The Successful Cafe Chair 
Model Number Quantity 1876 Quantity 1885 
Chair 1 1 205 1 352 
Chair 2 2385 960 
Chair 3 2 600 3 462 
Chair 4 6 205 4 067 
Chair 5 553 787 
Chair 6 198 220 
Chair 7 2 671 2 413 
Chair 8 5188 4 204 
Chair 9 66 no longer produced 
Chair 10 11 675 3 526 
Chair 11 17 274 1 3 047 
Chair 12 1 776 1 475 
Chair 13 187 105 
Chair 14 326 797 335161 
Chair 15 17 403 22 475 
Chair 16 381 540 
Chair 17 2 408 1 774 
Chair 18 35 089 151 051 
Chair 19 - 21948 
Chair 20 54 955 52 291 
Total number of chairs with trapezoidal seat rings 
54.772 37 607 
Total number of chairs with circular seat rings (also 14 1 /2,15 V2 and 18 V2) 
434 244 640 260 
Price 1885/Gulden 
4.50 
5.50 
6.25 
6.00 
7.00 
10.00 
6.50 
3.75 
4.00 
5.00 
7.50 
8.50 
3.00 
4.00 
9.00 
6.50 
3.10 
4.00 
3.25 
Sessel Nr. 1 8 Chair No. 18 
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, 1875 
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Koritschan 
Korycany, Bistritz Bystrice, Wsetin Vsetin, Ugrösz, 
Radomsk, Frankenberg, um ca. 1900; Buche, massiv 
gebogen, Geflecht Beech, solid bent, cane; 
MAK H 2182-1/1969; Schenkung Bundeskammer 
der gewerblichen Wirtschaft Donation Federal 
Chamber of Commerce 
In the second half of the 19th Century, bent- 
wood chairs became a key factor in the fur- 
nishing of semi-public spaces: As countless 
photographs and postcards from all over Eu- 
rope and far beyond document, inexpensive 
and practical seating furniture increasingly 
found its way into the cafes and taverns, 
garden restaurants, barracks, Offices, and 
clubs-not only in Europe, but also on the other 
continents. Indeed, in 1851 the bentwood 
chairs began their triumphant advance in 
Vienna with the establishment of Anna 
Daum's cafe at the Kohlmarkt, at the corner 
of Wallnerstraße. 1 Model No. 14 is usually 
seen as the epitome of the coffee house chair, 
although of course other Thonet chairs were 
also used. After all, it can be seen, for example, 
from the production figures of Thonet bent 
wood chairs from 1876 and 1885, that Model 
No. 14, as well as the successor models 
with circular seat frames, were responsible 
for Gebrüder Thonet’s economic success. 
Model No. 18, manufactured first in Bystrice 
pod Hostynem from 1876, developed into a 
major source of revenue along with No. 14. 
The prices in the table below make it easy to 
see that Thonet’s best-selling models were the 
least expensive ones. 2 
1 “[I]n Daum’s cafe at the Kohlmarkt, we have to furnish the entire 
front room facing the Street." Letter from Michael Thonet Jr. to his 
friend Jakob Henrich in Boppard from 15 August 1851, quoted 
from: Ulrich Löber, “Jakob Henrich, Schreinermeister aus Boppard," 
in: Exhib. Cat. Koblenz, 1996: Thonet, Biegen oder Brechen, 
35-49:41. 
2 “Gesammtabsendungen in den 30 Jahren 1857-1886,” 
[All deliveries in the 30 years from 1857-1886] Archiv Thillmann/ 
Archiv Keindl. 
119