Snake Auction Observer 007
10 items on LiveAuctioneers ending this week I think are undervalued, or affordable—auctions ending soonest first. (Instructions on bidding at email bottom). If you buy or bid—let Snake know, but first, housekeeping:
Housekeeping:
I am looking for a subletter for my 1 bedroom Brooklyn apartment (Carroll Gardens) for July and August of this year. I am going away on research for a couple months. The photo at the very bottom of the email is of my courtyard. Email me if you are interested and would like more information.
Shirts are sold out.
Auctions:
Laurinda Spear ripple bench for Brayton, LA from NY NY, In-house shipping: I wrote about this bench before, which ended for $700, this one’s in better shape, is local to New York and the house takes care of shipping. One like this also ended around 2K. House is lousy with good auctions, some are below. Live now. A no brainer; $100
Olli Mannermaa ‘60s chairs for Cassina, LA from PA: Rare north-south Europe conflux here between Mannermaa (Finnish guy) and Cassina (Italian). These feel like the chairs that come with a restaurant built in 2015, or a movie. But they’re good enough: plain, designed and not very expensive to tide you over until a lifetime purchase. Old ones have been mostly passing lately, so don’t pay over ask; house has a Nelson bench, a Borsani mirror shaped like the Chevy logo, many chandeliers (one good), this perfect Giorni table, otherwise lots of mid. $600
Pierre Cardin leather lounge/club chairs, LA from NY NY, IHS: Cardin seems to make every issue of my new iteration, which is an accomplishment for him or for anyone, and these club chairs have been auctioned just once before, this year, by a different house, for $600. This chair is undeniably perfect—check out the little exposed logo tag on the 10thish slide—and as the Snake Lock of the Week, a must buy. Yes, there still exist black holes of value and knowledge in America. $100
Schultz for Knoll patio chair, LA from NY NY, IHS: Strange auction—just one chair, for outdoors, so a little impractical, from a hosting POV—but also a great one from Schultz (resp. for the Knoll petal tulip table, some topiary work and lots of other great and similar outdoor furniture), and a throw-in since the house has so much other good stuff (like the spear). A pair of these went for $150 in better shape this year. $100
Offredi for Saporiti Wave Lounger, LA from Fl., IHS: Needs a cleaning, but a classic mid chair in good shape—I bet if you use the Bronner’s christmas soap (that’s the bottle color) it’ll get a lot of the crap out. Or you can put an Aztec blanket on it. Not my favorite, but they can’t all be Locks of the Week. Because then what would that entitlement mean? Nothing. Decent at $250
Frattini for Bellini roll top desk, LA from NY NY, IHS: Roll top desks kind of went out of style with Button Gwinnett, but Frattini (who designed the Sesann sofa, the snake lamp and a great set of stacking stools/tables) moderned this up a little bit, what with the round edges and almost Graves-like styling. What’s wild is this piece predates Graves’ Satanic/Disney aesthetic by about a generation. It’s also not unholy. Era-bending and $100
Colombo Boby Cart in white , LA from PA, Boby Cart in yellow, LA from CA(IHS): Either of these masterpieces may have run $125 flat on Craigslist only two years ago, but the toothpaste is with the shampoo and everything is upside down with the world. Right now both auctions are right there with a few days to spare. I’m of the mind it’s fine to pay above freight for a Boby, since it’s peerless and classic. But it will be a sad day when these start running $400, even if that’s at the end of this week.
Mazza for Artemide lounge chair, LA from NY NY IHS: I wrote about a similar pair of chairs to these last week, Efebino stools by Stacy Dukes (for Artemide), which are going for nothing. Just one of these Mazzas and not a pair, but it’s nicer and in better shape, almost 2001. This house has been trying to sell this thing since before Halloween; another house has one at a buy it now hammer of $2,000. $100
LC1 fauteuil armchair, LA from CA, IHS: In dialog with the Wassily chair, only better, so much so that they shouldn’t even be mentioned with each other. Not Breuer’s day; one of Corbusier’s best. Hard to verify these sometimes, but they stay in production, and people outgrow them and so they make market. This one hangs low, like an old Toyota 4runner, or the LC1/Rietveld Cassina repros from the ‘80s and ‘90s. If you see them you know. Even if fake, the lines don’t look off, and the leather is good. Steal at $50
Swid Powell Toscana china set, LA from Fl.: Another week, another undervalued nearly full set of China from Swid Powell, this one designed by Steven Harris and Lucien Rees Roberts, a couple of architects, and leaning into the Paloma Picasso/Jordan VIII/old Matisse but pressure-washed aesthetic. Worth it at $70
Euro Wildcard:
If you feel like spending cash to ship something overseas but still want a deal, buy:
Kaj Franck Finel bowl, LA from Denmark, IHS: There’s an award in Finland named after Kaj Franck, and his work also populates my saved items; both noble accomplishments. This one is enameled metal. I like it. Shipping from Denmark through an American house that has lots of glassware, with most of the good ones Nordic. Other two metal Franck bowls had art on them; this one’s better. Decent at $110
Thanks.
Snake
Other work: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-JLRt0Ec6gZBm50hATYCYmLctnF9GhVijoEbam50JSw/edit
How to bid: Sign up to LA with your credit card ahead of the auction, register for that auction on the item page — there’s a button/prompt on every auction page — before bidding. Houses usually accept registrations within a day, but early’s better.
Bidding happens live in a pop-up window, though prices sometimes jump up before. Both app and website have good bidding UX. Sometimes items go for a lot, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes lots of watchers means something; sometimes not. Not much different from eBay. Because of buyers’ premiums (~25%), and freight, expect to pay over list. After winning you have ~a week to get the item. Houses can recommend third party shippers; some ship themselves. If so, In-House Shipping will be noted on the page below the bid amounts. Sometimes shipping is affordable, sometimes it’s not. Picking it up yourself is cheapest.
As with anything, insane steals are rare, nice deals are occasional, and fair prices are frequent. If you have more questions, email Snake.