3/21/16 Still whistling past the Grave Yard !
3/21/16
After a week or so of Rug – Dum drama Rippon – Boswell has posted the audited results of their ” Vok 2 ” sale held on March 12th .
Right after the sale ended there was plenty of chatter regarding technical problems with ” Liveauctioneers ” and the service they provided and it turns out the initial sales results they posted were inaccurate .
So here we go with the “Rippon-Boswell” audited version of the “Vok” 2 results .
Out of the 88 total lots offered only 6 failed to sell .
This raises the sold percentage to closer to 93 % .
Not quite “Vok”1 but still very admirable .
The first report posted by “Liveauctioneer's” stated only 74 pieces had sold .
That was , as I stated in the earlier post UNAUDITED !
However in fact at least 3 pieces were posted as unsold when in fact they were sold but because of internet issues with “Liveauctioneers” connection they were miss recorded .
Concerning the other added items , as usual with a “Rippon” sale Mr Maltzahn was busy working the phones after the sale which lead to a higher sales total .
If it matters the unsold lots were numbers , 101 , 112 , 117, 135, 147, 157 .
So there you have it .
Everybody happy now !
3/22/16
Peace and quiet !
3/23/16
The Palais Dorotheum , Vienna Austria held their Spring rug and carpet auction today and in a timely fashion have already posted the results .
Going over the tally , out of the 214 items run across the podium only 88 failed to find new homes .
This works out to a sold percentage of right at 59 % .
Since there weren't any notable pieces included in the sale inventory highlights or upside surprises were few and far between and only one lot really broke out .
Lot # 16 , Ningshia pillar carpet , starting point € 6,000.00 , sold for € 23,750.00 including comm. but that's about it as far as excitement goes !
I will add one final thought on the sale in general .
Of the pieces that did sell most sold over their initial starting points so at least that's a positive factor in the outcome of the rather ordinary sale .
Considering it was a very lackluster selection I would not consider it a rousing success just a decent turn of events for the “Dorotheum” rug staff .
And that as they say is that !
3/24/16
Silent !
3/25/16
Good Friday !
Holy Mole , Batman , Good Friday , fresh good rug universe news !
In the nick of time J.T. at “Rugtracker” has a new post up ” on the line” today titled .
“The Salor Main Carpet Fragments ” .
This time around he chronicled most of the known Salor main carpet fragments in one article which in cool if Turkmen's are your thing .
As always excellent work , J.T.
3/26/16
Peaceful holiday weekend.
3/27/16
Easter Sunday .
Morning road trip .
Out of town visitors and substantial commerce !
Mundane thoughts lead to constipation of the mind , body and of course Soul , so keep it lively ! , Sheik Frederich , 2016.
Song o the week , Warlock , East Meets West on Triumph and Agony , 1987 .
Read More
Posted with Blogsy3/14/16 Pole lit tic al intrigue run rampant !
3/14/16
Quiet beginning to the new week but there is one somewhat insignificant auction worth a line or two.
“Palais Dorotheum” , Vienna , Austria , has their upcoming Spring rug , carpet and flat weave auction scheduled on March 23rd posted live on the inter-web at this very moment
The offering includes 214 lots of items from most all the major weaving areas . Unfortunately this nothing more than your standard European auction type inventory overloaded with 20th century Persian city pieces that appear to be in good condition , at least in the illustrations .
Not a thing at all in the way of a serious collectors item or high end decorator carpet in the entire group . In my opinion the most mundane offering the “Dorotheum” rug dept. has come up with in the last few years .
However if you have extra time on your hands or maybe your bored take a quick look otherwise if you don’t have the time or inclination you will not be missing anything !
3/15/16
Material Culture , Phil. Pa. is back on the clock with their next antique collectable and ethnic art auction titled “The Collectors Eye” on March 26th .
The sale features 62 lots of all manner of ethnic / oriental textiles and 68 lots of various Chinese and oriental rugs and carpets .
As with their past the productions this selection features nothing in the way of high end collectors items or top shelf decorator carpets but there are plenty of moderately interesting mid to low end pieces and if your a beginning collector or on a budget this is certainly worth a few minutes of your time to take a quick look .
For serious rug and textile enthusiast this is not really up your alley unless your just curious and need to peruse everything .
3/16/16
Next up !
