5/16/16 New week : New worries ?
5/16/16
Sitting on the doorstep of another summer doldrum’s period !
5/17/16
5/18/16
The ubiquitous Netherhampton Salesrooms , Salisbury , U.K. held their end of Spring rug extravaganza today but as is their M.O. no posted results quite yet .
14 days till NYC !
5/19/16
5/20/16
5/21/16
Via Con Dios , Nick Menza ex drummer of the formiatble “Megadeth” . Much to young at 51 !
5/22/16
5/23/16
Bonham’s , L.A.’s end of the season major rug and carpet auction went off today and the results turned out to be a little bit better than they are generally used to posting up. Out of the 284 total lots offered up for your bidding pleasure only 127 failed to garner any interest . This works out to a sold percentage of right near 55% . Something of an improvement over their usual results most likely due to a somewhat better selection of beginner collectors items in the second half of the sale inventory . The room size carpets in the session were particularly weak but there were a couple of upside pops in the collectors items included in the group which is a surprise for a Bonham’s s L.A. sale in itself. Unfortunately for MR Rahimipour and the Bonham’s rug dept the overall prices fetched were conservative , at best. All said and done a reasonable job turned in by the crew at Bonham’s , L.A., this time around .
As for the 2 pieces i featured in the earlier review both sold and were included in the handful of sale high points .
Lot # 2228 , pair Shahsevan Sumak bags , pre- sale estimate , $ 1-1,500.00 . Sold for $ 2,375.00 including comm. Still a decent buy for the new owner.
Lot # 2055 , Susani , pre- sale estimate $ 1,5-2,000.00 . Sold for $ 31,250.00 including comm. Miscataloged as I suspected and certainly the high water mark of the whole sale fetching a price well deserved . An eyewitness states it may be one of the best of type ! Kudos to F.H. for his comments on the piece !
5/24/16
5/25/16
7 days till NYC !
5/26/16
5/27/16
The beginning of the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the U.S. so business in general and the rug business in particular grind to a halt and the parties begin!
5/28/17
Rippon – Boswell day and a signal of the end of the spring rug and carpet auction season .
So after going over the unreliable “Liveauctioneers” posted results it appears this was only a modestly successful production for Mr Maltzahn and the “Rippon” rug dept. Out of the 270 total lots offered up for your bidding enjoyment only 144 ended up finding new homes . A sold percentage of right at 53+ % . Not a disaster by any means but I am sure this is far from the result they were hoping for.
Three more passes through the “Liveauctionerr’s” unaudited published results and this is my conclusion . Moderately priced items sold the best and many of the pieces with higher more aggressive starting points , over say € 10,000.00 met with the most resistance and went unsold . Keep in mind these are unaudited results and as is his m.o. Mr Maltzahn works the phones after the sale so by the time he posted the audited results some of the more expensive items could have sold and the sales totals could be somewhat higher.
Unfortunately not much in the way of serious upside surprises either but I did notice couple of items that took off , a bit .
Lot # 79 , Afshar , pre- sale estimate € 9,4-9,500.00 sold for € 15,000.00 . A well known published cover piece from an old Michael Franses catalogue at the Hugh M. Moss Gallery , 1973.
Lot # 195 , Shahsavan Sumak bag , pre- sale estimate € 3,2-3,300.00 sold for € 7,500.. I was under the impression the market was awash in this design Sumak bag but I guess someone out there thought this one was slightly different and more desirable !
As for the 3 lots I featured in the earlier review , 1 sold 2 did not .
Lot # 41, Kazak , pre- sale estimate € 4,7- 4,800.00 , unsold . This surprised me going unsold but over exposure or restoration issues maybe ?
Lot # 172 , Bokhara susani , pre- sale estimate € 16,4- 16,500.00 unsold . An aggresive starting point for this subtle design type ?
Lot # 167 , “Burkett” Saryk torba , pre- sale estimate € 11,4- 11,500.00 Sold for € 17,000.00 . In my opinion the best Turkmen in the sale and it certainly deserved the modest upside pop.
