">PAUL LASZLO: industrial designer and interior designer. He is a renowned exponent of the new "romantic movement" in home interiors. Known as a "radical architect" in Vienna before World War II, he says he follows no formula or dogma except what he terms "ABC's of good design, artistry, beauty, comfort.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In this initial advertisement there were no images of the tiles, these weren't to come until later on. These first three magazine clippings showing Dorothy Liebes, Millard Sheets and Paul Laszlo's designs I acquired from </span></span><a href="http://cathyofcalifornia.typepad.com/cathy_of_california/page/49/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Cathy of California's blogpost on Pomona Tile</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. Great work btw Cathy. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So that only leaves Paul McCobb and Saul Bass for the 1957 series of tiles. My research has shown that McCobb did three tile designs for Pomona but only one of them was ever publicized, that being "Roulette", seen here in a full page ad from Arts & Architecture 's August 1957 issue.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The only reason I have any knowledge of the other two patterns is because </span></span><a href="http://www.reform-modern.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Gerard O'Brien</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, whose pioneering work archiving information on Paul McCobb is the basis of my own continued research, had managed to obtain what is seemingly the sole surviving copy of an original Distinguished Designer collection brochure. It is from this resource that we get images of the remaining Paul McCobb designs.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In 1961 a subtle addition was made to the McCobb designs with the inclusion of a new colorway for the popular "Roulette" tile design (the following is quoted from page 283 of the October 1961 issue of Interior Design)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Pomona Tile Manufacturing Company, has announced a new color variation, designed by Paul McCobb. on its Decorator Tile Roulette. The new tile is in blues and greens while the original design utilized the red-orange hues. Samples are available at any Pomona Tile showroom or distributor. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For the longest time I had despaired of ever finding a color image of this change in the design but as luck would have it I recently managed to acquire examples of all of the Paul McCobb designs for Pomona Tile including one of the 1961 "Roulette" tile! This is a scan of the actual tile.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">For the Saul Bass designs I was fortunate enough to have stumbled across another Pomona Tile brochure in my meanderings over the past few years which has all three of his ""Bass" Relief" tile designs (seriously, that's what they were called... I am not making this up...).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In late 1958 Pomona contracted two more design luminaries to add to the Distinguished Designer series. This time out were chosen famous designer and watercolorist Dong Kingman </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">and the inimitable George Nelson who I think needs no further explanation... </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As a final note it seems that the Distinguished Designer tiles had a long healthy run, they were sold from 1957 to at least 1963 according to a small blurb in the back of the March 1963 issue of Arts & Architecture.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-14361527862894947782011-05-25T17:48:00.001-04:002011-05-25T17:48:41.626-04:00Los Angeles Modernism Show 2011<div style="padding: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; width: 500px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759785020/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/5759785020_3279c4f9b4_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759242611/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2180/5759242611_a46d876511_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759783810/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2675/5759783810_5a7de96784_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759784366/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5028/5759784366_3c449e6d7f_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759786036/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5061/5759786036_fa34a1c704_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759784706/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 0 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/5759784706_f05302dd4b_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><br clear="all"/><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759784126/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5148/5759784126_6ed986fe0f_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759242139/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2761/5759242139_356de4ca39_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759785612/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2421/5759785612_8b292db7be_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5759240417/in/set-72157626681275085/" title="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="display: block; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5184/5759240417_9e147a4d27_s.jpg" alt="“Planner Group by Paul McCobb” exhibit at Los Angeles Modernism Show" style="border:none; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"/></a><div style="padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/g/images/gallery-empty-icon.gif" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"></div><div style="padding: 0 0 10px 0; width: 75px; height: 75px; float: left;"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/g/images/gallery-empty-icon.gif" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px; height: 75px;"></div><br clear="all"/></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px"><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/sets/72157626681275085/">Los Angeles Modernism Show 2011</a>, a set on Flickr.