4/29/19
The next debacle at the vaunted “Netherhampton Salesrooms” , Salisbury , U.K. scheduled on May 15th is live or dead your choice “ on the line” now for you viewing amusement ?
Well it’s pretty much more of the same this time around with “Ms Barrett and staff” assembling a sale inventory of approximately 313 total lots of pretty much anything you could think of in the rug , carpet and textile department except for anything in the way of a serious collectors item . As usual the illustrations leave much to be desired but with that being said and to be fair i did notice a few lots #’s 167, 210 and 254 ? that may need a closer look if you are in the vicinity at the time of the preview and sale .
All in all another standard mid-to low end Netherhampton offering !
4/30/19
5/1/19
First up today in the batters box , Sotheby’s , London and their “Art’s of the Islamic World” sale including rugs , carpets and textiles .
My first impression of this sale in general is this . After going through the complete sale inventory i noticed there were a large number of Islamic artifacts and painting that went unsold .
As for the textile lots they did pretty well with only approximately 7 not finding new homes .
Now for the rugs , susani’s and carpets in the group . Out of the 36 total items run across the podium 11 failed to garner any bidding action.Which turns out to be a sold percentage of right at 65% . Not terrible for a modest selection but nothing to write home about either.
One thing worth noting . Turkish and Persian items in the sale did O K , however the Caucasian lots in the group with common designs and aggressive pre- sale estimates for the most part went unsold , dragging the sold total down ! There were a couple of nice upside pops note , lot #’s 297 and 307 . Unfortunately thats about it for excitement in the rug portion of the sale .
As for the 2 lots i featured , lot# 157 , Safavid silk panel and lot # 285 , kuba prayer rug , both failed to sell .
A lot in the Islamic Art portion of the sale did catch my eye and i thought worth a mention !
Lot # 245 , Iznik tile , 16th century . Pre- sale estimate , £ 4-6,000.00 . Sold for £ 68,750.00 . These things have been hot lately and this one was a real beauty !
Next in line tomorrow , Christie’s !
5/2/19
The results for todays Islamic Art sale at Christie’s , London are up , running “ on the line” now. As i said in the earlier review i did not think much of the overall inventory but i have to say this offering with out any serious Turkmen or Tribal items of any consequence did somewhat better than i thought it would .
Out of the 78 rugs and carpets offered for your bidding pleasure only 18 failed to find new homes . A sold percentage right at a very respectable 76%.
Unfortunately the velvet panel market cooled off a bit and only 2 out of the 7 offered ending up selling . The Susani’s in the sale faired better with 3 out of 4 attracting bidding action.
One more thing to consider , it appears the better condition Mid century Caucasian rug market still seems to be a weak link in the general rug market .
The lot i featured in the earlier review did end up selling .
Lot # 225 , Mughal Pashmina rug frag. Pre- sale est. £ 15-20,000.00. Sold slightly over the high estimate at £ 25,000.00 .
There were also a few very nice upside pops .
Lot # 227 , Mughal Silk Cpt. Pre-sale est. £ 60-80.000.00 . Sold for a very nice £ 243,750.00 . Somewhere out there is a very happy consigner !
Lot # 228 , Mughal dais cover . Pre- sale est. £ 40-60,000.00 . Sold for £ 225,000.00 . Again very nice.
Lot # 237 , Lotto rug . Pre- sale est. £ 20-25,000.00 . Sold for £ 43,750.00 . Far over the high estimate but still not a bad purchase at this level for the new owner !
All said and done , “hats off” to Ms Broadhurst and staff for in “my opinion” a job well done !
5/3/19
Here you go with the one you been wait’in for !
Rippon-Boswell , Wiesbaden , Germany’s “Major Spring” rug ,carpet and textile auction and this time around in my opinion well worth the wait !
After numerous passes through the complete sale inventory it’s my opinion this is one of the most diverse and interesting assortments Mr Maltzahn and staff have put together in a few years . A nice selection of high end collectors items in many areas , some good mid range pieces for the un-rich collectors and yes a bit of filler but nothing much in the way of real dreggs which is very welcome .
One thing of note . The starting points on many of the mid- range items are very reasonable which is becoming a trend these days and is very appreciated by the bidding public !
There are far too many items i liked in this offering to post them all but i have listed a few of my favorites below. However if your really serious about rug collecting you need to spend sometime checking out all the items in this sale !
Lot # 41 , Ningxia mat . Starting point , € 2,300.00 . Classic look !
Lot # 61 , Turkmen mafrash . Starting point , € 5,800.00 . My favorite piece in the sale , but repiling ?
Lot # 88 , Ningxia runner . Starting point , € 9,000.00 . Repiled end might be an issue .
Lot # 142 , Yomut kap . Starting point , 4,000.00 . Very realistic .
5/4/19
5/5/19
Grogan day , here we go ! .
It’s go time so all we have to do is sit back and wait for the rug and carpet portion of the sale which is as usual at the tail end of the auction.
Well the verdict is in and the die is cast , out of the 95 lots run across the podium only 9 failed to attract bidding action . A sold percentage of right at 90% , inline with previous Grogan sales .
Worth noting 3 of the unsold lots were low end filler type Turkmens and Caucasians held their own for a change .No brake out upside pops but a very successful turn of events as far as rugs and carpets go.
Nice job ,M.G. and crew !
As for the lots i featured in the earlier post
Lot # 289 , Serapi carpet . Pre- sale est.$ 20-30,00.00 . Sold for $ 25,000.00 + comm. Based on the condition report i thought this piece would do better , but it looks like someone got a pretty good deal !
Lot # 216 , Senna prayer rug . Pre- sale est. $ 10-15,000.00 . Sold for a very reasonable $ 16,000.00 + comm. Again someone got a very good buy on this lot .Stunning and my favorite piece in the whole sale.
Lot # 412 , Turkish village rug . Pre- sale est. $ 4-6,000.00 . Sold under the lowest. At $ 3,250.00 + comm. Go figure on this one . Maybe not quite old enough !
Dim’s beware !!!!
Dog o the week !
Traveling the dimi path could certainly be considered an exercise in ignorance and and poor judgement ! , Sheik Frederich , 2019.
Shitty movie o the week , Crazy Rich Asians , 2018 . 4.5 poopsickles out of 5 . What i want to know is in this age of political correctness why isn’t ever intelligent Asian in the U.S. insulted by this stupid movie !!!!!
Movie o the week , The Snowman , 2027. Righteous
Song o the week , Death Angel , The Pack on Humanicide , 2019.