Sotheby,s NYC has a sale titled European Arts from the “Caramoor” Center scheduled on April 12 that includes 12 textile items and 19 assorted oriental carpets of which 2 are relatively rare , important and worth mentioning .
!
Lot# 109 , Small Pattern Holbein carpet , 15th-16th century .It has been published and also sports a decent pedigree.The pre -sale estimate is a serious $ 600- 800,000.00 , however this is a very scarce and desirable piece and should certainly draw serious attention from the “Islamic” Museum crowd !
Lot # 177 , Caucasian Shield carpet , 18th century . Pre- sale estimate $ 80-120,000.00 .
Not quite in the same category as lot # 109 but still not something that you see everyday and it to should create a bit of a commotion .
3/17/16
Think green !
All hail , St. Paddy’s Day !
3/18/16
And now the big one !
Christie’s , London’s , ” Major ” spring oriental rug , textile and carpet auction scheduled on April ,19th is , as you all well know by now “live on the line” at this very moment for your very special viewing pleasure .
This time around the inventory consist of 226 total lots from most all the popular weaving areas .
So here we go.
After a few passes through the sale catalog I would have to say Ms Broadhurst and the “Christie’s” rug dept. have assembled a fairly decent , varied and interesting group of pieces this time around with a handful of certainly exceptional classic pieces to boot .
First off and as usual with a Christie’s , London offerings the inventory is overloaded with Persian city rugs and carpets catering to the Middle Eastern buyers !
That said there are plenty of other interesting items for collectors too.
The only group that came up a little on the weak side in this auction was Turkmen’s .
Nothing at all worth mentioning .
My thoughts are that this the most intriguing sale so far in the spring auction season and for sure worth you time to take a look if you have not already .
A couple of pieces that caught my eye are listed below.
Lot # 17 Kuba rug fragment , pre- sale est. £ 1,5-2,500.00 . Cut and shut but hard to find .A reasonable starting point and if you acquired it in this ball park it could be a good acquisition but I feel it may just pop up a bit !
Lot # 20 , Lehman- Barenac Kuba , 18th century . Pre- sale est. £ 40- 60,000.00 .
Decent condition ?
For what it’s worth my favorite piece in the sale , OK , Nothing !
3/19/16
Quiet .
3/20/16
A silent end to an interesting week ……
In these times of indecision if you don’t roll with the punches you most certainly will not survive ! , Sheik Frederich , 2016.
Song o the week , Metal Church , Badlands on Metal Church , 1984 .
Read More3/7/16 Comments , mindless comments !
3/7/16
Monday , Happy , Monday !
3/8/16
First up today , the results from last Wednesdays rug auction at the vaunted “Netherhampton” Salesrooms in Salisbury , U.K.
Well in general this sale turned out pretty much inline with their previous offerings .
Out of the 415 items offered up for sale only 137 remained unsold which works out to a sold percentage of right at 67% .
Just slightly better than they usually do .
That’s the only positive aspect of the production , now for the downside .
Only 9 pieces in the sale crossed the £ 1,000.00 barrier and there was nothing at all in the way of an upside surprise .
As for the handful of room size carpets with fairly aggressive pre- sale estimates none of them ended up selling .
The only thing I noticed in the whole sale worth mentioning was a small “Kozak” carpet , lot 273 and a Turkish kelim lot # 274 sold well over their pre- sale estimates but that’s about the extent of it as far as sale highlights go.
So that’s that , another lackluster event is in the books for Ms Barrett & staff , better luck next time !
3/9/16
3/10/16
3/11/16
3/12/16
Morning road trip and substantial commerce !
“Vok Day ”
Let the fun begin !
The unaudited results are posted live “on the line” presently on “liveauctioneers” as we speak and unfortunately for Mr Maltzahn and staff it was not a repeat of the near sell out of the first portion of the “Vok” Collection .
Out of the 88 items run across the podium only 74 pieces managed to garner any attention this time around .
This works out to a sold percentage of right at 84 % , very good by most standards but aways away from the almost complete sellout of “Vok” Pt. 1 .
As is Mr Maltzahn’s M O he will most certainly work the phones in the days after the sale and the sold total should bounce up a bit .
Going over the prices fetched there was not much in the way of any serious upside pops either .
Some of the kelims and flat weaves did show a little spark but nothing really exciting as far as price surges .
Most of the pieces that sold were within or near their pre-sale ranges .
