Snake Auction Observer: good furniture, undervalued, or eternal, all selected off LiveAuctioneers.com. This week—Knoll, Aulenti, some Canadian auctions… Immediate auctions at the top, and Quick Hits at the bottom, but first…
Housekeeping:
For the Shining Life newsletter I interviewed the great Becky Miller about her novel Lost Indignation, (out on Shining Life). It is something. In a sentence it’s a sui generis and at once finely-captured book about a young married woman solving a mystery regarding art. Like much of Becky’s output (long zine body of work), it’s inspiring. I’ve been curious about Becky and her output for a long time, and so that is part of the discussion. It’s a thrill to learn how she works and thinks, and am even more glad to learn she has more novels on the way. Let us hope she creates a great body of work. Consider picking up her book. Like I said, it’s great.
They got two operas in Paris, and the new one, built in 1989, has a smoking section.
How sick is the TPB scene where Lahey is eating out of that tub of No Name mint chip ice cream?
Who bought the chess set at the Sevigny sale? What Air Jordans was Lynn Yeager selling? Was there a cash discount?
Auctions:
Knoll MCM lounge chairs, Minnesota: Not a Florence Knoll chair, actually, but a Walter Knoll 503 chair, Walter being Florence’s father in law, and a furniture manufacturer who started in 1925, when he turned 50, making a sort of company out of his dad’s leather company. Furnished apartments that Mies van der Rohe designed, and reportedly supported the Nazi regime. Interesting… WK the company is still around; Florence herself was American and her and Hans’ company supported the American war effort. How much Walter Knoll is passed off as Florence in auctions? Hard to say. Some; that’s how auctions work. Norman Foster, a Pritzker winner who re-designed the Reichstag did this chair, I believe sometime in the ‘90s. Most are leather, the original ones, because of their patina, look great. The 503, here, has a risen back, the 502 is tufted, the 501 (!) has the back level with the cushions; the 500’s a table. Part of an auction of a “distinguished corporate collection,” to quote the auctioneer—is there any other kind?—that also includes a good selection of teak. $100
Zanuso dining table for Zanotta, NJ: Marco Zanuso is a Taurus and an Italian, though not all of his furniture’s worth remembering. Much of the early work, like his canape chairs, are flat and in line with the dregs of that era, and they look uncomfortable, but not in the good way. (The Senior and Baby chairs, and his 1950s work for Arflex, which might be his most popular.) But those are only a handful of items, and after that something broke for the better and he began orienting a great line of work. Zanuso has a long list of great late-career works: the Square sofa, from ‘62, the radios he made for Brionvega in the 1970s and his Weekend chairs—maybe the best beach chairs ever made—though those were admittedly from the early part of his career. So maybe he just had one dud. This table, a custom for some rich New Yorker, which he did through Zanotta in the ‘70s, is both gilded and impractical: who can sit here with all these legs? I’d say it’s for a doctor’s office, but it’s not demonic enough. Design is rewarding to follow over a long period of time because doing show how few rules there are. By rights and theory, this table shouldn’t work: too many legs, pinched shape, fat and skinny. But it does: it jumps out, and it clicks. So that’s a lesson for everyone who wants their work to be more free. Only thing is it takes decades to get there. No real price; house also features a smart Deskey lamp, a confusing Swedish Grace pedestal desk and a Rizzo sideboard. Many hits. $600
Yrjo Kukkapuro Karuselli chair, NJ: A marvel and a clear look at degradation in furniture, with the leather keeping up perfectly and the switch at the bottom brutally losing to rust. More or less Kukkapuro’s most popular chair, there are a range of Karusellis with different bases and colors. His Experiment chair also varies it up, but I would say this is his number one. A white pair of them sold this year for 5 large. This one’s base is more interesting than some other Karusellis because it’s six-pronged, like a flower or lilypad. From the auction above; seller says it’s from a private collection from 150 E. 69th street… a cursory search, naturally, reveals a doctor. $400
Jumbo Aulenti coffee table, NJ: The more time I spend in Europe, the more I appreciate marble, an ornate metamorphic rock substance that is cold to the touch and which seems to be very easy to carve into expressive human shapes. I should try that some weekend. Marble doesn’t get used a ton for furniture, because tastes change and it’s heavy and expensive. When it does it’s done loudly, like deco work or the regency-neighboring stuff from the ‘80s. It’s unfortunate, since it looks beautiful and a little goes a long way. This one’s by Gae Aulenti, who’s a giant. (I have to mention here her Stringa and Orsay series for Knoll (Florence/Associates), which are some of the best and least appreciated furniture of the past 50 years.) Table is giant, imposing, but at longer view isn’t tied down to an era. The legs are subtle, and shrink it a bit. These go for a lot of money: $11, 13, 20 large. $4,000