</p></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-65119569720996459572011-04-16T00:38:00.006-04:002011-07-27T01:49:34.916-04:00Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011<div style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0; width: 500px;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623074811/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #7"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #7" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5190/5623074811_3d6318376a_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623663492/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #1"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #1" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5103/5623663492_5ce241035d_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623075453/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #2"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #2" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5025/5623075453_fe7804eb8b_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623075345/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #3"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #3" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5110/5623075345_4d916876fa_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623075249/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #4"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #4" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5225/5623075249_e68814e908_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623075073/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 0 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #5"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #5" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5108/5623075073_710153c428_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623074989/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #6"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #6" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5184/5623074989_e2ce93e7cd_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623662682/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #8"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #8" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5066/5623662682_8d1a50f356_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623662622/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #9"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #9" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/5623662622_21b480bebc_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/5623662536/in/set-72157626507219512/" style="display: block; float: left; height: 75px; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 75px;" title="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #10"><img alt="Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011 #10" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5221/5623662536_314783b78e_s.jpg" style="border: none; height: 75px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 75px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29624070@N07/sets/72157626507219512/">Los Angeles Antiques Show 2011</a>, a set on Flickr.<br />
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Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-71997867104753612892011-04-13T08:00:00.006-04:002011-07-27T01:45:06.861-04:00Digging through the crates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">When I was asked for a quote from Paul McCobb to put into the brochure for Reform Gallery’s <a href="http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Paul-McCobb-at-the-LA-Antiques-Show.html?soid=1102478586451&aid=KIQZD8OD2S4">Paul McCobb/Directional Design exhibit at the Los Angeles Antiques Show</a> I figured that it wouldn’t be too difficult finding something appropriate. I wasn’t exactly hard pressed for material after all. McCobb was interviewed frequently during the 50’s and 60’s and I have literally thousands of articles to choose from. The challenge was to find something simple, succinct and to the point. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">As it turns out much of McCobb’s interviews are not at all about design or process but rather tend towards giving helpful hints to homemakers. In fact there is an entire series of articles doing just that, making suggestions to homemakers about how to go about decorating their homes; tips and tricks to aid in providing a “light, airy and spacious” home in a time of shrinking rooms and diminishing scale of the household environment. Great stuff from a historical standpoint, but not exactly sexy. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">McCobb was also a great champion of the American contemporary furniture movement, defending it repeatedly in print. His being one of the prime moving forces behind this faction of American designers it’s easy to understand why he would speak frequently and passionately about the design trend of which he was such an integral part. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Unfortunately this material was not what I was looking for. What I really wanted was some few words or a phrase which would sum up Paul McCobb in a nutshell. Finding this was turning out to be not quite so easy as I thought it would be. But, as I’ve learned through the past few years doing this research, persistence pays, and after scanning through the material at my disposal for some time I finally found something which was EXACTLY what I was looking for, a precise summation of everything I knew Paul McCobb to be.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Design appeal is based on integrity of form, simplicity of line, and true organic function."</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Paul McCobb</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><br />
</b> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Interiors July, 1952</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;"><br />
