3 Unique Chairs

Photo: (Left) Chieftain Chair sold by Sotheby’s, NYC, (Middle) Chieftain Chair sold by Wyeth, NYC, (Right) Photo: ‘The Breuer’ Chieftain Chair sold by Rago Arts

When the Breuer chair came up for auction at Rago, it was not advertise with the provenance (we obtained that directly from the consignor after we purchased the chair). Rago curiously attributed the chair to Baker, and when we asked them about this attribution, they explained that the chair was not stamped, it was walnut and there was a small step on the rear rung – so they said it must be Baker. The obvious problem with this rationale is that no one has ever seen an actual Baker Chieftain chair before, so Rago’s conclusion is totally unfounded. To see our research on the Baker Chieftain chair, click here.

A few years before the Rago sale, two other identical chairs were sold at Wyeth in NYC. Perplexingly, both of these chairs were also attributed to Baker. So, we called Wyeth to speak with the owner (John Birch) to ask him about about these chairs. He stated that the chairs were not stamped, they were made of walnut, and they had a small step on the rear rung. He couldn’t be sure that they were Niels Vodder chairs, so erred on the side of caution and attributed them to Baker. Again, there is no evidence that these are hallmarks of a Baker chair. Zero.

In conclusion, the Baker attribution of these 3 chairs was based on conjecture.