mrtwills wrote:If you're into it, try looking on craigslist or vintage stores for some originals at a good price. Some people know the value and so their not inexpensive, but if you're luckily, they don't know and you can score a deal. Of course, there will be more or less available depending on where you live. I feel like getting the "knockoff's" is fine. Not everyone can afford the real deal, so why not. As stated, because of their original intent I would feel less bad. Anyone know of a good saarinen tulip table/chair knockoff by the way? haha
Try Ebay... but watch out for "Eames like" or or "eames sarinnen herman miller knoll" type adds.. they try to mislead with the wording. Also to you Austin/Minnepolis/Raleigh people - IBM has surplus sales all the time and let go of some amazing 50s modern stuff from Saarinen/Eames/HermanMiller/Knoll for very cheap
so anyway, I bought a knock-off Burke Saarinen-like Tulip table back in the day, and I have regretted it ever since. The real thing would have cost a couple hundred more, but I didn't think I could swing it at the time and forever regretted the decision.
Go for the real thing, and even if you get sick of it, it will still have resale value.
FYI the older vintage stuff can sometimes be a little worse for wear... dings, scratches, rust, etc.
50's modern nerds can geek out to some of the details on the vintage pieces however, for example I have an Eames aluminium group chair with 4 legs in the base - but they changed it to 5 later on for more stability.