4/6/15 When the sun comes up in Vegas !

4/6/15
Action on top of action ?
Everybody in the pool !
The Dorotheum , Vienna , Austria has posted “on the line” their upcoming “major” spring oriental rug and carpet auction scheduled on April 30.
What we have to look forward to is 207 total lots of all manner of rugs , carpets , tapestries and various textile pieces .
So after going through the group a few times I came to the conclusion it's along the same lines as the last couple of Dorotheum sales . A few better items interspersed amongst a lot of middle of the road pieces.
As usual the offering is heavy on Persian city and tribal rugs which are out of reach of the buyers in the U.S. , at least for the moment !
And again as is their M.O. the better pieces included in the sale carry aggressive pre- sale estimates which in ” my ” opinion have possibly scared off potential buyers and hurt the sale results at least in the past .
I did notice one lot that garnered a bit of interest on my part.
Lot 48 , Ningshia square , pre- sale est. € 18-20,000.00 . A possible early date ? , but with a hefty estimate for sure , makes me wonder if this item will get any attention all ?
A great face but at this level might just be hard to swallow !
4/7/15
Well it's go time for the highly anticipated Austria Auction Co. , May 9th sale .
Part 1
The first 87 lots of the sale are from all the various weaving areas .
This portion of the offering includes a better than average but limited selection of all types of rugs ,carpets , textiles and flat weaves .
That said I did notice 2 lots I felt worth a line or two.
Lot # 30 Caucasian Blossom rug frag. Pre- sale est. € 12-15,000.00 . Not an inexpensive starting point but great colors and published to boot .
Lot # 64 Caucasian Embroidery . Pre – sale est. € 20- 25,000.00 . A well known published item with a reasonable pre- sale estimate after the prices fetched on numerous examples at Sotheby's a couple of years ago.
Part 2
Now we move on to the “main attraction” , The “Munkasci” Collection which consist off 138 pieces from most all the major Turkmen tribes.
The collection includes quite a few well-known pieces , some of which have been previously published .
After going through the catalog numerous times I feel the scope of the group runs from very good to somewhat average , as do most collections put together over a long period of time .
I will add this observation , for the most part the pre- sale estimates don't seem to be overly aggressive .
My final impression is i don't feel this group is quite up to the level of the “Thompson” or “Pinner” sales of a few years ago but that was then and this is now and to just put together a collection of this size is an accomplishment in itself .
S Group items aside and if I had to pick , one piece did catch my eye .
Lot # 217 Saryk ensi . Pre- sale est. € 18-24,000.00 . Not an inexpensive starting point and not one of the very best examples but still a good one and hard to find.
In this murky market it's hard to tell how a group of Turkmen's of this size will fair however , “Good Luck” to Mr Munkasci and the Austria Auction Co . staff .
4/8/15
Quiet .
4/9/15
Still quiet .
4/10/15
Lack of action sometimes try's our patience ?
4/11/15
“Vok ” sale day at Rippon !
Question of the day . How long till Mr Maltzahn posts the results ?
10 days till NYC .
April Rosebowl tomorrow .
4/12/15
Moderate crowd at the Rosebowl today .
More than the normal selection of worn, beater rugs but unfortunately nothing of any importance at all !
The results of the Vok coll. sale at Rippon-Boswell are posted on LiveAuctioneers now and for all intensive purposes it turned our very successful for Rippon-Boswell and Mr Vok .
Looks like only 6 of the 88 lots went unsold , more on this next week .
One word of caution on this , they are unaudited and as we all know things sometimes change a bit at Rippon .