10/17/16 Bloviating Ignoramus bloom on the Left !
10/17/16
Rain in So Cal , who’d a thunk it ?
One small piece of fresh interesting rug world news .
On Oct. 15th Nadeau’s Auction Gallery , Windsor , Conn. held a general antique auction that featured one piece i thought was mildly intriguing.
Lot # 430 Caucasian prayer rug ( 2’4″ x 4’3″ ) , pre- sale est. $ 250- 450.00 , sold for $1,200.00 . Not Particularly important but very charmimg with a compelling design layout .
10/18/16
Out of town visitors .
Christie’s , London held their “major ” fall rug and carpet auction today and from the posted results it was only a modestly successful venture for them . Out of the 157 total lots offered for purchase only 79 found new homes . A sold percentage of right at 50 % . Not a disaster but certainly something of a disappointment for Ms Broadhurst and the Christie’s rug dept. As I stated in the previous post I didn’t think highly of the sale inventory but I did feel it would have turned out a little more on the positive side , but it did however what it did . Without any clear cut top shelf items in the group there was nothing to make it anymore than another decent but somewhat boring rug sale ! One thing worth mentioning the Chinese pieces included in the sale continued to sell well .
As for the two items I featured in an earlier post one sold one did not.
Lot # 78 , Tabriz pictorial rug . Pre-sale estimate , £ 2,5-3,500.00 ended up fetching £ 4,375.00 . Slightly over the high estimate so someone out there must have eclectic taste like yours truly.
Lot # 90 Khotan cpt. Pre-sale estimate £ 40-60,000.00 went unsold . Condition , restoration issues ?
Another minor piece of rug market news .
Sotheby’s , NYC held a general antique auction titled “Collection’s” today that featured 19 rugs , carpets and 5 classic tapestries . Not a big deal but 3 of the 5 tapestries sold and 12 of the 19 rugs and carpets . Nothing really , but better than nothing !
10/19/16
Just got a very nice hardcover copy of the “Rudnick Coll.” catalog from Mr Grogan . If you can get your hands on a copy well worth having . Thanks , M.G !
Holding pattern but not for long ……
10/20/16
Quiet before the storm .
10/21/16
About time to begin !
One eye on Skinner’s and one eye on the ART’s opening . Who will prevail ? We will know shortly .
12 noon , Cali time . Well the online sale at Skinner’s is just wrapping up and they are in the process of tallying up the items that sold so far but bids are still tricklingly in. At this point it’s to soon to make a count but if the “winning bids” are correct some of this stuff sold very reasonable.
So here we go . Out of the 424 total lots offered up for purchase 296 ended finding new homes . A sold percentage of right at 70%. Not bad , not bad at all considering the modest overall quality of the sale inventory. Like I said in the earlier post without a true first class collectors item to draw attention to the sale there’s plenty of other competition available to drain funds from the buying public and take sales away from Skinner’s .
As for the sale itself Kashmir / Paisley shawls were still popular but because there were so many in the offering they were not quite as strong as in the last 2 sales and a number of them went unsold. The Chinese items included in the group sold well as that part of the rug market has been unusually strong lately .There were also a hand full of upside pops , nothing drastic but still nice for the consigner’s .
Two pieces in particular that preformed well were lot #’s 79 and 80 , complete tentbands and they did quite nicely for the same consigner .
Lot # 79 Tekke Tentband , pre-sale est. $ 3-4,000.00 , sold for $ 8,000.00 .
Lot # 80 Yomut Tentband , pre-sale est. $ 3-4,000.00 , sold for $ 9,000.00 .
That’s about it as far as highlights go , in my opinion .
Another reasonable performance by Mr Kearney and the rug dept. at Skinners.
Something else worth mentioning , Skinners’s appears to have reopened the online bidding on the unsold lots , smart or ?
On to ART’s at opening 2 pm !
Updates should be forth coming.
First reports back from ART’s , limited action and not much in the way of notable items turning up .
10/22/16
Skinner’s update , it appears 2 more lots have sold which brings the total up to 298 ! Insignificant but still a minor positive move .
10/23/16
Out of town visitors and commerce .
Grogan’s general antique auction featuring 13 rugs and textiles is under way but it will be awhile before the rugs are sold at the tail end of the sale , of course !
The rug and carpet portion of the Grogan sale just finished up and for a modest size offering it was a modest size return for M.G. and staff . Out of the 13 items offered 9 ended up selling . Good but not great . The Caucasians in the sale were a little on the weak side as far as selling goes and the lots with the higher pre-sale estimates met with resistance. Other than that nothing out of the ordinary to report . So that’s that, now on the the Rudnick Coll. sale on Nov.20th. and certainly a more interesting outcome !
Unfortunately , sometimes a fight is what it takes to set things straight ! , Sheik Frederich, 2016..
Song o the week, Mother Love Bone , Stardog Champion , on Mother Love Bone , 1992 .
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10/10/16 Beware of the frumpy , demonic Schoolmarm !
10/10/16
Another slow start to the new week with just one small piece of fresh rug market news up to this point . But never fear , things are about to heat up in a substantial way !
Christie’s,NYC held their “Opulence” sale today and from a rug and carpet standpoint it went reasonably well for them . Out of the 39 lots run over the podium 23 items ended up selling . This works out to a sold percentage of right at 60 % . Nothing in the way of upside surprises as most of the weavings that sold were within their pre- sale ranges. It was however a fairly small group so not anything to get excited about . Just a job nicely done by Ms Parker and the Christie’s rug dept.
