Hi all,

I hope you don't mind a post from a lurker :)

I'm looking at a "Henredon" leather sofa on Craigslist. It's seven years old, and the current owner bought it at an estate sale last year.

When I called to inquire about it, the owner (who sounded very genuine and unaffected) immediately told me that she had already had a buyer walk away from the sofa because it no longer has the Henredon tag on it. She was quite huffy about it, saying, "Well if SOME people need the tag, then I guess they do, but *I* know it's genuine! In fact when I bought it, there were two of these that were identical, and I really wanted to buy the second one also but at the last minute the owner decided to keep one and sell the other. That one had the Henredon tag AND the [local high end furniture store] tag, but this one only has the [local high end furniture store] tag left on it. The woman at the estate sale had them custom made for herself! How could they be identical if one wasn't Henredon? If she had sold me both I wouldn't be selling but we just don't have enough seating with only one sofa, it's where my teens hang out with their friends, so there's always a group. We need a sectional."

It sort of sounded like she was arguing with herself about why it was genuine, if you know what I mean. She didn't sound like she was trying to convince ME, she sounded genuinely insulted and like she was venting about it to me :) which makes me inclined to believe her.

She lowered the price several hundred dollars from her original listing, because of the missing tag. She's asking $425 and it's in perfect shape.

How likely is it that the tag would just have "gone missing"? Or that it never had one put on? It seems so unlikely... It does still have the high-end furniture store's tag on it (and they do sell only brands like Henredon, Stickley, etc. there).

I don't really care about resale value, and obviously the price is RIGHT, but a large part of why I am interested is the Henredon name--mostly I just want something that will last through the abuse of my small children :) Henredon leather from that era sounds like a good bet.