This was most certainly a successful sale and I think the total number of sold items will improve by the time Mr Maltzahn posts his audited results down the road but I doubt the total sold figure will be as impressive as the first sale , however we shall see .
Concerning the two lots I featured in the earlier review ,1 sold 1 did not .
Lot # 135, Large Medallion Suzani , pre-sale est. € 40-45,000.00 failed to sell .
As I said in the previous post a good item but saddled with an aggressive starting point .
Maybe the piece had problems not visible in the illustration or had been around the block once to often?
Lot # 138 , Shakhrisyabz Suzani , pre- sale est. € 40-45,000.00 .
Sold for € 46,360.00 including comm. , over its low opening estimate but still a serious figure .
One last thing .
My first impression of “Vok” 2 was that it was not as good as “Vok” 1 and I waffled a bit on that but maybe my first impression was right after all !
3/13/16
Skinner’s is under way , let’s just see were this endeavor ends up !
Just over half way through the the sale and Skinner’s is as usual moving some merchandise .
Not for memorable numbers by any stretch of the imagination but as we all know , sold is in fact , sold.
Up to this point nothing much in the way of fireworks but one lot , # 153 Bidjar cpt. , pre- sale a very modest $1,5-1,800.00 , sold for $15,990.00 including comm.
Nice for the consigner !
It’s a wrap and this is my take on how it turned out .
The group consisted of 333 total lots offered up and 283 ended up finding new homes .
A sold percentage of right around 85% .
This makes for a large number of items moved but the total sales figure will unfortunately not be something to get excited about for the Skinner’s Rug Dept.
All that said and done a lot of these pieces sold at very reasonable prices , good for the buyers , not so much for the consigner’s but there gone which what they wanted .
However as I stated in the earlier post there was also not much in the way of high end collectors pieces included in this sale as to create a real buzz , just another mid -range rug auction.
One thing worth noting , Kashmir shawls were strong again.
Not quite as lively as last time but overall they did very well again .
The one lot I mentioned in a previous post , lot # 84 Ming fragment , the only serious collectors item in the inventory , pre- sale est. $ 8-10,000.00 sold for $9,840.00 including comm.
Right in the parameters of the estimate so no surprise there .
So there you have it another reasonably successful venture for Mr Kearney and the Skinner’s rug dept.
In the United States we need to support “Free Speech” for EVERYONE at all costs ! , Sheik Frederich , 2016.
Song o the week , Neil Young , Rockin’ In the Free World on Freedom , 1989 .
Read More2/29/16 Gripping Tales from the underworld of Rug- Dumb !
2/29/16
As time would warrant the results from today's Bonham's rug auction in San Francisco , Ca. are posted on line now and I have to say from the total amount of pieces that were recorded sold in this offering the market for low end items is both alive, well and apparently fairly strong.
Out of the 390 lots run across the podium only approximately 23 failed to garner any interest .
A sold percentage of over 92% , if all the sales stick .
Very solid !
Nothing in the way of an upside surprise as far as the oriental carpets go in the group but one interesting highlight was the Navaho weaving's included in the selection fared much better overall than the oriental rugs in the sale .
None of them were any better than average , at best and some were in rough condition but they still commanded decent prices for the consigner's ?
Many dealers felt the general Navaho market was soft , however maybe things have adjusted ?
Granted going over the prices fetched , a large percentage of the oriental rugs and carpets sold “very” inexpensively and the grand total of the complete sale is nothing to write home about but its still a pretty successful production for the “Bonham's Rug Dept.”
So it's a “tip of the hat” to them on a job well done considering the overall quality of the merchandise offered .
As I stated in an earlier post did not hold out much hope for this sale but the market for low end inexpensive goods proved me wrong !
3/1/16
3/2/16
“Netherhampton Salesrooms” held their March rug and textile sale today.
As usual no posted results just yet.
3/3/16
Modest commerce , not much else !
3/4/16
3/5/16
3/6/16
Lack of pertinent rug world news leaves the week to end on a silent note .
But never fear , 7 days till the spectacle of the much anticipated ” Vok” 2 sale !
Reckless contemplation in a reckless environment should be avoided at all costs ! , Sheik Frederich , 2016.
Song o the week , lucky you another 2 fer !
Immigrant Song , Led Zeppelin on Led Zeppelin 3 , 1970 .
Immigrant Song , Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross , featuring “Karen O” of The Yeah Yeah Yeah's on the soundtrack of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” ,2011 .