</div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-46790537780217084082011-04-03T02:40:00.021-04:002011-07-27T01:47:43.504-04:00Tables by Lane<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Over the past few years I have become increasingly aware of the necessity for context in research. At the very beginning of this project I was so narrowly focussed on getting information about Paul McCobb that I ignored anything else that wasn’t about McCobb. For instance, when I scanned the 1962 Lane catalog I entirely ignored the rest of it, only scanning those pages which dealt directly with Paul McCobb’s work. I later regretted this decision but there was really nothing to do about it as the catalog was in California and I wasn’t.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Fortunately life has conspired to make it so that I can finally right this egregious oversight, Gerard O’Brien of <a href="http://www.reform-modern.com/">Reform Gallery</a> (the fellow who has the Lane catalog) having decided to show select pieces from his Paul McCobb collection at the upcoming <a _blank"="" href="http://www.psartsantiques.com/">Los Angeles Antiques</a> and <a _blank"="" href="http://www.dolphinfairs.com/lamodernism/">Los Angeles Modernism</a> shows at the <a _blank"="" href="http://barkerhangar.com/">Barker Hanger</a> this April has called me in to work with him co-producing these Paul McCobb retrospectives, which means that once again I find myself in Los Angeles for an extended period of time with unrestricted access to what might be the very best <a _blank"="" href="http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2011/03/printed-matter.html">privately held mid-century design research library</a> on the planet. Yay!</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">While I am here, besides working around the clock getting the two shows up, I am also going back over the ground which I have already covered in my Paul McCobb research (in my off hours...) and this time making sure to acquire the background information to provide context to my main research materials. Amongst other things I have finally gotten a complete scan of that 1962 Lane Catalog.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Now I’m not about to blurt out everything I have learned about Paul McCobb’s involvement with Lane, after all I have to save something for the book which I have been diligently but ever so slowly putting together. What I would like to provide is some context in the form of identifying information for the other Lane groups in existence at the time Paul McCobb was designing for the company. So, without further preamble, here they are in the order in which they appear in the 1962 "<b>Tables that make your room are made by Lane</b>" catalog:</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Dimension - Group # 1003</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Acclaim - Group #900</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Hy-Lite - Group #’s 928, 929, 930</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Tuxedo - Group #921</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">New Amsterdam - Group #957</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Chatham Hall - Group #958 and 959</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Monte Carlo - Group #973</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Award - Group #966 and 972</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Rhythm - Group #997</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Lido - Group #’s 975, 978, 994</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Cosmopolitan - Group #209</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Esteem - Group #983</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Prophecy - Group #996 and 1006</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Accent - Group #991</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Calais - Group #’s 953, 954, 955, 956, 968, 969</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Capri - Group #999</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Regal - Group #1002</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Perception - Group #908 and 990</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Cameo - Group #967</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><br />
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</span>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-55518487800335675692011-03-13T13:18:00.006-04:002011-03-13T19:17:50.084-04:00Raymor<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As I start writing the chapter on Raymor I realize that I've only identified eleven lamps designed by Paul McCobb for Raymor between 1946 and 1953. I am sure that there were more than eleven designs made over this seven year collaboration. Unfortunately this is all that I have been able to dig up.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I would still love to get a look at any Raymor catalogs published between 1946 and 1953 (I do have scans of pages from 1953) which might help in determining the provenance of several lamps which I suspect were designed by McCobb for Raymor during this time period, but at this point I have all but given up hope of being able to locate such resources. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">If any kind reader should happen to have, or know the whereabouts of, any Raymor catalogs please, please, please let me know!</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuHZt7LAPX5ZYnuLAeKlt5plvgAn7D3HYvdjVpVembrcHL2Fx1HAfZ69dkeYAcyGsBmPVKJS-Uw6977nzbPH9fwZoLVrX66VRlCChz2jC504Tfm0g2TA8Tggmauhx6BoVjIqIK4hfCMNw/s1600/53-06-00+Interiors+p.+128+%2528Lamp+10%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuHZt7LAPX5ZYnuLAeKlt5plvgAn7D3HYvdjVpVembrcHL2Fx1HAfZ69dkeYAcyGsBmPVKJS-Uw6977nzbPH9fwZoLVrX66VRlCChz2jC504Tfm0g2TA8Tggmauhx6BoVjIqIK4hfCMNw/s640/53-06-00+Interiors+p.+128+%2528Lamp+10%2529.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-14411939786357038842011-02-25T20:33:00.001-05:002011-02-25T20:33:54.754-05:00More about Kopenhavn<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Digging a little bit deeper I have now discovered that Kopenhavn was a furniture group produced by Northwest Chair Co., one of those "nationally known brands" that no one ever actually seems to have heard of... but to their credit the Kopenhavn Wall Planner Group was a remarkably successful venture for Northwest Chair Co. and was in production through the entirety of the 1960's. The group was designed by Noral Olson. </span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My best guess now is that the mystery clone chair was most likely a Northwest Chair Company chair but not specifically designed for the Kopenhavn group.