Rapistan Review

4/20/15
Excursion preparations in full swing .
So far weather looks reasonable .
Plenty of auction activity this week !
4/21/15
Travel Day.
Looks promising at this point.
The Christie's major rug and carpet sale in London jus finished up and unfortunately for Ms Broadhurst and staff the results were mediocre at best. Out of the 194 total lots run under the hammer only 90 garnered any interest. A sold percentage of just under 47 %.
One thing worth mentioning .
Lot # 114 , “Bukhara” saf fragment , pre-sale est. £ 30-50,000.00 failed to sell . This piece was highly promoted but maybe only one is all the market can absorb at this level ?
I felt this was a fairly well diversified and interesting group of items.
Unfortunately for the Christies staff the European rug buying crowd did not feel the same !
As for the 2 lots I featured in an earlier post one sold one did not.
Lot # 100 , Mongol flat weave cpt. Pre-sale est. £ 5-700,000.00 . Sold for £ 602,500.00 including comm . A big number , but right in the estimated range .
One minor piece of trivia , this piece has been published and known to the market for quite awhile.
The other lot I featured # 101 , Kasghar carpet frag., pre-sale est. £12-15,000.00 failed to find a taker. This was my personal favorite item in the group but it could have had an aggressive reserve !
“O Well ” , back to the drawing board and better luck next time !
Next up.
Bonham's , London held their “Islamic and Indian Art” , auction today . There was nothing in the way of rugs or carpets in the offering but it did include 6 susani's and 16 various textile lots .
The susani's in the group were not on the level of the “Vok” collection items but they all sold .
One piece lot # 54 Shahrizabz Susani , sold for £ 21,250.00 including the juice. Concerning the 16 textile items in the sale , 6 found buyers and some of those brought substantial sums !
Easy , on time flight into NYC.
4/22/15
First Day
Possible rain this afternoon .
Plenty more auction action today.
First up .
Sotheby's , London's , “Arts of the Islamic World” went off earlier today .
This sale only included one carpet .
The Holms , Hepburn Coronation carpet , lot # 190 , pre- sale est. £ 100-150,000.00 and it failed to sell. I reviewed this lot in an earlier post and thought it might excite the Gulf museum crowd but unfortunately for the consigner not this time around . Could it have possibly been offered around the market prior to the auction ?
As for the 14 various textile items included in the group 7 pieces found new homes .
The piece I featured in an earlier post , lot # 95 , Ottoman Silk bag regrettably went unsold .
So much for my taste on this type of textile !
Results from today's , Freeman's general auction in Phil. , Pa featuring 157 lots of rugs and textiles are live “on the line” now.
Tragically for the Freeman's rug dept. it did not turn out quite like they my have hoped. Out of the 157 lots run under the hammer only 67 found takers. A sold percentage of an unacceptable 43%.
Granted there was not a lot to get the rug buying public excited in the group but an unsatisfactory result none the less .
The one high light of the sale , lot # 342 Khotan cpt. , pre- sale est. $10-15,000.00 sold for $25,000.00 including the juice .
I illustrated this item in a prior post if you want a look.
The other piece that created a bit of chatter in the rug world , lot # 339 Oushak cpt. frag. , pre- sale est. $ 20- 40,000.00 , failed to sell. An assertive estimate , so not a surprise it did not find a buyer.
As for the state of the NYC market today .
I reported in Dec. the main rug market building on 31st was going through a transition and it's coming to a head this week . At least 50 % of the resident dealers have moved or are in the process , many across the bridge to Long Island City.
This move is. gonna create a split market and in my humble opinion a major market disruption .
The centralized NYC market was always a good thing, now what ?
4/23/15
Wrapping up loose ends on a reasonably successful East Coast sojourn !
4/24/15
Travel Day.
Weather turned fairly cool , time to go.
Smooth trip back into the O.C.
4/25/15
Back in the saddle at O.C.G.
Nothing missed in my absence !
4/26/15
As one would imagine another quiet Sunday !
Works for me after a week on the road .

In the end acting on or in anger is always a mistake , the smart play is never to get mad ,”get even ” quietly ! , Sheik Frederich , 2015.

Song o the week . Madball , Born Strong on Hardcore Lives , 2014

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