In the end it’s nothing more than a decent but unremarkable outcome for the Rippon staff so it’s onward and upwards for them till the fall auction season and hopefully a better turn of events.
5/29/26
Remember, Memorial Day this Monday , 5-30-16 .
For the time being the only thing to look forward to in the foreseeable future in the realm of rugs and textiles is the upcoming art’s fair in Boston , Ma running from June 10-12 , then it’s pretty much quiet time till the fall !
Could A , Should A , Would a , never ends up being a proper way of conducting your life , procrastination always leads to poor decision making ! Sheik Frederich , 2016 .
Song o the week , Anthrax , Breathing Lightning on For All Kings , 2016 .
Read More
5/2/16 Penny Dreadful, Dollar Rich ?
5/2/16
Netherhampton Salesrooms , Salisbury , U.K.is back on the clock with their late Spring rug and textile spectacle scheduled on May 18th.
So after CLOSE inspection of the approximately 435 total lots of rugs , carpets and all manner of textiles to me it feels like all the rest of the recent Netherhampton offerings. Nothing in the way of a standout piece , just a large group of mid to low dealer type stock . However to be fair to Ms Barrett and the Netherhampton rug dept. there are a hand full of small items (#’s 10,48,464,501,505) that if your in the vicinity and can preview the lots inperson might turn out to be of minor interest. Unfortunately the catalog illustrations are not the best quality so a better item might suffer from a poor photo. This house moves a lot of affordable merchandise and stranger things have happened so if you are in the neighborhood it would certainly by worth your time to look over this substantial assortment of pieces !
5/3/16
No Fresh, substantial
5/4/16
Rug News
5/5/16
So Far
5/6/16
This week !
5/7/16
Road trip and commerce !
5/8/16
Mothers Day for all you mothers out there !
This last week there was nothing in the way of notable news as far as the rug business goes so there was nothing to blog about but never fear there are certainly better days ahead . God willing and the river don’t rise !
5/9/16
Just when you thought the rug business rolled over for good Mr Maltzahn and the gang at Rippon Boswell post the inventory of their upcoming May 29th general rug and textile sale in Wiesbaden , Germany . This time around they are featuring 270 total lots of all types of rugs , carpets and textiles. “Vok Collection” sales aside the last couple of Rippon general sales have been somewhat on the uninteresting side however after going through the this group a few times it seems it’s a little more varied and absorbing . No real barn burners but quite a few fairly interesting pieces included for your bidding pleasure. I listed a few lots that caught my eye below but check it out and form your own conclusion as to the of this current Rippon offering !
Lot # 41 , Kazak , pre-sale estimate € 4,800.00 . Sort of a fragment but still very striking !
Lot # 162 , Bokhara susani , pre-sale estimate , € 16,500.00 .
Lot # 167 , The Burkett Saryk torba , pre-sale estimate , € 11,500.00 . In my opinion the high point in the Turkmen assortment included in this sale . Seems like a very reasonable starting point .
5/10/16
5/11/16
Mr Grogan and the staff at Grogan & Co., Boston , Ma have a general antique auction scheduled on June 5th that includes 18 oriental rugs and carpets . Nothing special to get excited about but it’s a decent selection of nice pieces so it’s worth a minute or 2 of your time to take a quick look , you might see something you like.
3 weeks till NYC !
5/12/16
Christie’s , London held their “Dani & Anna Ghigo Coll.” sale today and it looks like it was only modestly successful venture for them. Out of the 55 rugs and carpets run across the podium 38 ended up attracting attention. A sold percentage of right at 70%. Not bad in this spotty market but considering it was known dealer merchandise not a surprise either . Nothing in the way of an upside burst as most of the pieces that sold brought figures at or near their pre- sale estimates . The max point of of the carpet portion of the sale was lot # 401 , Isphan carpet , pre- sale est. £ 30-50,000.00 which ended up selling for £ 56,250.00 including comm , slightly over the high estimate but that about it as far as highlights go. The one lot I featured in the earlier review , lot # 258 Transylvanian rug , pre- sale est. £ 40-600.00 , sold , but well under the low pre-sale estimate at £ 30,000.00 including comm. Restoration or just being around the rug market to long could have contributed to it not selling for more ?