As for the piece I featured in an earlier post it did end up finding a new home .
Lot # 183 Khorassan “shrub” carpet fragment . Pre- sale est. a wide $15-30,000.00 ended up selling for $22,500.00 . Right in the zone so no surprise there but I did feel this carpet may do somewhat better !
10/11/16
Hells bells nature never fails !
Finally a sale worth blogging about.
Groganco, Boston , Ma is staging an auction of the “R.& M. Rudnick” rug collection on Nov. 20th .
So what we have to fire up your collecting appetite is 100 total lots of rugs , various flat weaves , textile items and 7 groups of rug and textile books. The Rudnicks are a very well known collecting couple who assembled this collection over a 30+ year period, at least . The bulk of the collection consist mostly of Caucasian pieces with a few other items from other weaving areas tossed so it will appeal to pretty much every rug enthusiast out there . There are a number of fairly well known , standout items in the collection that if you have been around the rug collecting world for awhile you will recognize. As is the normal M.O. with a Grogan production M.G. has for the most part kept the pre- sale estimates on the realistic side so if your serious but with a limited budget you can at least have a initial chance , however on the star pieces things could get intense . One more interesting thing worth noting, the year they acquired the piece and who they got it from is in every lot description . Most all from well known dealers !
This auction may well turn out to be the most absorbing from a collectors standpoint of the fall / winter 2016 season !
Two pieces that caught my eye are posted below.
Lot # 20, South Caucasian fragment. Pre- sale est. $ 4-6,000.00 . I have always been partial to this design and it looks to be a very representative example .
Lot. # 55, South Caucasian prayer rug. Pre-sale est. $ 20-30,000. A scarce and well known piece that could turn out to be the high water mark in the sale , if the right people get involved. And a lucky lot number to boot !
10/12/16
Two weeks till NYC !
10/13/16
10/14/16
7 days till the ART’s opening !
How early are you gonna get there ?
10/15/16
10/16/16
Quiet end to the week without much to write about but things will pick up shortly .
The ides of October are upon us and there is no way of preparing for them or predicting the outcome ! Sheik Frederich, 2016 .
Song o the week , Dark Tranquility, Atoma on Atoma ,2016 .
Read More9/28/16 Tomorrow is here today !
9/28/16
Quiet !
9/29/16
Christie’s , NYC has scheduled a general antique auction on Oct. 18th titled “Collections” that features 5 “classic” tapestries and 19 various decorative rugs and carpets . Nothing in the group for serious collectors but if your a decorator there may be something for you .
9/30/16
Not of importance to the rug world but still part of the textile realm , Sotheby’s , London also has a sale scheduled on Oct. 26th titled “Collection’s” that includes 11 “classic” tapestries . Again not my cup of tea but a couple of them look kind of interesting so if that’s your area of accumulation its worth a moment of your time to take a quick look.
10/1/16
Out of town visitors!
One fresh and intriguing piece of rugdumb news .
Circa Auction Gallery of Providence R.I. held a general antique sale on Sept. 11th , ( ? ) that included one silk Chinese rug worth a line.
Chinese carpet ( approx 6×9 ? ) with a pre- sale est. of $6-12,000.00 which ended up selling for $ 54,000.00 , all in. Don’t know who continues to buy these somewhat unappealing items but the market for them stands strong !
10/2/16
And next up one of the more anticipated events of the season !
Christie’s , London’s “major” fall rug and carpet sale scheduled on Oct. 18th is now live ” on the line” for your viewing consumption.
So what we have is 157 total lots of rugs , carpets and flat weaves from most all the major weaving areas .
After a half dozen passes through the sale inventory I have to say I am a little underwhelmed . I really did expect this group to include a couple of scarce and desirable top shelf items to fire up the rug collecting universe but alas not this time around. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of good to better pieces in the sale just nothing at all in the way of a true screamer . Definitely nothing for the Turkmen enthusiast. I am sure there are folks out there that may think I am being too critical of the assortment but something in the way of a barn burner of any type would have been nice . Yes , i am also aware that caliber of piece is elusive to come by but it sure would have been cool to give the collectors out there something to belly ache about . We can just hope that Ms Broadhurst and Mr French will have better luck down the road !
All that aside I did notice a couple of lots worth a line or two.
The abominable snow mans younger brother !
Lot # 78 , Tabriz pictorial rug . Pre- sale est. £ 2,5-3,500.00 . Strange , unusual and something no one needs buts still kinda appealing !
Lot # 90 , Khotan carpet , 18th century ? Pre-sale est. £ 40-60,000.00 . In my opinion one of the better pieces in the group if the condition is up to speed .
10/3/16
10/4/16
Kick the tires and light the fires kiddies , next up we have Sotheby’s , London’s Nov. 1st ‘major” sale hot on the heals of the Christie’s announcement .
Sotheby’s has come up with 156 lots of rugs carpets and textiles to tempt your mind and of course e wallet , this time out .
Let’s see where to start , where to begin on this one .
After multiple passes through the inventory my impression is this . In my mind this sale is slightly more interesting to the collectors eye than the Christie’s sale . Don’t be alarmed it’s only my opinion , nothing else . Still it seems a little more of a varied hodgepodge. