Grizzly Bear Chair – You Will Never Be This Badass

Meet Seth Kinman, A California Hunter and Trapper who lived in the 1800s:

By today’s standards he looks pretty eccentric.  Back then he was considered to be pretty eccentric too…  If there is one thing you will come away from this article learning, it is that try as you will… you will never be as badass as him.

Behold Seth Kinman, with a textbook “Haters Gonna Hate” look, leg crossed over, rifle in hand, knife jammed into the floor, while sitting in the Grizzly Bear chair he presented to president Andrew Johnson on September 8th, 1865:

Another view of the chair:

A view from the front of the chair.  By touching a cord, the head of the monster grizzly bear with jaws extended, would dart out in front from under the seat, snapping and gnashing its teeth.

Seth Kinman on Wikipedia – HERE

Funny article in the NY Times archive from December 9th, 1885 where the title is “Seth Kinman; The Pacific Coast Nimrod Who Gives Chairs To Presidents” – HERE

Although not quite the same caliber as Seth Kinman’s chair, Sarah Palin’s grizzly bear couch cover is fairly badass, along with that respectable looking king crab on her coffee table.

13 COMMENTS

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Thomas July 21, 2010 at 09:24 am

The first thing that came to mind after seeing this was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlGUwb2R5sQ

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Admin (Mike) July 22, 2010 at 05:34 pm

wow that is epic LOL

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Josh July 21, 2010 at 10:35 am

I was that badass once – but then in college I took a class where we watched “The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” – and I lost it. I think I menstruated a little.

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Admin (Mike) July 24, 2010 at 12:32 pm

hahah yea that’ll do it

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David July 22, 2010 at 05:39 pm

Haters gonna hate is right… that photo is great

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Peter April 24, 2012 at 07:36 am

Is that Russia I see through the window in that last photo?

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Chuck August 8, 2015 at 02:22 pm

Peter, that comment is so old it doesn’t even deserve a groan. You do realize it was Fey, that said that and not Sarah?

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Raikka February 27, 2015 at 04:33 am

The last photo is from Sarah Palin’s home.

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lori drotar April 12, 2015 at 03:03 pm

This is my grate grate grate uncle . This is epic and I want to draw him

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Rosemary Kinman September 24, 2016 at 03:29 pm

Seth Kinman is an ancester of my husband’s family. We’ve traced the geneaology back…it’s pretty interesting! Anyway, connect with me if you’d like to share Kinman history! I’m trying to acquire or at least locate as much as I can about Seth Kinman for mu husband and my son.

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Chris Rios April 7, 2019 at 11:07 am

I just now heard of Seth Kinman on the Antiiques Road Show. I am very interested about learning about him. I’m a self described Californian history fanatic. Through the years I’ve studied and found some rare books and have visited throughout California. I’m a fifth generation Californian.
Please share if you can and I can do the same.
Thank you, Chris Rios-Moorpark, CA

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