</span></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-83136954309951697172011-02-21T01:30:00.000-05:002011-02-21T01:30:59.584-05:00"Calvin equals Paul McCobb?" updated<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Added a very nice image of another of the Kipp Stewart & Stewart MacDougal chairs for the American Design Foundation collection </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">manufactured by Calvin Furniture</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com/2010/10/calvin-equals-paul-mccobb.html">http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com/2010/10/calvin-equals-paul-mccobb.html</a></span></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-13823695945053000742011-02-10T09:18:00.000-05:002011-02-10T09:18:34.201-05:00Attributed to?<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yesterday I saw research from here twisted and perverted to serve the ends of a craigslist furniture reseller. An outright lie in the description of a piece of furniture which was based, at least in part, on one of my very own blog posts debunking a common Paul McCobb misattribution.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It has always been my hope that by providing true, accurate and authoritative information about Paul McCobb's designs and those of his imitators that I could stem the growing tide of misinformation. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It makes me very sad to see my work used this way.</span></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-39873482625913789512011-02-04T13:44:00.001-05:002012-05-29T14:20:47.954-04:00Kobenhavn<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">"Needle in a haystack" and "tilting at windmills" are phrases that often run through my head when I'm trying to dig up some tidbit of information having little or nothing to go on besides a picture of the piece in question, but persistence and more than just a little bit of luck wins the day on the odd occasion. Take for instance these very nice shaker inspired chairs (photo's courtesy of Nic Mercure).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9WRxGzJ5nMFVkWzW8yf6tjda3bRIDnMEtveJ4DVWCkTngNjZwcNMBk1yce83Lm_K2lJr4ZExDzU2b2Wf96k_gmzuW68HU8cRyHnKwaEmBQaZ2EkGFNrkuaKxdSHM-YHrmttHJ5jB1hu8/s1600/2+mid+century+chairs+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9WRxGzJ5nMFVkWzW8yf6tjda3bRIDnMEtveJ4DVWCkTngNjZwcNMBk1yce83Lm_K2lJr4ZExDzU2b2Wf96k_gmzuW68HU8cRyHnKwaEmBQaZ2EkGFNrkuaKxdSHM-YHrmttHJ5jB1hu8/s320/2+mid+century+chairs+2.jpg" width="251" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5FbJgMtRah-zH7hyphenhyphenseWeWZyGFYzE1WoCcTgGj3TtNwCgweuPe4-nqPrdgZ_rHXxjtv5_I7NbHkxVsf-yM77C0Sctr1WQeuPhxIqslYvfRhl7Su403M-77h2R4BGXH0rg9wGTKb0ucNI/s1600/2+mid+century+chairs+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5FbJgMtRah-zH7hyphenhyphenseWeWZyGFYzE1WoCcTgGj3TtNwCgweuPe4-nqPrdgZ_rHXxjtv5_I7NbHkxVsf-yM77C0Sctr1WQeuPhxIqslYvfRhl7Su403M-77h2R4BGXH0rg9wGTKb0ucNI/s320/2+mid+century+chairs+1.jpg" width="247" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi61xteb3PTacLAIBLZtQXJSaet7Ez_6T0vhUENyvL0QiiA4sWEIOVxHD05X40VpHncyffsxk97WIgrRRhxZ3bPYtrAowwQNKWX1fHjykcDxRv3wEtRLme0-2E-E4fZsHeHKdaAg7bD5c/s1600/2+mid+century+chairs+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi61xteb3PTacLAIBLZtQXJSaet7Ez_6T0vhUENyvL0QiiA4sWEIOVxHD05X40VpHncyffsxk97WIgrRRhxZ3bPYtrAowwQNKWX1fHjykcDxRv3wEtRLme0-2E-E4fZsHeHKdaAg7bD5c/s320/2+mid+century+chairs+3.jpg" width="229" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi20His_DQSDzAvEuXPlt_Jj3yZZysn-08fYtgBxm7nhn5HuUBEnOUFfHcgNcuUco7YZAyJNFGYuQKZTyC-9ulG6DMqTKsHO9gVqzTDpMMeMGyanpU2umPP7uIbGP189L8oZmlDG2-tUwI/s1600/2+mid+century+chairs+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi20His_DQSDzAvEuXPlt_Jj3yZZysn-08fYtgBxm7nhn5HuUBEnOUFfHcgNcuUco7YZAyJNFGYuQKZTyC-9ulG6DMqTKsHO9gVqzTDpMMeMGyanpU2umPP7uIbGP189L8oZmlDG2-tUwI/s320/2+mid+century+chairs+4.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Now they look a hell of a lot like the Paul McCobb's Planner Group #1531 chair by Winchendon Furniture.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.wright20.com/auctions/view_search/EFIT/F5XW/354/LA/mccobb/E3K2%20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.wright20.com/assets/images/auctions/EFIT/fullsize/cache/354_520_520_90.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Planner Group #1531 chairs designed by Paul McCobb</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">But there are subtle differences. The McCobb Planner Group #1531 chair has no stretchers across the legs, also it's legs are attached through the seat. But you have to admit it's damn similar. Now my research has shown that McCobb designed this chair once and never revisited it. There was only ever one McCobb designed Windsor style chair and it's manufacture was exactly the same (barring variations in finish) for the entire 14 years of the Planner Group run.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">So now we ask that eternal question: "If it's not McCobb, then who made it?" </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">And for the longest time the answer was "I have no idea" and it probably would have stayed that way except for one small thing. Recently in closing out my Paul McCobb research I have been revisiting several databases which I had already mined for information. Part of this due diligence is going back through these databases and getting creative with my search parameters in hopes of turning up something new. In this case I was searching for planner + group where previously I had searched for "planner group" as one phrase (it makes a difference!). Now as it turns out there was a furniture group named "Kobenhavn" in the early 60's which consisted of a series of "Wall Planner Units". Being an inquisitive sort I decided to take a look at what they were offering and what do you know there was the mystery chair! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXUtoOkBj_QZlkSD6zZ1QJlCZUgiGHbyblaVxwiD2d_9gMGBHdgm1W-nS_FcAcoRzQcASHcIsbAqKQpQIZoZpXOm8nmSgIbwAhwCUZPR1CTLJLl0P1P_4GkAnM7rFsXna-ia53ogB_Ew/s1600/60-06-12+Twin+Falls+Times+News+p.+5+%2528detail%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXUtoOkBj_QZlkSD6zZ1QJlCZUgiGHbyblaVxwiD2d_9gMGBHdgm1W-nS_FcAcoRzQcASHcIsbAqKQpQIZoZpXOm8nmSgIbwAhwCUZPR1CTLJLl0P1P_4GkAnM7rFsXna-ia53ogB_Ew/s640/60-06-12+Twin+Falls+Times+News+p.+5+%2528detail%2529.jpg" width="496" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Clipping taken from Twin Falls Times News June 12, 1960 page 5</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now by no means is this ad conclusive, certainly not authoritative, there is no direct attribution to the chair in question, nor is there any direct attribution in any of the other advertising material that I have found relating to this design group. But it's certainly suggests that the chair was produced as a part of the "Wall Planner Units" group by Kopenhavn, the same image is repeated in advertising from across the USA. If nothing else we now have a rough date of production...