Aalto Garage Sale Score

Another weekend, another garage sale score. As I was running errands before running off to Sonoma for the weekend, I couldn’t help but stop by a garage sale in the ‘hood. There was an old plywood table and a quick glance under it confirmed my suspicions: Alvar Aalto.

After a quick “How much” and then “5 bucks” I had my wallet open faster than you can say Finland. I exclaimed how much I liked plywood furniture, and the sellers said “Well, then you’d like our Eames chairs”. I almost died, but then they said they were selling them for $300 each, and I came to my senses. They showed them to me deep in their garage. They were a matching pair of super old LCWs, with a patina that only could only come from the years of use. They came from their mother’s house, and they estimated they were purchased back in the 50s.  They seemed to be sturdy, were very dirty, but they didn’t have labels at all. I figure they are worth quite a bit more than $300, but I was running out of town and didn’t have time to deal with it. A similar one just sold on eBay for $1200, so maybe I should have run to the ATM…

Back to the table… It is about 29 1/2″ square and about 24″ tall, which I am quite sure is a kid’s table. It is in well used condition. It was from the same 50s vintage as the Eames chairs.  The finish is aged to a deep blonde color which is very cool, but there are small paint drops and some cork gook stuck to the top. I think this means I need to refinish to really clean it up. I don’t think there are any major scratches or anything, so it should clean up nice.  I love the aged finish look, but I really think it needs work in order to be usable. Maybe there’s a less invasive way I could clean it up without stripping.  I think it is birch plywood. I took the legs off for storage before I remembered to take a photo with it together.

Here’s a photo of the legs.  It looks like the previous owner counter-sunk the screw holes to get them deeper into the table top when they got loose.  Dum dum dum.

If any readers have any more info on this table or what it might be worth, I’d be interested in hearing from you. Also any info on refinishing or cleaning it up would be great.