9/7/15
Travel Day
Looks like it's gonna be much warmer and more humid at Brimfield on this trip !
Smooth in .
Slightly early .
Off to a decent start .
One more thing .
My friend John Taylor of the site “Rugtracker” has a massive new post titled
“Ushakistan” that you need to see ASAP !
You will be impressed .
9/8/15
Day 1
91 degrees so far today and as I figured quite humid.
Modest turnout so far .
Most of the usual suspects in attendance .
First featured field opens at 11 am.
Dealers Choice .
Small opening crowd and maybe 60 % of the exhibitors spaces full .
A plethora of 20-30's Persian city decorative rugs and carpets but nothing in the way of a notable collectors item up to this point .
One promising lead for Thursday .
That's all for the moment , one down , one to go.
Next up Brimfield Acres North at 1 pm.
So here we go.
Once again modest size opening crowd .
However this field was more like 75% full as far as exhibitors go.
And like the first field of the day a profusion of mid – range 20's – 30's decorative pieces and in this instance a sizable group of mediocre late 19th century Caucasian / Tribal items .
A much better pedestrian selection but still nothing in the way of a serious item of any type surfaced.
My conclusion after these first 2 fields is it looks like someone dropped a New England Auction bomb on them !
Back to auction action !
Nagel's fall sale went off today and for all intensive purposes it was far from a resounding victory for them .
Out of 252 items run across the podium only 90 attracted any interest.
That works out to a sold percent of a meager 36 %.
Not at all what they planned on , for that I am sure !
The ethnic object portion of the sale unfortunately faired much worse .
Nothing much in the way of upside fireworks on anything either .
One lot # 15 Silk Heriz prayer rug . Pre-sale est. € 8,000.00 . Sold for € 12,000.00 but that's about it as far as highlights go.
As for the 2 pieces I featured in an earlier post both sold .
Lot # 49 Baluch rug . Pre- sale est. € 1,000.00 . Sold for € 1,400.00 . I really thought this piece might do better but I did not see it in person so maybe it was not as good as it looked or someone got a good deal !
Lot # 61 Shahsevan Sumak bags . Pre- sale est. € 1,200.00 . Sold for 3,300.00 .
I figured this was one of the lots that could be better than the estimate reflected and it was .
A bright spot in an unremarkable sale.
Better luck , next time !
One down 12+ to go !
9/9/15
Day 2
6 am
New England Motel .
Pass this time around.
9 am .
Heart of the Mart.
Smallest opening crowd so far , no more than 60 % exhibitor occupied .
Nowhere near the amount of mid-range rugs on the field and far from the content of the previous day's fields .
Not even a rumor of a notable piece yet !
12 Noon ,
Hertan's field.
Well what can I say another bust out .
So far this excursion to the Brimfield shows has been a none event .
One more chance tomorrow at May's field which has been a trip saver in the past but this time around I am no so optimistic !
Late update .
A supposedly “good” Baluch rug turned up but unfortunately it's not going to be put up for sale , it is tragically headed for the dreaded auction instead !
9/10/15
9 am .
May's Field and the last opportunity !
Modest opening crowd .
Unfortunately as with the previous fields a large number of empty exhibitor spaces , perhaps 40 %.
After going through the field a few times there was no evidence of anything approaching an even moderately interesting collectors item .
One local rug “hustler” did acquire a fairly nice room size decorative carpet in pretty good condition so something of note did turn up which is certainly a positive conclusion to a rather lackluster Fall Brimfield affair.
The lead I was waiting for was something of a let down , Oh Well !
That's , that till next year !
9/11/15
Travel Day !
Smooth well not so smooth this time around .
On the way to the airport I got stuck crossing the G.W. Bridge and it took 2 + hours to go about 5 miles.
In the end it was much closer than usual but I still made the flight on time so alls well that ends well.
At least the flight left on time .
Homeward bound !
On the ground a little early but that's not the whole story.
This was easily the most trying flight I have been on in recent history.
In the row directly behind me a couple had 2 very small , very unhappy children and the screamed the entire flight , 5 hours and 50 minutes .
I have never been so happy to get off a flight in my life.
One for the records .
9/12/15
Back in the saddle at O.C.G.
More auction activity to ponder ?
As you all know by now Skinner's , Sept. 26 , “Major ” fall rug extravaganza is ” live on the line” your viewing pleasure.
This time out Mr Kearney and faithful sidekick Erika have put together an offering of
330 lots of rugs , carpets , textiles and a substantial selection of shawls .
To my eye after going over the inventory a few times I don't think there is a clear cut top shelf collectors item in the whole group .
That's not to say there aren't any interesting piece included in the sale , there certainly are just not a barn burner to get the rug world buzzing.
Keep in mind this is my personal appraisal of the selection and anyone interested in rugs and such should take the time and go through it .
It's for sure worth your time .
All that said a few of the lots that I felt were worth a line or two are listed below .
Lot # 85 Turkmen tentband . Pre-sale est. $ 4-5,000.00 . Complete and in what looks to be very good condition , but the way they illustrated the piece may not tell the whole story . It warrants an in person examination !
Lot # 154 Surahani embroidery . Pre-sale est. $ 8-1,000.00 . Again these things must be seen in person if it's your cup of tea. A very realistic starting point though .
Lot # 162 Shahsevan Sumak bag . Pre- sale est. $ 15-1,800.00. This piece has an slightly unusual color palette which may have something to do with the somewhat low starting point !
However the weave looks very fine .
One last comment on this sale.
It includes a minimum of 29 lots of “Kashmir shawl type items ” and I wonder if the shawl buying public can absorb this many pieces at one time and still fetch better prices for the consigner's ?
Yes , I am aware that part of the market has been active lately but I can't recall this many pieces in one sale in recent memory !
9/13/15
Rose bowl fair today.
And peace and Metal !
Are you sure you know the difference , these days it can be hard to tell ? , Sheik Frederich , 2015 .
Song o the week , Saxon , Battering Ram on Battering Ram , 2015.
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