</span></span></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-31194316012797014292011-01-14T23:03:00.005-05:002013-09-07T22:09:07.931-04:00Furnette<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Furnette Industries, Inc. was a furniture manufacturing concern located in the Bronx, NY. According to a June 11, 1962 New York Times article titled <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E13FB3F5C117B93C3A8178DD85F468685F9" target="_blank">"Modern Furniture Can Be Assembled in the Home"</a> Furnette started operation in 1945, little else is known about the early years of the company.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">What we do know is that in 1955 Furnette started promoting a line of contemporary furnishings titled the Gallery Group, designed by Mark J. Furst and Robert Fellner (who also owned the company). </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Their mix and match design philosophy attracted some attention in the media and that is where our story begins. Along with their case pieces the new Gallery Group had a series of brass framed shelf units or hutches remarkably similar to Paul McCobb's designs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">This first illustration is a Halpern and Gillman advertisement from page 17 of the November 11, 1957 issue of the New York Times. This particular hutch is the most common of the group by far and, in my experience, almost always misattributed to Paul McCobb. Hell, if I didn't know better I would have thought that this was a Paul McCobb design, but my research very clearly proves otherwise.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2w6QiqQTbZAIGt4NLk6T0FtTjLFLF34mWY_zQqI6WKO0pJ71nly8Lwj9a9YJ3HC1pX1cuImwZAJjjl-Jp1fAH7Id99-gciifCgoEEZkROW0zMYjiKgJbqjy60VOwJx9AkmK9pRahluY/s1600/57-11-11+NY+Times+p.+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2w6QiqQTbZAIGt4NLk6T0FtTjLFLF34mWY_zQqI6WKO0pJ71nly8Lwj9a9YJ3HC1pX1cuImwZAJjjl-Jp1fAH7Id99-gciifCgoEEZkROW0zMYjiKgJbqjy60VOwJx9AkmK9pRahluY/s640/57-11-11+NY+Times+p.+17.jpg" width="420" /> </a></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: small;">Furnette wall cabinet and hutch designed by Robert Felner & Mark J Furst </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">A modern photo (below), culled from a recent craigslist posting, of the same Furnette hutch illustrated above with drawers flipped </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPSOUIN66V7qrjr4U0sY3zJL6LebdU6cg23NDbdp5jrwckAqCFEX1tvPu8hXiGBAscXcJyqdJU7QNf3DtL9l5_3PWiVmw8gZYdffbH46O3hLP15X4KJU949mVGMh0IvTZZVGYPEMP_PA/s1600/000_0594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPSOUIN66V7qrjr4U0sY3zJL6LebdU6cg23NDbdp5jrwckAqCFEX1tvPu8hXiGBAscXcJyqdJU7QNf3DtL9l5_3PWiVmw8gZYdffbH46O3hLP15X4KJU949mVGMh0IvTZZVGYPEMP_PA/s400/000_0594.JPG" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Furnette brass hutch designed by Robert Fellner and Mark J. Furst</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Another Halpern and Gillman ad (below) showing more of the Gallery Group hutches, this one taken from the New York Times November 10, 1958 page 20.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeK9b1DDPTtWgNUbb5V64YG5gInlt-mrMPgAzmlb3Hv3nWRBrga8lcpKq6kjrlMtvvI6BgqxGZvKro3zJHdLbPg9X0tTq_cqjZMb34-D5OHT3hIJjfp4N_luiIfoKZZr5faRZhAGyrFf4/s1600/58-11-10+NY+Times+p.+20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeK9b1DDPTtWgNUbb5V64YG5gInlt-mrMPgAzmlb3Hv3nWRBrga8lcpKq6kjrlMtvvI6BgqxGZvKro3zJHdLbPg9X0tTq_cqjZMb34-D5OHT3hIJjfp4N_luiIfoKZZr5faRZhAGyrFf4/s640/58-11-10+NY+Times+p.+20.jpg" width="566" /> </a></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: small;">Furnette designed by Robert Fellner & Mark J Furst </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The next few photo's are modern photos, from various sources, of the brass hutches pictured in the above ad. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Identical shelf unit (below) to the one picture top left of the above Halpern and Gillman November 10, 1958 advertisement (photo courtesy of www.wright20.com)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.wright20.com/assets/images/auctions/EFIT/fullsize/cache/567_520_520_90.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Brass shelf designed by Robert Fellner and Mark J. Furst for Furnette</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">A much better representation (below) of the unit sketched in the middle left of the above Halpern and Gillman November 10, 1958 advertisement (photo from www.wright20.com).</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wright20.com/auctions/view_search/F7WY/F7WZ/341/LA/furnette/GPMJ" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="373" src="http://www.wright20.com/assets/images/auctions/F7WY/fullsize/cache/341_553_520_90.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: yellow;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Furnette breakfront top designed by Robert Fellner and Mark J. Furst</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">There are subtle differences in construction between the Directional and Furnette brass shelf units. The McCobb/Directional brass frames were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazing" target="_blank">brazed</a> (a process similar to soldering but done at higher temperatures) where the Furnette pieces are screwed together from underneath. It is because of this difference in construction that the Furnette shelves can not follow a straight line when interrupted by a brass upright causing some of their larger designs to have a slightly lopsided/uneven look to them such as in the photo above where the center shelf is at a slightly different level from the top of the drawers. Admittedly it takes a studied eye and a fair amount of highly esoteric knowledge to know to look for these subtleties let alone be able to easily spot them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Photo (below) of the unit pictured on the bottom left of the November 10, 1958 Halpern and Gillman advertisement (photo from www.ragoarts.com)</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/540461" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWqcbSvF2YDQe9KQU8owV73JG2ZNY6bdBzkhDCTNdPlsnQI5bzuPYff2paZmk5Pg3MWrb-Hpr8_cFAIIFaaNoeO3qHj-gAOlCt4DxREJa4cU2niq1q8awgBk2fhyQo5i7OuqETbillWa8/s400/5149432755_88bc16cb15_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: yellow;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bench, Cabinet and shelf unit designed by Robert Fellner and Mark J. Furst</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Yet another Furnette shelf unit designed by Robert Fellner & Mark J Furst (below) as pictured in the Yonkers Herald Statesman September 25, 1958.