The tapestry portion of sale faired much better with 10 out of the 11 items offered finding new homes . Unfortunately for the Ghigo’s theses pieces also sold at or near their pre- sale estimates so there were no upside pops in that group either. The overall sale with all the ethnic items pretty much ran the same route at about 70 % sold . Again not bad but still most likely a bit of a disappointment for the consigner’s .
So there you have it another sale in the books at the rapidly approaching end of the Spring auction season !
5/13/16
Back to silence !
5/14/16
Solitude
5/15/16
Out of town visitors .
Beware of preconceived notions they tend to never turnout the way you thought they would in the beginning ! , Sheik Frederich , ,2016 .
Song o the week , The Leaves , Hey Joe on The Leaves , 1964 .
Read More4/26/16 Watson Knows all !
4/25/16
Looks like we heading toward a very quite period as far as fresh rug world news , at least for the foreseeable future.
4/26/16
At this point in time the only thing the rug universe has to look forward to is the upcoming “Arts East” rug and textile fair in Boston , Ma. running June 10 thru June 12 .
Good Luck to all the exhibitors there.
4/27/16
4/28/16
Minor threat !
Bonham’s , Los Angeles is staging one of their periodic rug and textile auctions on May 23rd and its just slightly more interesting than the usual dribble they offer up. This time around the group consist of 284 pieces from most all the major weaving areas and for a change on this occasion rather than just a bunch of dealer castoffs i noticed 2 lots that at least warranted closer in person scrutiny which is unusual in itself .
Lot # 2228 , Pair Shahsevan Sumak bags . Pre- sale estimate $1-1,500.00 . A very realistic stating point depending on the AGE of the pieces ! Again buyer beware.
Lot # 2255 , Susani , pre-sale estimate $ 15-2,000.00 . Again it seems unusually conservative if it’s not a modern reproduction but it dependent on the age of the piece . It could be miscatalogued . Ditto !
Not a big deal in anyway but since we are immersed in a slow period better than nothing .
4/29/16
4/30/16
Mr Langauer and the gang at Austria Auction Co held their Spring rug and textile sale today and unfortunately it did not turn out the way I am sure they hoped it would. Out of the 216 total lots offers up for sale only 63 found new homes which works out to a sold percentage of just about 29 % . Nothing in the way of any upside surprises either. This is based on results posted by “Liveauctioneers”which is not the most reliable count by any means but still looks like this was fairly close to a major short fall for Udo and staff. However as in the past the rug dept. could work the phones in the next few days and pump up the sales total a bit , but this is still a fairly poor showing.
Like I mentioned in the earlier post this felt like a house cleaning / beginning collectors style inventory but inexpensive items had been moving in some of the previous auctions this spring so I thought it might turn out a little more positive for the Austria Auction Co. Rug dept. but maybe there is “TO” much mid- to low end merchandise being dumped into to the European rug market ?
The large selection of mediocre Turkmen items in the offering were particularly weak !
Oh , well that’s the way it goes sometimes so back to the well beaten drawing board for Mr Langauer and crew . Better Luck next time !
Concerning the lot I “questioned” in the earlier post , lot# 14 , Shahsevan Soumak bag , pre- sale est. € 12-14,000.00 , as i expected it failed to attracted any buyer interest and went unsold . It did however create plenty of pre- sale chatter as to the questionable age and origin of the piece which with that and the fairly aggressive pre- sale estimate certainly could have contributed to it not selling !
Out of town visitors and commerce .
5/1/16
Quiet , May Day , quiet !
Buyer beware is certainly alive and well in the auction realm these days ! , Sheik Frederich , 2016.
Song o the week , Death Angel , ” Hatred United / United Hate ” on The Evil Divide , 2016 .
Read More