Snake Auction Observer 036
Kartell, a bizarro Boby, Shaker tables, wood bowls, severely underpriced dinner settings
Snake Auction Observer: good furniture, undervalued, or eternal, all selected off LiveAuctioneers.com. This week—storage, some Kartell, some misattributed items, some unknown items. Immediate auctions at the top, and quick hits at the bottom, but first:
Housekeeping:
Good morning from Paris, where the firemen have their own roads.
Wrote a story building out a no-budget gym for GQ. Crazy things about how fitness and strength are set up these days is that both the expensive gyms (Equinox) and the bottom of the barrel gyms (Blink) are built identically. They have mostly identical machines; different classes, towel grading… Some of this is because these chains share an ownership group, some, I’m sure, is due to the finer points of exercise equipment distributors… but mostly it’s sloth. Gyms haven’t changed in 30, 35 years. There are lines at squat racks now because lately people have been writing for generalized audiences about the benefits of that exercise. So now people with jobs do it and not just meatheads and athletes. My solution (and it is a solution) certainly isn’t more squat racks, but different kind of equipment. And, I should say, this equipment is nowhere. Crazy.
The inaugural Snake classified listing is at the bottom. If you wish to sell an item to a reader base that is very educated and interested in design, email me.
Auctions:
Enameled red 70s (?) cabinets, PA: Mystery item out of Pennsylvania of a pair of Kartell-looking storage chests, 2.5’ high, no markings… brand info often rests on the underside or in a drawer—but nothing on the bottom skid in the pic and no pic of the drawers. Looks to me made either in the 1970s or ‘80s, and is Italian, or Italian influenced. There’s a slight modern/rockabilly thing going on, what with the three shapes, and few Italian designers display their camp at this level. Still… Bright, blocky, simple but not punishing, light, busy. Scant price history for a mystery item, obviously. House is charging 350, which is gentrified retail pricing, but also promises affordable curbside delivery to New York and “Close Brooklyn.”
Yrjo Kukkapuro lounge chair, PA: I’ve mentioned Yrjo K before, he’s a Finnish architect whose designs sit between Scandinavia and Italy—restraint and muted palettes done light-hearted and sturdy. YK’s lounges—this one he did for Haimi, from Finland, some iterations of a near-identical chair seem to be under Poltrona—tend to stay overseas. Run maybe $1,000, a bit more. His Sirkus conference chair, to me, is the dream item, and is like never on sale. Look for it. Same house as above, with the New York delivery. If you’re a new reader, check out my guide (from an earlier newsletter) on how to buy items on LiveAuctioneers, and how to set a price. $700
Kartell Spoon chairs, PA: Office chairs are an interesting problem: the good-looking old ones are old and uncomfortable and impractical. No support, bad for the posterior chain muscles to sit on one too long. And new office chairs don’t look good. Gaming chairs—some good ones out there, really—have too a big footprint. So what to do? I’m not sure how bad sitting is if you’re strong enough to take it, an unresearched theory that, taken to its logical conclusion, means there’s no reason why chairs like these—idiotic pointless shape, nice looking, designed by Antonio Citterio and Toan Nguyen, who did the Otto chair—can’t be daily drivers. Spoons are still available through Kartell, as office chairs and as stools, and the former have no real auction history. A set of orange ones is also available from the same house. So clarified is the link between strength training and furniture: just as yoga builds the body to sit and meditate for three days in a row, the Snake Super Health™️ program (DM) builds bodies strong enough to sit in a Spoon chair all day, or, say, smoke a pack of cigarettes during the running of a marathon. $350
Biette Padova fake Boby cart and friend, PA: Same house, clear takeaway winner far and away… yellow cabinet is I am p. sure by Simon Fussell for Kartell, ‘70s-ish, runs for a few hundred, rarely on auction, a couple in yellow sold years ago and so price is irrelevant. The bizarro Boby trolley is Italian and produced by Bieffe (not Biette) Padova, from Venice, a steel company otherwise known for its drafting tables. It looks to be (but isn’t) missing a shelf in the middle, and is stained—hope it’s paint—an incompleteness that’s a testament and concession to how perfect Colombo’s Boby cart, which this clearly is competing with, is. Even Italians can’t improve on the Boby. Can they, though? The BP’s effectively identical in size but is different and quite unavailable… I don’t remember the last time I saw one for sale; a couple have sold on LA, each with shelves all the way to the bottom (mind-blowing; the odd Bobby has this) for very little money.
