Snake Auction Observer 020
Book coming next week; Knoll, Bertoia, bowls, van der Rohe, NYC storage
Snake Auction Observer: good furniture, undervalued, or eternal, all selected off LiveAuctioneers.com, with an emphasis this week on seating, Kartell, and auctions near and around NYC. Several auctions ending on publish day.
Housekeeping:
My BOOK, SHEER DRIFT: The Snake America Newsletters (1-100) will be for sale in a week through Shining Life Press, at the Printed Matter book fair, which will be at 548 w 22nd St NYNY, on Oct 13-16, and costs $5 to get in, with the ticket link https://artsvp.co/printedmatter…. It’s a body of work about valuable and rare things (about 400 eBay auctions for vintage clothes, furniture and similar I found, researched and wrote about between 2014 and 2018, in a style similar to this newsletter, but more enveloping) as well as about vintage as the key to a black economy: a way that shows how the world doesn’t really work, and is a place where no one knows anything. The book looks great, and there will be a limited edition only available at the fair. Then a regular edition around then too.
Also making shirts and hats to defray some costs. A dedicated email about all of this will follow next week.
Auctions:
Magistretti-style Knoll chrome coffee table, Ill. IHS: Up for debate whether this Knoll table is actually in the style of designs by Vico Magistretti, who would have made it simpler. But it’s not far off. It’s a harsh, simple table, without much auction history — one similar to this (said to be produced in the 60s) kept on being listed without buyers for a couple of years. Auction house offers in-house shipping, but has nothing else worth buying today. Not a deal at $1,400, but it’s a great table, and is important as a simple modern piece that hints at regency/chrome furniture that was to be produced later. Getting a table like this (more masculine or neutral/restrained compared to Kagan’s work, or burl items) is a good way to skirt two eras. I’m a fan of Knoll for these reasons. They always have up the middle stuff that speaks very subtly to the trends of the time. Ending immediately
Bertoia diamond chairs for Knoll, VA: More Knoll; Rare to see Bertoia chairs in this good condition and not brand new: Most Diamonds are super worn out and shredded, which indeed is some of their appeal. But not these. Which is nice. The chair leather also looks new (since it is), which is disorienting. Lots of variety in Diamonds, but these at $400 are less than half of what one goes for at retail, and frankly are a key piece if you’re into the mid-modern aesthetic. So it’s worth a buy and a drive if you’re in the Mid-Atlantic.
Corbusier Cassina LC3 chair, VA: Same auction. These are old enough to have some personality. I’m a fan of this chair because it’s a classic, for one — but more than that, it’s one of a handful of pieces produced from within the past 20-30 years that improves greatly with age. This fairly recent LC3 looks sick after wear:
It sits different. (Most great design pieces only remain as good as they were when they were bought.) Modern LC3 are great, not as great as the old ones, but very great. Not a lot of furniture can say that. Also, the LC3 is out of fashion nowaadays, but that’s because we’re in a very curious moment in furniture. In reality, this is as eternal as a pair of 501s. $500
Kaj Franck bowls, Denmark but IHS: I’ve written about before how it’s difficult to get good bowls, pottery and so on; there are several reasons for this. One, the old stuff gets kept, since it’s small and convenient and can survive moves better than furniture. Plus, it doesn’t get worn out as quickly as a chair. Two, bowls have a lower market ceiling than furniture: there just aren’t as many bowl people as there are interior designers, who push the price of good furniture up. Three, it’s a much smaller base of knowledge, since people tend to buy good bowls last (or never at all), after they’ve taken care of the sofas and chairs and so on. And so less people are willing to pay freight than for, say, Cassina or Corbusier or LC2. Franck bowls are an investment, sure — the only set of KFs similar to this I’ve seen on LA went for $325; this is $650 — but I think they’re more just neutral home improvements. Worth Stuff keeping an eye out for these at a yard sale since they do show up.
Gehry ‘90s cross check chairs for Knoll, NC: Nice of the auction to refer to Gehry’s place of birth; I’m in Canada right now where non-pasteurized milk is illegal and punishable by death and where the gym by my parents’ house has a glute-ham developer—a piece of machinery I have never before seen at a commercial gym. They also built a Cabela’s near my folks’ house; probably going tomorrow. These chairs run anywhere between $800 and 2 large on auction, $5700 new; this is a deal if they stay low (at $75 right now), no one goes for these Cross Checks in black. More versatile chair than it looks because of the contrast of style and material. It’s very round, organic and radical, rococo, even, which can. help it play well off ‘70s Italian furniture and anything else plastic. Since it’s wood it can speak to more staid complements, too. I think these chairs are criminally underrated.
van der Rohe, Reich BRNO chairs, NC: Same house as above, a set of four chairs by Mies, the architect, and Lilly Reich (textile designer, lots of work with Mies), a 1970s edition of a quite old design. Super, infinitely ahead of its time. I always thought that good 1970s furniture looked ahead and the bad kind from then wasz mid-modern but more maximalist in a tacky way: with fins. But in reality the great ‘70s stuff may have been looking backwards at chairs like these. So much furniture looked like vdR’s 40-year old design a few years later. There was a meme about this the other day on a good account:
It’s true. Popular furniture patterns are usually around two decades behind what’s being designed. Most of the furniture in homes in the 1990s wasn’t representative of what was in Architectural Digest, or in movies, but was catching up to what went out of fashion a decade beforehand. Specifically farmhouse revival.
Mangiarotti secticon leather clock, NC: Last one from this auction. Hard to find a statement modern clock. Not that big, half a foot tall. These go for anything between $100 and $500; Mangiarotti designed many train stations. $100
Ligtelin for RAAK lamp, Cincinnati: Important and interesting auction out of Cincinnati, including a number of pinball machines, rugs, tableware, what have you, good lighting (some Sonnemans, a beautiful unknown white Italian lamp). This one stands out. It calls to mind the good generic poppier lighting of the 60s. Ligtelins used to run $800 but have gone for half that in the past year and change. One of those just great/A- lamps worth buying in a flash until your dream piece materializes — or while you wait until you figure out what your dream piece is. Have to start somewhere. $200
Art deco desk, designer unknown, NYNY: Really excellent auction in New York right now, on Sunday, which I will miss as I’m in Canada (scroll up to read my funny observations about my home country), but a chance for local readers to get a number of fine high level pieces of furniture spanning several eras. This desk is a standout. I love Deco furniture (Deco = sometimes French-inspired, very rectilinear, geometric, much wood, 1920s-30s) because retros don’t really exist, and so all the original stuff is eons away from what’s available now in quality and style. These days Deco is somewhat out of style enough that it can be bought quite cheap compared to the quality of construction. (Like housing, musical instruments and toasters, the older the item the better it’s made; if it’s prewar and still around now it will last quite long.) Beautiful wood. Something this nice, you get and don’t worry about matching, especially since it’s the Snake Lock of the Week. $300
New York storage pieces — Nelson cabinet ($275), Nelson thin edge chest ($1,400), Knoll credenza ($700): Nice opportunity here from the Deco auction above for New York readers to pick up some important Nelson storage pieces, with a variety of detailing, though most in the same style. I’m most a fan of the first cabinet (mine has similar metal pulls, they’re very heavy and look nice and touch compared to the round white ones that I believe came later). George Nelson’s designs have swooned a bit in popularity the past five years: They designs are plain and straight ahead, and people aren’t as into that now. But they also always hint at some circular, natural shapes, and pair well with the crazier stuff. Prices vary; but they’re more comparable to luxury newer furniture out now, and look better.
Thanks for reading.
Snake