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhps3z8ybZsfnoAHTv1uJKM1JIW5COf_mKxBwD8fGecS_5aBZSCX7z_qSbgaXTl4EmtPxYWTd6Z73nSid9bquOwOna5Ob8UsSVLBug4L8ibNtjTnYnAzQYAp7E9fSBZF8Ac147ZqROIMSw/s1600/58-09-25+Herald+Statesman+%2528detail%2529+p.+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhps3z8ybZsfnoAHTv1uJKM1JIW5COf_mKxBwD8fGecS_5aBZSCX7z_qSbgaXTl4EmtPxYWTd6Z73nSid9bquOwOna5Ob8UsSVLBug4L8ibNtjTnYnAzQYAp7E9fSBZF8Ac147ZqROIMSw/s640/58-09-25+Herald+Statesman+%2528detail%2529+p.+.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The breakfront pictured below, designed by Robert Fellner and Mark J. Furst, is also amongst those Furnette designs misattributed to Paul McCobb (scan taken from The New York Times April 26, 1959 page 80)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHT252_MWbmYnK6J6_Nwp3fyeMCHbVmWgYq6V1koEXNlnWlmezoWSUrZDBzH8acKLMwKuoPsF3NU7Jk3pOcowPKoTHIxhCdrQK8UYyl7C2Urg4fK-RtKYPsKEropPiScvdBUylHcqH4Lc/s1600/59-04-26+NY+Times+p.+80.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHT252_MWbmYnK6J6_Nwp3fyeMCHbVmWgYq6V1koEXNlnWlmezoWSUrZDBzH8acKLMwKuoPsF3NU7Jk3pOcowPKoTHIxhCdrQK8UYyl7C2Urg4fK-RtKYPsKEropPiScvdBUylHcqH4Lc/s640/59-04-26+NY+Times+p.+80.jpg" width="368" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">[1] New York Times "Brass Touches Brighten New Room Dividers of Wood" January 19, 1955 page 31</span></div>
Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-69453914634926874052011-01-13T21:36:00.004-05:002011-01-17T09:55:17.725-05:00A Room Divided<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There are very few new ideas in the world of furniture design when you get right down to it. Chairs are chairs, tables continue to be tables. So it's a very rare occasion when a truly new and original design concept comes into being. Paul McCobb managed to do this with the introduction of the open shelf room divider in 1952.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The following images detail the majority of Paul McCobb's open shelf room divider designs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">One of the most iconic and easily recognized of all of Paul McCobb's designs is the 1952 Irwin Collection #7905/9305 brass and mahogany open shelf room divider (below) the very first design of it's kind.</span><br />
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</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbBXNSP7_P3tSBJNNn5Vt1eezHFh5oX2FNQ9xB0Ua4rWCOhIXu3hcBDOXELqXCQmqokxLcY1TOKDp4gghDotxxn1vN3N9o7woSFFJw_RqnmApXRTMhwrdwlNYqQtT23VvJ1pXnmG-EQQ/s1600/52-06-00+The+Irwin+Collection+Contemporary+Furniture+Designed+by+Paul+McCobb_Page_19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbBXNSP7_P3tSBJNNn5Vt1eezHFh5oX2FNQ9xB0Ua4rWCOhIXu3hcBDOXELqXCQmqokxLcY1TOKDp4gghDotxxn1vN3N9o7woSFFJw_RqnmApXRTMhwrdwlNYqQtT23VvJ1pXnmG-EQQ/s640/52-06-00+The+Irwin+Collection+Contemporary+Furniture+Designed+by+Paul+McCobb_Page_19.jpg" width="505" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Page taken from the 1952 Irwin Collection catalog</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The open shelf room divider concept was replicated again and again throughout the Paul McCobb design groups of the 1950's. A l954 addition to the Irwin Collection added the 1092/1093 Room Divider (below).</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_01NiTbJHhWLRxN9e9NVzSkCvnmmLAOgf2ANGzoTMDSNIGuZJ-Ghy7BcMflEofus6JXsxdab4ll0E59AZRrh3JgcvmbdhKnnGbU-u114nmpsPhYXwvVgykZwk_GBJpdijYSsgE9Exe-Y/s1600/1956+Directional+Designs+by+Paul+McCobb+%2528dragged%2529+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_01NiTbJHhWLRxN9e9NVzSkCvnmmLAOgf2ANGzoTMDSNIGuZJ-Ghy7BcMflEofus6JXsxdab4ll0E59AZRrh3JgcvmbdhKnnGbU-u114nmpsPhYXwvVgykZwk_GBJpdijYSsgE9Exe-Y/s640/1956+Directional+Designs+by+Paul+McCobb+%2528dragged%2529+5.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Page 55 of the 1956 Directional Designs by Paul McCobb catalog</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">and the 36" #7903 Room Divider top was also added at about this time (below)</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaP_XAd-bo6J7TlJiBoLrgwcUYkcXDt1UCjwK7fyQMehmt0XERSKb-Np7veZe5-wzDnrVktV6L02t33knpa9BI_FMQTdE1DBm4VDqkajJS3F7LDzTl9gvwKsFwrE4lll4MxXZXKVSpef8/s1600/1956+Directional+Designs+by+Paul+McCobb+%2528dragged%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaP_XAd-bo6J7TlJiBoLrgwcUYkcXDt1UCjwK7fyQMehmt0XERSKb-Np7veZe5-wzDnrVktV6L02t33knpa9BI_FMQTdE1DBm4VDqkajJS3F7LDzTl9gvwKsFwrE4lll4MxXZXKVSpef8/s640/1956+Directional+Designs+by+Paul+McCobb+%2528dragged%2529.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Page 20 of the 1956 Directional Designs by Paul McCobb catalog</span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1953 saw the addition of the #1596 wrought iron and maple room divider for the Planner Group (below)</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdm1BpY8s6m4TZ5Z9GKVbrMekBXzfTQPY22oB-by8s6G8iHZ6gdLVFXHOEP4XpBDNR9HwBmCUDgq0FXwdRgS7j0K2IoNtfxHagM5gjUaDTja7DRED7IA2m3Fh-mA7czHH-ZeFPSNyYk98/s1600/53-00-00+California+State+Fair+Art+Exhibit+%252753+p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdm1BpY8s6m4TZ5Z9GKVbrMekBXzfTQPY22oB-by8s6G8iHZ6gdLVFXHOEP4XpBDNR9HwBmCUDgq0FXwdRgS7j0K2IoNtfxHagM5gjUaDTja7DRED7IA2m3Fh-mA7czHH-ZeFPSNyYk98/s640/53-00-00+California+State+Fair+Art+Exhibit+%252753+p.jpg" width="466" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Page 6 of the 1953 California State Fair Art Exhibit brochure</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For 1954's Calvin Group the 1066/1095 66" Buffet Cabinet with 60" Breakfront Top was added (below)</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlFwd5WPLSY5iH_y-dLqoLvL9ggxzSm5rU8nkqRmUZMDUem4IjlrW49GUXfTslWnltzzx1dTQrRHrRfOzp3tSwxWqo1nlGL-hJJD8wKSgzwCt8RG-5fMYWpBcZswUcD7mKuDJYSP5hyphenhyphenpw/s1600/1956+Directional+Designs+by+Paul+McCobb+%2528dragged%2529+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlFwd5WPLSY5iH_y-dLqoLvL9ggxzSm5rU8nkqRmUZMDUem4IjlrW49GUXfTslWnltzzx1dTQrRHrRfOzp3tSwxWqo1nlGL-hJJD8wKSgzwCt8RG-5fMYWpBcZswUcD7mKuDJYSP5hyphenhyphenpw/s640/1956+Directional+Designs+by+Paul+McCobb+%2528dragged%2529+1.jpg" width="490" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Page 34 of the 1956 Directional Designs by Paul McCobb catalog</span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This #495/496 aluminum and walnut room divider was added in 1956 for the Linear Group (below).