A Tragic Loss
Saturday, June 27, 2009
I've given away some tricks of the vintage trade in my recent blogs, but by no means all. All the auction houses I've recently analyzed the results of -- the best on the block -- are the best places to sell pieces, good economy or bad, but the best places to buy are the off-the-radar auction houses you probably wouldn't know about unless someone in the business told you about them. Which, actually, is how I got into this whole auction game to begin with: someone I dated shortly before leaving New York worked at one of said auction houses, which is where I found my best auction score to date: a pair of Andre Dubreuil-style Spine chairs for $80. (For comparison's sake, a set of four similar knockoffs is currently for sale on 1stdibs for $7,800.)
I'm not naming names, of course, but there's a 20th-century auction going on today at one of said regional houses ... and I just royally screwed up by not registering for it in advance, since it's not one I've done business with previously. As a result, I had to witness an original, mint-condition Eames rosewood lounge & ottoman of early '60s-vintage -- which even at Wright's otherwise dismal sale earlier this month sold for $4,250, above the high estimate (note that the stated price on Wright's Web site includes the 25% buyer's premium) -- go for a pittance price of $500. Although I've sworn from day one that there are two vintage items I would never sell at the gallery, because I think they've been done to death by interior designers -- the aforementioned Eames lounge chair and the iconic Barcelona chair & chaise -- a $500 purchase price could convince me otherwise.
I'm generally avoiding vintage right now because the market's so unpredictable, but at the same time I've seen first-hand that well-priced vintage flies out the door; our big sale last month yielded our largest monthly in-store sales figures to date. Pieces by Adrian Pearsall in particular proved immensely popular, and I will be pouncing on anything else of his I find at auction in the future (though there's slim pickings in the summer - most are held in the spring and fall, and there were no Pearsall pieces on the block at today's sale).
I'm not naming names, of course, but there's a 20th-century auction going on today at one of said regional houses ... and I just royally screwed up by not registering for it in advance, since it's not one I've done business with previously. As a result, I had to witness an original, mint-condition Eames rosewood lounge & ottoman of early '60s-vintage -- which even at Wright's otherwise dismal sale earlier this month sold for $4,250, above the high estimate (note that the stated price on Wright's Web site includes the 25% buyer's premium) -- go for a pittance price of $500. Although I've sworn from day one that there are two vintage items I would never sell at the gallery, because I think they've been done to death by interior designers -- the aforementioned Eames lounge chair and the iconic Barcelona chair & chaise -- a $500 purchase price could convince me otherwise.
I'm generally avoiding vintage right now because the market's so unpredictable, but at the same time I've seen first-hand that well-priced vintage flies out the door; our big sale last month yielded our largest monthly in-store sales figures to date. Pieces by Adrian Pearsall in particular proved immensely popular, and I will be pouncing on anything else of his I find at auction in the future (though there's slim pickings in the summer - most are held in the spring and fall, and there were no Pearsall pieces on the block at today's sale).