Cassina Rietveld chair, OTTAWA: Finally an important furniture auction from OTTAWA (my hometown), if they had these when I was in my formative era I never would have escaped from that place. Or might I have? This is a very uncomfortable chair. Cassina made these and other Rietvelds sometime in the ‘80s and as a group they stand out as perhaps the best reproductions ever made, up there with the 2002 Europe only Air Max 97s with the PSI markings or the 1993 Toyota Hilux (short cab). Perfectly executed, true to the original, but updated (slightly different dimensions) enough so that, for a nerd or an aficionado, very different. As well: cheaper, and realistic, and affordable. Few can buy original Rietvelds; but the free repro off the blueprint/mockup keeps with how Gerrit himself approached things:
These don’t run much; like $1,500, a grand. $500 (CANADIAN)
Castiglioni for Zanotta 2630 conference table, OTTAWA: Another from the Ottawa auction—I actually worked in an auction house in high school as a runner, or whatever word it is: I held up Persian rugs during auctions, and moved tables and credenzas around. The crowd was mostly diplomats, and I worked this job for a summer or two before college—with this one sticking out more than the moon rock lamp, Olivier Mourgue Djinn bench, or Castiglioni bike seat stool that are also for sale… New to me: an Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni conference room or perhaps dining table, the 2630 Bramante, which was designed in the early ‘50s (searches reveal 1950 and the early part of the decade), but which looks much older, with similar—exact?—right-angle tough shapes as Rietveld. Man, what a piece. Super hard to find a good conference (or dining) table for less than 5 large, much more difficult to find something thoughtfully designed that’s in good shape and which is practically available. One of these bases alone sold for a grand last year; a few have sold in europe recently for around €1,200 each. This is the Snake Lock of the Month, and is $150 (CANADIAN)
Knoll Bastian chairs by Scarpa, Detroit: Similar in some ways to the 503, same footpprint, low and square simple wide armchairs, almost boring, but obviously not. These, though, seem made for the deck: is the pattern a gingham? Well, if it’s not, it’s close. Plus the cheap wooden legs. Designed by Tobia Scarpa (Soriana sofa, the Cognac bed which is wild) in 1962, it’s not the Bastian as stated in the auction but actually the Bastiano… the auctioneer Ellis Islanded this thing. From Detroit—they should know better. But it’s also appropriate: this chair is the most Presbytarian-designed item I have highlighted in this newsletter. Could work in a solarium; I’d say these run about $700 each. Much better in leather. House has the matching couch and some middle of the road mid-modern pieces, good rugs and a few interesting canes. $500
Massive De Sede sectional, Fl: Massive, by an uncredited designer as is often the case with De Sede—actually the “De Sede design team,” and a cut below the DS 600 (known to some as the chippy nonstop), which, I have to say, after not seeing it displayed anywhere for a few years or written about in a while is a beautiful sight. This one less so. Pricing history is scant, though the exact same house sold this for $9,000 last year. It’s also the DS-11, which the auction house doesn’t mention. Improper naming protocols aside, this is a massive very good piece made very well and which is very versatile, and the size of a camper van, that you can buy for only a few thousand dollars. Sell the other couch if you want to make back some of the money. Auctioned vintage furniture is the best, best, best deal for readers. I am not a whiz or super old, but I bought and sold Jordans and Nikes 20 years ago and American clothing a decade ago and this is the same wide open space now that it felt like back then. Doors like this don’t ever close, though they just become slightly less open. $4,750
Quick Hits:
Glass, steel semi-corp MCM end tables, $100, St. Paul (very good)
Tall brown Componibili by Ferrieri for Kartell, $80, Ct., IHS (obvious deal)
Ginori demitasse 10 pc set, West Ham colors, Upstate NY $25 (breathtaking)
Same Yrjo chair as above, but in coffee, $1,200, Upstate NY, IHS (swag)
Five Saarinen Tulip chairs with Hamas green pillows, $50, NJ, IHS (Toyota)
Bill Stephens Knoll bentwood side chair, $50, Ohio (#snakesfavquickhit)
Pair Colombo 4801 for Kartell lounge chairs, $2,100, Fl. (perfection)
Thanks for reading.
Snake