Paul Mccobb? Robsjohn-Gibbings?
Hello. First time poster. Been researching a set I'm looking to buy. Offered as a Paul Mccobb dining set. I've included two pics of the chairs (the breakfront is pictured in back of one). I have limited knowledge of Mccobb, but haven't found any chairs similar to these (breakfront def looks "Mccobb"). Does anyone recognize them? The table they are with resembles the x-base Robsjohn-Gibbings design, also nothing similar to Mccobb designs I've seen (included a really low res shot of it here as well). Wondering if it's a misattribution? Would love any wisdom the forum could share. Sorry if a similar chair's been posted - haven't found anything in my searches. Thanks!
posted by
pete886
edited on 07-Jun-12 06:38 PM [edit]
17-Jun-12
Misattribution indeed
Having studied Paul McCobb's work carefully and amassed significant research I can say without question or hesitation that none of the furniture presented in these photographs was designed by Paul MCCobb.
thanks straylight
was hoping you'd notice my post since you seem to be the expert. i did find this listing (at metro retro) after starting my thread (have included the image and link) which appears to be the same table. the owner of the set i was looking at did state it was refinished 15 years ago with a slightly darker stain than is typical of his maple designs (and also that it is mccobb for winchendon). does this give you any more direction about it's attribution? thanks!
http://www.metroretrofurniture.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?item=102...
Authoritative sources
Any information found on 1stdibs should be taken with a grain of salt. By no means should 1stdibs be considered an authoritative source of information. Case in point: Joe at Metro Retro has a HUGE warehousing operation in Texas and due to the sheer volume of stuff his research can be a bit slapdash at times. Plainly put people make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes make it into a public forum such as 1stdibs.
The table seems to be a copy of a much copied design by Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb. The chairs are by Paul McCobb however, so they're 1/2 right.
Perhaps they got the table and chairs together and figured that since the chairs are a well known Paul McCobb design that the table must be too (what I call "the forest and the trees method" of mid-century attribution) Hard to say exactly what drives any particular vendor to make any particular error.
