50's Conant Ball Dresser and Nightstand - Pass It Forward

Last week as I walked through the furniture room at the Goodwill something under a varied array of faux decorator items caught my eye, in fact, what I saw made me stop in my tracks. I had never seen anything like it. It was a dresser and though feet spoke to a Mid-Century heritage, the drawers were offset and made the piece stand out from all the other 'brown wood' surrounding it on the floor. I pulled open the top drawer and immediately saw the familiar Conant Ball brand and thought 'Oh , My'.

ConantBall Brand

I do not like googling in the store (gauche), but I did a quick search to find out a little something about what was sitting in front of me. I quickly found a few samples after an images search and saw I had found a Conant Ball ModernMate set from the 1950's - I could not pass it by.

The 9 drawer maple dresser and matching Nightstand were unique and aesthetically gorgeous.

Conant Ball ModernMates 9 Drawer Dresser by Leslie Diamond NOT Russel Wright!! It has been postured that Russel Wrights' American Modern line built by CB in the 30's and 40's is definitely unique from the ModernMates lines built during the 50's and 60's. Advertisements and personal histories identify Leslie Diamond as the responsible designer for the ModernMates product line of Mid Century Modern Furniture.

Leslie Diamond ModernMates 9 Drawer Dresser by ConantBall 

After looking at the two pieces for a couple of days out in the garage, researching what I had found turned up some very interesting information. Touted on 1st dibs, Chairish and the like as "Russel Wright" designed with its 9 staggered drawers, the lowly redit had many threads supporting evidence provided by the granddaughter(?) of designer Leslie Diamond that indeed this piece was made in the 1950's and was part of Conant Ball's ModernMates line of furniture, that Mr. Wright had designed in the 30's and 40's for CB but not in the 50's as he had moved on to other engagements. I felt so cool knowing something the big boys had missed, what a weekend ....

Conant Ball Model 5308 D 9-Drawer Dresser.