And the Magic 8 Ball turned out to be right again. For over a year, we have eyed a fantastic bench at a mid-century shop in another state, but the dealer wasn't willing to sell it, because he was sure it was a designer piece. He was determined to hang onto the bench until he got more information on it, rather than underprice it.
We were in his shop on a picking trip a while back and learned that the mystery had been solved. The bench is a Martin Borenstein design for Croyden Furniture Inc. It's part of the Challenge series he created for the company. Naturally, we were so excited about finding the answer to our long-standing question that we forgot to take a picture of our friend's bench, which has been recovered in the colorful velvet fabric called Caravan by Jack Lenor Larsen (see ottoman in yesterday's post), but here is a photo of a similar bench.
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| Bench for the Challenge series by Martin Borenstein for Croyden sultana.1stdibs.com |
The Challenge series included a sofa with attached end tables and built-in lighting in several variations. It was designed in 1952.
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| Croyden Challenge group antiqueandmodern.com |
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| Challenge sofa r20thcentury.com |
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| Original ad for the Challenge series rocketcentury.com |
As for our buying the bench...Well, since finding out what it is, he's put a pricetag on it that's sky high. Now the question is, "Magic 8 Ball, will he ever lower the price?"
Reply hazy. Try again.
