Cesca chair – is it still an original or already a replica?

The first few decades of a piece of furniture’s existence are a test of longevity. If the object passes this test, we know it will survive for decades as long as we take good care of it. So, how do we recognize valuable Thonet originals? How can we distinguish Gavina productions from fakes, and how do they differ from freshly produced pieces?

Thonet production. From 1920s to 1940s 

A piece of furniture that is almost a century old most likely bears the marks of time that it has lived through. If you have come across an original piece, the chrome tubing is at least patinated. When furniture is stored in a humid environment, it may even be devastated by rust. The rattan will be loose or frayed.

Importantly, in the 1930s, metal bending and electroplating were very sophisticated production methods that required advanced technology, and demand was incomparably smaller than today. Counterfeiting was, therefore, unprofitable and virtually unfeasible.

Thonet signed all his furniture. It was often a metal badge or an embossed inscription on the back or under the seat.

If you come across this chair in good condition, you can become rich. Prices at auctions of vintage furniture are often surprising.

Italian production by Gavina company in the 1950s and 1960s

The version produced by Gavina has some special marks that reveal the original provinence.

The first is of course the makers mark. The logo sticker was marked “Gavina” and “Gavina SPA” in later productions.  It was usually placed at the bottom of the seat and, in later versions, also on the side of the frame.

The issue of stickers is sometimes a torment for vintage furniture sellers. Everyone asks for them, but the truth is that more than half of designer furniture older than 50 years will not have any stickers. They just fall off over time.

My experience indicates though, that in the case of Cesca chairs, their stickers (or visible remnants of them) have been preserved to this day in the vast majority of them. However, the absence of such marking does not exclude a piece of furniture as an original. A sticker can lose a multi-year battle against gravity, intensive cleaning, or incompetent restoration.

What are other, much more reliable indications for assessing the authenticity of the found chair?

On the trail of the original Cesca, special attention must be paid to the appearance and condition of the rattan and the way it was woven.
The original seats and Gavina backrests were hand-woven See how the fiber of the rattan cane passes through the wood from underneath in several places.

This is a highly labor-intensive technique, requiring a lot of experience, lots of time, and patience. However, remember that rattan braided seats wore out quickly, especially when their users were carbonara lovers on a double guanciale. Back then, a wedge technique was used to repair the woven nets faster than weaving the whole thing by hand. Thus, one can find original Gavina chairs with a hand-woven backrest and a visibly repaired seat.

Moderately used seats made of this material can survive in excellent condition for several decades without replacement. You are fortunate if you find a chair with a sticker and a hand-woven seat. The color of the rattan also matters. Ideally, the Vienna  Straw is amber or even goes into orange-brown-red tones. Light, straw-colored, or whitish is a sign of recent rattan production or replacement. You can also sometimes see a different mesh size in the netting, which, unfortunately, spoils the aesthetics and consistent appearance.

The third clue in the search for Gavina’s original production is  the metal work.

Although the process of bending steel and electroplating became widespread after the war in industrial Italy, Gavina used several technical details that the competitors were not able to duplicate so easily. Unique among these is the method of installing screws, which blend into the structure thanks to the cornice of the holes. They were profiled so that they only minimally extended beyond the tube. Counterfeit copies have bolts bending the steel and protruding. The way the screws are installed is unique to Gavina chairs.

Unfortunately, the original screws of vintage furniture are often lost, and this is our – as vintage dealers – our bane. You’ll usually come across replacements for these small pieces, but it’s always a good idea to see what the screw hole looks like.

The second difference is the metal endings – smooth and looking like an intrinsic part of the tube, without the effect of a cap or visibly grained weld. Making this element invisible is the most difficult to counterfeit. The structure should  not  be visibly welded at any point.

The wood in Gavina chairs is the last element that is worth paying attention to in case of doubt. I know from sellers in Italy that the shape of the seat and back of the Cesca chair has gently changed over the decades. Breuer and Gavina have made minimal changes. The first models had a strongly curved backrest, and they became minimal flattening over time.

However, it tells how the seat’s shape fits perfectly into the metal structure, and its front slightly bends downward. The wood was usually carefully selected and joined by micro-joints, which are so subtle that they almost can’t be seen in the black version of the model. You won’t even guess that they are there unless the paint is already old enough that they are sticking out from under it.

The dimensions and proportions of Gavina’s original production were strictly defined and conscientiously adhered to.
Below, you can see the parameters of the standard version (B32) and the one with armrests (B64).

If you find a chair without a sticker, the rattan was certainly woven later, but it still feels like the 1960s to you. Check the dimensions and proportions. However, beware: the width and depth always match, but I have encountered differences in the height among the original copies. I think it’s all due to the above-mentioned carbonara lovers with double guanciale.

Chairs that have been heavily weighted over the years tend to dip slightly. These differences usually reach a maximum of a few centimeters. Cesca chair, on the other hand, is springy. You can gently rock on it or lean backward. The structure is designed so that the metal allows this without bending permanently, or even if it does, minimally.

I hope you will now be able to distinguish between the original Gavina or Thonet from their illegitimate siblings from Italy and other replicas produced today. The price differences are significant, so it’s worth taking a good look at them. Due to their limited quantity, these originals can be an excellent investment despite the relatively large initial expense. They are a symbol of a specific bygone era.

Other Italian copies from that period can also be very decent regarding functionality and aesthetics. Especially lovers of vintage style will appreciate the natural patina and the stories they carry with them.

I always tell my clients that if an item has survived 50-70 years and is in good shape, it can survive a few more decades if we take proper care of it. If I decide to buy something new, I would choose a proven manufacturer, such as Knoll, or an Italian craftsman who does solid work.

I would recommend avoiding cheap imitations from China—they have terrible proportions, are not durable, and, worse, I suspect that even the quality of the steel is worse. Many of them bend like matches and end up in the trash after a year or two, and this is something we want to avoid, not only for material reasons.

Let’s remember that a quality piece of furniture wants to live with dignity for as long as possible, not die alone in a landfill 😉 I will talk about the soul of furniture and its energies another time.

I recommend our website: https://futureantiques.eu/furniture/seating-sleeping/chairs/ where we have collected several Cesca chairs, original ones, and Italian reproductions from the mid-20th century. I will happily help with authenticity assessment when you are hesitant to purchase independently found vintage furniture from the mid-century modern period. I have already taken apart and assembled over a thousand pieces of furniture.