</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFuqHz1TczrUCHxi-l6TXuVKAnS1fvpddWlETu6YM8hsi7UJznhtiOMIHpB-JqEoGMWIqmylYzsU91tikDokFe85GBKlQbycjgP-4KL62Uv3EWFBwCzRmIihzisnZ8McI6bB4U8djHF4A/s1600/Calvin+Room+Divider+-+Press+Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFuqHz1TczrUCHxi-l6TXuVKAnS1fvpddWlETu6YM8hsi7UJznhtiOMIHpB-JqEoGMWIqmylYzsU91tikDokFe85GBKlQbycjgP-4KL62Uv3EWFBwCzRmIihzisnZ8McI6bB4U8djHF4A/s640/Calvin+Room+Divider+-+Press+Photo.jpg" width="498" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">1956 publicity photo from the McCobb family archives</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1957's Perimeter Group had it's own take on the room divider with it's all beech #2697 Room Divider top (below right).</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kCGkqbuML0DSLR7NTubdWF5WA2hZrBOVRgRtmL8o11zIwe0DC8dV1EPAYPSM0rHaLyjY2rB_NavJq7xN_p49i83YBI-aW_7gGQWcT6Wz8RtiwaBADiHzRXgQRwiNwM2jjdLmpdPeBVQ/s1600/Perimeter+Beech+Wood+group+designed+by+Paul+McCobb_Page_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kCGkqbuML0DSLR7NTubdWF5WA2hZrBOVRgRtmL8o11zIwe0DC8dV1EPAYPSM0rHaLyjY2rB_NavJq7xN_p49i83YBI-aW_7gGQWcT6Wz8RtiwaBADiHzRXgQRwiNwM2jjdLmpdPeBVQ/s640/Perimeter+Beech+Wood+group+designed+by+Paul+McCobb_Page_05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Page 5 of the 1957 "Perimeter Group designed by Paul McCobb" brochure</span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And finally in 1959 the Planner Group got a second room divider design, the #1597 model in solid maple (below) as a replacement for the long discontinued #1596 wrought iron and maple room divider.</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVQG7ElynsmNLiELTexf_EG4carHaATwqnUuu0h7Blxw-5bcZuA2yds52z-Ve9-8V-8SixCEeGgTOynQHdlnuBjqF1QS5hb0U5vkUEi8RTjOUoGRkgHv2VZSUMDOJQjWk9IDskNoddr8/s1600/60-06-05+NY+Times+p.+33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVQG7ElynsmNLiELTexf_EG4carHaATwqnUuu0h7Blxw-5bcZuA2yds52z-Ve9-8V-8SixCEeGgTOynQHdlnuBjqF1QS5hb0U5vkUEi8RTjOUoGRkgHv2VZSUMDOJQjWk9IDskNoddr8/s640/60-06-05+NY+Times+p.+33.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Bloomingdale's advertisement, NY Times June 5, 1960 page 33</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-42650994140443761182011-01-01T12:24:00.008-05:002011-11-23T08:42:13.919-05:00Country Workshop<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you have been following the blog you will already know a bit about Clifford Pascoe's designs for Modernmasters (see: <a href="http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-identify-paul-mccobb-bentword.html" target="_blank">"A Tale of Two Chairs"</a> and <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1844439652" target="_blank">"</a></span></span><a href="http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com/2010/09/modernmasters-daybed-it-seems.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Daybed that Paul McCobb should have designed..."</span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">) which were very clearly based upon Paul McCobb's 1951-1952 Planner Group offerings and Arthur Umanoff's designs for Peter De Jardin's Tropic Shop (see: <a href="http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com/2010/11/sincerest-form-of-flattery.html" target="_blank">"Sincerest Form of Flattery"</a>) which channeled the design synthesis of Paul McCobb's Planner Group and his designs for Directional.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Another of the copycats was Country Workshop owned by Josh Millstein. Country Workshop sold their unfinished furniture directly from their factory in Newark, NJ to local patrons. They also sold mail order via ads in national magazines such as House & Garden and Living for Young Homemakers. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Country Workshop was in operation, to my certain knowledge, from 1951 to 1974. One of the earlier references that I have been able to find is in a </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">January 28, 1952 </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">New York Times article titled <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D15FE3D5E177B93CAAB178AD85F468585F9" target="_blank">"Free-Stand Wall Provides Storage"</a>:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">"The Country Workshop, 95 Rome Street, Newark, is offering small bookcases, chests or other pieces of unpainted furniture. These are made of solid poplar. The cabinets are furnished with sliding doors of Novaply. The chests have woodfaced drawers.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The single-shelf bookcases, the cabinets (which have one shelf) and the three-drawer chests come in four different sizes, all twentynine inches high. The smallest bookcase, nine and a half inches deep and twenty-four inches wide, costs about $10.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The units have detachable legs five inches high or may be stacked on a matching bench, available in five different lengths. Two desks one with three drawers on one side and two legs on the other and the second supported by three drawers on each of its two sides complete the collection."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Reading this initial description one might not think much it but I have seen their work frequently being confused with Paul McCobb's designs.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCTDphlGPgo2BJ-Vm4OHLZjnIcjejXEAKQJ6oSuFohJyKCzI6bDaCtHBL1f5RzFbHdj1DfF3_xnqUtegJNks4ACAY48fCfhWZH_PrLmLIH4qU0ZdOTt8EPbCO1fSR7GVCTHrgBBuOrYo/s1600/58-03-30+NY+Times.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCTDphlGPgo2BJ-Vm4OHLZjnIcjejXEAKQJ6oSuFohJyKCzI6bDaCtHBL1f5RzFbHdj1DfF3_xnqUtegJNks4ACAY48fCfhWZH_PrLmLIH4qU0ZdOTt8EPbCO1fSR7GVCTHrgBBuOrYo/s640/58-03-30+NY+Times.jpg" width="555" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: yellow;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Country Workshop advertisement. New York Times Sunday Magazine March 30, 1958, page 75</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The Country Workshop cases and benches were 16" deep where the McCobb Planner Group designs are 18". Many of the Country Workshop case pieces are virtually identical to the Planner Group cases barring this small detail. