11/30/15 Bangalore choir sings the blues

11/30/15
Uneventful start to the new week !
12/1/15
Sotheby's held the evening portion of the “Bernheimer” estate sale on Nov 24 and I thought it included one lot worth a line or two.
Lot # 13 , the “Bernheimer” , 16th century Holbein upholstered ,19th century walnut arm chair .
The piece is well known and has been published and exhibited on numerous occasions .
Pre- sale est. £ 50-100,000.00 .
It ended up selling for £ 100,000.00 ncluding buyers premium . Right on the high estimate but a very scarce and “COOL” item . ,
12/2/15
65 – 65 – 65
2 weeks till NYC !
One tough day in Cali !
12/3/15
On Dec. 14-15 Christie's , NYC is having a general antique sale titled “Living With Art” that will include 35 lots of rugs, carpets , kelims and tapestries .
The sale also features 5 various Chinese textiles if that's your area of interest. It's a rather standard Christie's inventory of decorative carpets for the most part however they did manage to come up with one very interesting collectors item that's certain to be the sale high lite !
Lot # 642 Yomut “Jewelry” asmalyk . Pre-sale est. a very reasonable $10-15,000.00 .
I requested and got 10 extra detail photos and the piece looks pretty good so one would assume it will do fairly well.
They do reference the “Herrmann” piece published in “Von Uschak bis Yarkand ” , 1979.

Via con Dios , Scott Weiland (48) of S.T.P , Velvet Revolver and The Wildabouts .
I have no words , but your legacy will live on through your music !

12/4/15
Today's Carpet and Textile sale at the Van Ham Auktion gallery in Cologne , Germany is one for the books and all things considered it didn't turnout to bad for them taking into account this was another 2nd tier offering with nothing in the way of a standout lot to create excitement .
Out of the 284 lots run over the podium 170 ended up attracting attention .
This works out to a sold percentage of about 60%.
Not a screaming success but not a failure either.
Nothing in the way of a major upside surprise in the sale but a few of these pieces sold over there pre- sale estimates and garnered pretty good prices.
As its been lately Chinese silk carpets did very well !
After the dismal results Austria Auction Co. posted last week (38% ) the Van Ham rug dept. should feel pretty good about today's outcome !
As for the 2 items I featured in last week's post both found new homes.
Lot # 236 Chinese square , pre- sale est. € 600.00 , sold for € 850.00 . Slightly over the estimate , not sure if this figure includes the comm.
Lot # 237 Chinese square , pre- sale est. € 1,500.00 , sold for € 950.00 . Again not sure if the figure includes the comm.
I really thought this piece would do better but maybe the partial border on the bottom affected the final price ?
Considering all that's happened lately , the possibility of “rug auction fatigue” and with the holiday season fast approaching the Van Ham rug dept. did a fairly commendable job so Kudo's to them for the effort.
12/5/15
Gros & Delettrez held a general ethnic art auction in Paris , France on Nov.20 that included approx. 46 rug / textile items .
The group was for the most part very ordinary but it did include one reasonably scarce piece i thought merited a mention .
Lot # 296 , Moroccan , Rabat carpet , possibly 1st half 19th century . Approximately 15' 9″ x 5'2″ . Pre- sale estimate € 10 – 15,000.00 . Sold for € 13,800.00 , again not sure if this figure includes the comm. but still a decent number for a fairly rare item that appears to be in pretty good condition and with good colors!
12/6/15
Early morning road trip .
Now back to quiet !
Late breaking news !
3 pm , Cali time .
The general antique sale at Grogan’s in Boston , MA. has just wrapped up and it’s another positive turn of events for M.G. and staff.
Although this was a fairly minor endeavor as far as rugs and the like ( 14 total lots ) go , only one of the items failed to find a new home.
Yes , I’m aware it’s a small offering but none the less it’s a very good effort on the part of the Grogan’s staff and keeps them in the ever dwindling game .
In my humble opinion the more players the better .
Concerning the 2 lots I featured in a previous post , both sold.
Lot # 360 , Heriz cpt. Pre-sale est. $ 6-10,000.000 sold for $7,500.00 not including comm. Seems like a decent acquisition for the new owner.
Lot # 362 , Trans-Caucasian cpt. Pre-sale est. $ 3-5,000.00 sold for $ 6,500.00 not including the comm.
This was the most intriguing piece in the group and as I figured it must have been better in person. Most likely a pretty good purchase for the new owner.