Free Snake Auction Observer 072: Luxury is no longer apart
Hangover-free furniture, leather, NOS lamps, Gucci handcuffs and the end of luxury as an edict from on high
Mid-late February—cold weather, black snow, later evenings… some houses unloading everything, others mostly listing their heat to be sold in a few weeks. Except a skid of super good furniture in March; crap which is worth saving up for. A 7/10 auction week right now…. strong chairs, not as many sofas, lots of lighting, rugs, some wild cards, much Bellini… a few thoughts on branding and luxury—how it’s no longer alien. This week, no Housekeeping; all business.
Auctions Observed
Piva Arcadia chair, Ct., in-house shipping: Paolo Piva is another Italian designer, he did the Alanda table (standard/simple/half-perfect glass and metal coffee table), and a number of excellent lamps (like the Oliver… really good). These either never sell or sell for nothing ($200 for four). Right now, in the dead of winter…
..is when many, many auctions list but few finish this week. Lots of auctions for dog-crap this week. This one is quite strong… but not Piva’s best work. Still, a perfect proletarian Italian modern chair. Really colorful and simple and strong. In a set of 6, but is it? Two are taller. Generally hard to find any furniture in these colors. These are by B&B (hence the simple regality) but are more left of center than most of the items I’ve seen by them on the block. Could this be Piva’s power? So much of his work flirted with the hoity-toity. Auction has a handful of hitters, including two Colombo tables (that are near the bottom of his body of work) and many great rugs, of which a Samarkand and a Tribal Kurdish (me) jump out. $50
Sonneman eyeball table lamps, pair, Miami, IHS: I always talk about Robert Sonneman’s work in this newsletter as a deal but deals are found every day, by every designer on LA. Sometimes auctions end for nothing. Sometimes auctions I highlight, sometimes ones I do not. What jumps out more to me here though is the tag/paper branding on this set of lamps. (The table lamps with lucite or even three lights, or the articulating ones can all be found regularly for under $300.) You almost hardly ever see any of this stuff when you buy used furniture. It’s a shame. The graphics here (nice 60s modernist bubble letters) speak to the whole shape and everything Sonneman was going for it… and are as much a part of what he was trying to do as the furniture itself. I often get vague setting different furniture periods and styles against each other—so often a decision a Deco designer may have made is in dialog with something say a French guy did 40 years later. But often that is because when we see furniture auctions, we’re only seeing part of the work. Lots of it is in the ads, how it’s staged, and so on. Anyways, includes a New York Times from 1973; true deadstock item—so much shinier (and more expensive looking) than other Sonneman lamps I’ve come across. Not the best auction furniture-wise, but some fine silver jewelry, and a photo of an ape… who looks, if I may say so… exhausted. Disinterested. Apathetic. Even weary. Is that the right word? Yes. It feels like this is the right way I can get this poor ape’s emotions across. $250
Tom Ford for Gucci handcuffs, Miami, IHS: LA is so good this winter, it’s chock full of insane clothing auctions (three Memphis ties, this MTV 9/11 shirt), which pop up now and then even though it’s really not a good clothing market. (Between the fees and the lack of stock it’s not worth the time expenditure unless you’re a hobbyist.) On the other hand… this is just straight up one of the best auctions ever on this platform, or, indeed, any. If it’s real. Probably is. The lore on these cuffs is Ford made them for one of the 1998 collections. They aren’t in any photos but here’s a nice nugget from a story about Patrizia Gucci who hired a hitman to kill Maurizio Gucci (Ridley Scott movie) in 1998:
Syncs up with Ford’s crap at the time: solid silver handcuffs; sold for $2,000 at a Christie’s auction 15 years ago and then for 30 times that six years ago, and for $2,800 in 2020 on LA. It’s also really a relic. Even more so than a Josef Hoffmann chair or an MTV 9/11 T-shirt. It’s a collectible, pointless, almost enterprise item made by a luxury house, in line with an Hermes thermos
or Prada pruning shears. To me it’s from the before era, when luxury companies worked in secret, or at least on a hill, and did not pay attention to their clients or even meet them halfway. I don’t see a designer making something so narratively pointless now without a sort of campaign and discussion around it. I get it. But it’s just rare to see a weak link like this. A deal and a half; same seller as the NOS Sonneman lamps. $4,500
Hvidt and Modgard Nielsen Ax chair for Fritz Hansen, Ma.: Perfect Danish chair, what with the bent wood, teak and birch. It’s a classic technique…. Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen formed their partnership in 1944 in Copenhagen (around the second act of Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book) and lasted until 2009 when they split up. Great Danish output: kinda boring sofas, lots of secretary desks, but amazing storage (these teak chests, this bookshelf, great tables). Quite a body of work. Sometimes Danish furniture reminds me of this like 2018 Spotify “Techno Hangover” playlist that was Cowboy Junkies, John Philips the Wolf King of LA, etc… a nice counterpoint to plastic, color, even… point of view. Lots of variations (some unfortunate upholstery), but these go for no money, even beautiful old ones sell in the low hundreds. Part of another random number generator auction that nonetheless includes a nice Colombo lamp among skids of Stickley, glass, beautiful Dedham pottery. $300
Bellini for Cassina C50 leather queen bed, Atlanta: One doesn’t see much leather in the bedroom. Not on beds anyways. Why? I don’t know. Probably a leftover relic of America’s Puritanical founding. I can’t comment on whether Italian bedrooms have any, though. This one is in dialog with Bellini’s other work, like his Cab 413 chairs, as well as… a lot of leather beds. Bellini made a handful of them. Crazy. The Bambole and Le Mura (unbelievable), both ‘70s, for Cassina, and the Bambolettone (seems identical to Bambole) for B&B… maybe a licensing thing. What an asshole thing to do to make a leather bed. It is probably the best thing stylistically to have in one’s house; you can style against it very well. A nice Pendleton blanket or plaid quilt. This is how they dressed the models in photos of Arena+ Homme 20 years ago; it’s like, what Gut Instinct wore to shows. Leather jeans and a flannel… the future. You can do it… prices are the perfect example of the discrepancy between the domestic and continental furniture markets: always listing, and always under €2,000 in Europe; one sold in LA three years ago for $5,500. Seller has late Knoll, an Omersa pig, a great Citterio writing desk, others. $1,600
Aulenti for Kartell chair, Pa.: Very simple, very strong, like Bellini’s 413 chair but tougher. Actually the 4794, from 1980… one of her more ignored designs. Never really sell. Part of a circus tent auction full of pewter plates, carousel horses, China, and so, so many good lighters. Prob will go cheap since it’s just one chair; harder that way. $175
Quick Hits
Two Cassina Y-2 Bellini chairs, Ct., IHS $650 Ends Tues… (classic ass-beaters)
Colombo-style (early Colombo) coffee table, Ct., IHS $50 (nearly good)
Pierre Cardin space-age watch, Montreal IHS $240c (did this moron ever take a day off?)
Introini for Saporiti P60 chairs, Ma., $1,000 Ends Wed… (I think these are done)
Sottsass for Stilnovo green lamp, Denmark, $1,400 (starker than most of his work)
8 Boeri Folio for Rosenthal chairs, 400, Atl ends Fri… (her ugliest—in a good way—and her most plain. Prison chairs)
LC3 Cassina settee, Pa, 550 (probs the Snake Lock of the Week; many S LOTWs are Pa.-based)
Magistretti Gaudi chair, Montreal, $100c (basically the Aulenti chair above but faster; perfect, perfect piece of furn.)
Thanks for reading.
Snake