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The stock configuration of attached legs were 5" tapered peg legs mounted at 90 degrees to the cases (straight up and down) but there was also an option of splayed tapered peg legs identical in appearance to their Planner Group counterparts as seen in the ad below, the only significant difference being that the Country Workshop legs used a metal screw to attach to a threaded metal socket where the Planner Group legs are tapped with wooden threads much like a broom handle. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8r7nJ2N27ED5A7WQdY7WoIrY0jngPs7eOkmP_rIDA8XIPPNNrrbmJhDVGDDQXy-beGaFkMQNnaX5LRAHnoX_Pi3_OnX_hykrc5MmWnMNfgs9uRXLt0ClzQsONmnUvee7h1jvr5ZXM3Q/s1600/54-12-00+Popular+Science+p.+172.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8r7nJ2N27ED5A7WQdY7WoIrY0jngPs7eOkmP_rIDA8XIPPNNrrbmJhDVGDDQXy-beGaFkMQNnaX5LRAHnoX_Pi3_OnX_hykrc5MmWnMNfgs9uRXLt0ClzQsONmnUvee7h1jvr5ZXM3Q/s400/54-12-00+Popular+Science+p.+172.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: yellow;">Popular Science December 1954 page 172</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Country Workshop craftsmanship was of inferior quality, lacking the through-dovetails used by Winchendon Furniture to invisibly join the sides, tops and bottoms of the Planner group cases.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Amongst other things Country Workshop was one of several manufacturers who made a variant of the Clifford Pascoe/Modernmasters bentwood and iron chair (see below) which was so remarkably similar to Paul McCobb's own Planner Group #1535 chair (A copy of a copy! Confusing isn't it?). The major difference between the Country Workshop chair and the Modernmasters chair was that the Country Workshop's chair had a continuously curving backrest, the metal frames were, for all intents and purposes, identical.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLr6cE2-yqDUtPLA_5MhU-uQUlgDbdHpdufVX70ZYCmjMdwjoVA8aRqJeveWIfscf_BQIy9_cyPFvwNx4uE-OyvrliGYyZAPKulel9T0yWMBs5P28GhGnRVGjiYYxq-k0YO-ZaKVS9tc/s1600/53-03-08+NY+Times+p.+84.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLr6cE2-yqDUtPLA_5MhU-uQUlgDbdHpdufVX70ZYCmjMdwjoVA8aRqJeveWIfscf_BQIy9_cyPFvwNx4uE-OyvrliGYyZAPKulel9T0yWMBs5P28GhGnRVGjiYYxq-k0YO-ZaKVS9tc/s400/53-03-08+NY+Times+p.+84.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: yellow;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Country Workshop (L) and Modernmasters (R) chairs side-by-side. <br />
New York Times March 8, 1953 page 84.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Country Workshop also had two desk designs along the lines of the iconic Planner Group #1560 desk. The main difference being that the Country Workshop desks (there were two distinct designs) had three drawers instead two. Not an improvement to my mind.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSojL2gorUc6DVvMxqzBq7Psvrk7JB-aXlm_eWdzbiOG4XOw098u-iYhJmANm11Y3hqyWGgVtSSMCyKzQjDxyBfD56BQyUQmsy1LxBUVZDDBBfsYyFoY30p_noybR-knnOiu6YtG6SZtE/s1600/53-02-00+Living+for+Young+Homemakers+p.22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSojL2gorUc6DVvMxqzBq7Psvrk7JB-aXlm_eWdzbiOG4XOw098u-iYhJmANm11Y3hqyWGgVtSSMCyKzQjDxyBfD56BQyUQmsy1LxBUVZDDBBfsYyFoY30p_noybR-knnOiu6YtG6SZtE/s400/53-02-00+Living+for+Young+Homemakers+p.22.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: yellow;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Country Workshop Advertisement.<br />
Living For Young Homemakers February 1952 page 22</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">In 1958 Country Workshop introduced their own version of the Planner Group "Golf Pull". It is their use of this drawer hardware which causes the most confusion amongst the uninitiated. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4CQVI5RkCoZyCG6p952VX64WI5zPX0qJLDZWWJeHpR4PRjOElhTtdxkA-5Fa3muNANpe6BMWIP3VpF8koArPPIOYQh0V-44IafZWMTqP8-GuRCoSpyvesss8oa_F9YHI03BSedLIwmU/s1600/62-05-00+House+%2526+Garden+p.102+%2528Pulls%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4CQVI5RkCoZyCG6p952VX64WI5zPX0qJLDZWWJeHpR4PRjOElhTtdxkA-5Fa3muNANpe6BMWIP3VpF8koArPPIOYQh0V-44IafZWMTqP8-GuRCoSpyvesss8oa_F9YHI03BSedLIwmU/s400/62-05-00+House+%2526+Garden+p.102+%2528Pulls%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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House & Garden March 1962 page 102</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Pictured below is a Country Workshop "4 Deep 4 Shallow" 48 inch chest of drawers complete with McCobb style drawer pulls. The design is depicted in the lower left corner of the large</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCTDphlGPgo2BJ-Vm4OHLZjnIcjejXEAKQJ6oSuFohJyKCzI6bDaCtHBL1f5RzFbHdj1DfF3_xnqUtegJNks4ACAY48fCfhWZH_PrLmLIH4qU0ZdOTt8EPbCO1fSR7GVCTHrgBBuOrYo/s1600/58-03-30+NY+Times.jpg" target="_blank">Country Workshop March 1958 ad</a>. The similarities in design/construction and use of like drawer pull hardware make it almost impossible for those not exceptionally well versed in the ins and outs of mid-century furniture identification and Paul McCobb in particular to tell the difference. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=476638" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.1stdibs.com/archivesE/upload/8048/1306/XXX_8048_1292365647.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: yellow;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">1960's Country Workshop "4 Deep 4 Shallow" 48 inch chest of drawers <br />
for sale at Lost City Arts </span></span></td></tr>
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</div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199733226121973538.post-74295931808737874402010-12-21T23:51:00.000-05:002010-12-21T23:51:51.655-05:00Just a thought...<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I find it interesting that Paul McCobb Design Associates employees prior to 1956 are really rather hard to find and frequently impossible to locate and/or find out much about their continuing careers. Those folks hired after 1956 are easy as their careers flourished upon departing Paul McCobb Design Associates. I am starting to get the idea that Paul McCobb had access to a much higher caliber of employee post 1956.</span></div>Jonathan Goldsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03541901365888585260noreply@blogger.com0