My husband, Christian, is an asbestos consultant who performs building
inspections. Recently he performed an inspection for the demolition of
a nice, but somewhat neglected 1950’s residence overlooking the Pacific
Ocean in Southern California (Pacific Palisades). The house had last
been a rental property until it was purchased (for $1.8 million) by the
new owners who plan to re-build on the site.

On occasion he finds interesting items that homeowners have left behind,
apparently not wanting to deal with them, including furniture, artwork,
appliances and even cars and one time a powerboat on a trailer was left
behind. Usually Christian just leaves these things for the dumpster.

During this recent inspection, he noticed a green armchair with an
ottoman in the master bedroom. The chair sat in front of a picture
window with an ocean view, the fabric on the chair was torn and sun
faded, but he said that he instantly fell in love with the chair. He
took a picture of it while he was performing his inspection and when he
finished the job, he asked the buyers agent if they would ask the owners
if they planned to keep the chair or to throw it away. When Christian
sent his report to the agent, he asked again if they would ask about the
chair and they said that they would.

Well, almost a month later Christian received a call from the agent
saying that they were ready to tear down the house and if he wanted the
chair to come and get it. As luck would have it, he had an inspection in
the area and he was there the next morning to get it. While loading it
into his SUV the seat cushion fell off and a page torn from a magazine
fell onto the street. Christian picked it up and tossed it onto the
front seat and left. While driving away he glanced at the page and saw a
picture of a similar chair with $3,800 handwritten next to it.

He called me from the road and asked me to look up a Hans Wegner “momma” chair. I did, and could not find a “momma” chair but I did find a “Papa
Bear” chair by Hans Wegner. Apparently this is a mid-century modern chair that might still be worth something. During my search I found a
dealer in Hollywood who had a picture of the chair on his web page, and he also did restorations. The second bit of luck that day was that
Christian was passing right by the dealer on his way back to the office. He stopped in and asked about having the chair re-upholstered and found
out that it would cost $650.00 to have it restored to it’s original condition. As Christian was leaving, the dealer offered him $5,000.00
for the chair in it’s current condition.

When Christian brought the pieces home, we put them in the living room
and marveled at this bit of luck. We discussed selling, but we are
thinking that we don’t know when, or if, we could ever afford to buy
such a piece. So for now we will re-upholster the pieces nicely and
enjoy our new-found treasure.

Robin–Chatsworth, CA