It got me thinking about how now things are different. Many years ago people in other collectible spheres would flex and display the rarest items possible and show them off to each other or just use them for their misanthropy, but that is not the case now. Most purchases in this letter’s sphere (furniture, clothes) are displayed quite conservatively, and the people bragging about them never swing very big. It’s about being widely understood. No one rolls the dice like a psycho anymore. There are reasons behind this—bragging is immoral, and we know it; doing so shows real selection bias; few people want to be seen as a loser accumulator; there is a recession; not everyone who has the good stuff makes a show of posting it. Why go out on a limb like that? Some of this furniture, with no context, doesn’t make sense. And instantly digesting items isn’t the way to understanding. Still, we only need a little context. I think very rare almost non-existent items are the best ones, but not always, and not always the very best. It takes all kinds. I do this letter mostly to show readers to roll the dice on more furniture—the pieces don’t have to be canonized, or shown first by a stranger or friend. Way, way too much good stuff out there, every week, neverending, and a liquid market where it can be sold off easily. Anyways, another wild thing is this Bieffe’s secondary color palette (Longhorns orange) looks so different from the pastel Bobys that are selling now. I thought maybe it’s patina, but even the shiny deadstock ones look of a different kind. Maybe this is the magic of some old things; Snake Lock of the Week, only $75
Shaker-style (Mogensen) dining table, Kingston NY: Nice auction, house has 60 teak, rosewood, walnut items, mostly sideboards and credenzas, many priced fair. This, for me, is the one, a Borge Mogensen table that’s half butcher block half Shaker, but not very Shaker. Their tables had simpler legs. Still, who can quibble? Mogensen is up there with Hans Wenger, his 3238 fake safari chair is my favorite. This exact table sold for $500 earlier this year. Not everyone gets up on mid-century and life would be hell if we all did. But the sweet spot of that era is the quieter Danish pared-down wood work which is, admittedly, kinda Shakery and can, IMO, go with just about anything. $400
De Sede 63 for Stendig leather sofa, Calif.: Just a no-nonsense leather couch here, De Sede 63, produced for the Stendig store/company in Manhattan. More affordable than Ueli Berger’s DS 600, and less exciting. About from the ‘70s. Looks more recent—because it doesn’t have any shape. No designer name on this, and not much price history, but the DS 76, which this is similar to, has run anywhere between $500 and 2 large on LA lately. House has hits, including the following:
Unnamed chrome metal side table $300 (very small and loud, safe choice)
Nelson OMNI shelving system $300 (not quite Cado but fairly priced)
Bellini CAB settee $1,500 (automatic luxe purchase)
Art deco revival credenza, light wood no markings $450 (ugly and great)
Bob Stocksdale snake wood bowl $275 (simple, perfect)
Gladding McBean Eclipse 39-piece dinner set $750 (nice design and deal)
As well as a motorized store display Swiss army knife. The House in its immorality is also selling the Ottomans as a separate lot. $750
Masanori Umeda Soshun for Edra stool, PA: Umeda is an OG Memphis guy and designed the Tawaraya boxing ring (greatest bed ever made, I think Karl Lagerfeld had one) and the Ginza bookshelf that is neck and neck with Sottsass’ Carlton. Or is close. MU moved to Milan in the ‘60s and moved back to Japan in the ‘80s. Edra is Italian, still around, has made tons; the Soshun was designed in the ‘90s, and jumps out as very similar to the Castiglioni’s Mezzadro stool—leg angles—and go figure, Umeda worked for him when he was starting off in Italy. Beat up, but with nice patina. Some gold cushioned models sold on LA for real money, but years ago. Lot comes from the above Pa. auction’s second day suite, which has an inferior selection excepting a Halliburton suitcase set (with cigar case), a Rimowa Porsche roller, Girard for Herman Miller pillows and some inexpensive and fine condition HM exec. chairs. $150
Kartell desk and Dr. Glob chair, Fl.: Perfectly named set of furniture by Kartell, the Dr. Glob, which is designed by Philippe Starck, who I’m not a big fan of. He only designed the chair. Not sure who designed the desk or what it’s called, looking around left me fruitless. Good chance it’s turn-of-millenium design from some office store. It is very good, it screams “dentist” and “Satan.” If you can ID it, let me know. Glob chairs don’t sell for much. House selling a Danish modern wood Dansk cheese tray (really dope) and some good guitars, including a 1961 Melody Maker in Doug Holland colors. $300
Inaugural Snake Classified Ad:
A friend is selling this Giotto Stoppino for Kartell magazine rack. In fine shape. Pickup in Lower East Side of Manhattan. They are asking $140. DM me for contact and I’ll put you in touch. Friend has more photos, too.
Quick hits:
Raymond Loewy China set, few dozen pieces, $20, IHS, Cincy (severe steal)
Extremely tall Arne Jacobsen office chair, $150, PA (this thing is ape S. Hitt)
Chrome/wood long Knoll coffee table/bench, $150, PA (comically long)
Wild card Italy lot (stool, wire chair) featuring nice Italian valet, $125, PA
Herman Miller Executive chair, tall, $200, PA (great deal)
Karl Springer gold/Midas chair, $300, PA (Michael Graves-level cursed)
Bamboo Perriand Dalvera-style chairs, $75, PA (nice for outside)
Thanks for reading. RIP Al Jaffee.
Snake