3/11/19
A start to the new week in a very puzzling manner !
Austria Auction Co’s major 2019 “ Fine Antique Oriental Rugs XIV” scheduled on March 30th at their Vienna , Austria gallery is live or dead “on the line “ now and i frankly don’t known what to make of it !
To begin with the sale consist of 195 lots of what can only be considered for the most part “fresh” items that are barely over 100 years old if that . Nothing at all in the way of serious collectors items in the complete sale inventory .
This to me is a real surprise considering they just held a low end house cleaning auction on March 9th which did very well for them and i expected more of an upscale collectors sale considering what is billed as a “Fine Rug Sale” , but this is just a half step above the March 9th sale group with nothing of any importance included in the entire sale stock .
On a positive note , as with the previous March sale the pre- sale estimates are very realistic and they once again kept the starting points very conservative as well , but its the only good thing about this sale , in my opinion !
Don’t get me wrong on this , there are plenty of late good condition late European retail type pieces included in the auction , but again nothing to get the international “Rugmob” buzzing .
Again i don’t know what to think of UDO staging 2 sales of this nature back to back but it’s his business and maybe he’s changed direction into a decorative / retail auction house to pump up sales and profits when good , fresh interesting collectors items are hard to come by these days ?
Anyway good luck to him and the A.A.C. staff on this unimportant endeavor!
3/12/19
3/13/19
Christie’s , NYC has a very good Asian Art’s auction scheduled on March 21st ( The Irving Coll. Day Sale ) that includes 18 various collectable and decorative oriental rugs and carpets some of which are worth a line or two and are posted below ..
Lot # 1308 , Early Chinese carpet , circa 1700 . Pre-sale estimate a very conservative $2-3,000.00 . Modest condition but it should still do well.
Lot # 1377 , 3 Chinese saddle covers . Pre-sale estimate a very fair $ 8-1,200.00 . Maybe ?
3/14/19
More Christie’s , NYC news !
Another Asian Art’s sale scheduled on March 22nd titled “Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art” does not include any rugs but it does feature 9 Chinese textiles one of which is quite extraordinary !
Lot # 1655 , 18th century Chinese “Qiu Xiangse” silk Dragon robe . Pre- sale estimate $ 3-500,000.00 . Not sure where this is gonna end up but it’s pretty cool !
3/15/19
3/16/19
Sad news to report today.
I just found out legendary and enigmatic Swedish rug connoisseur and dealer J.P.Willborg passed away on Jan. 21st of this year . I did not know him personally but from the people i know who did i was told if i ever make it to the continent again he was someone i should certainly meet. The rug community will miss him for sure !
3/17/19
Dog o the week ,
Leftie’s “swimmin” through a mammoth , magnificent sea of Red ! , Sheik Frederich , 2019.
Shitty movie o the week, Skyscraper , 2018 . 4 out of 5 poopsickles . Although a supposed “action flick” it was boring and unwatchable .
Movie o the week , We Were Soldiers , 2002.
Song o the week , Budgie , Crash Course in Brain Surgery , single , 1971.
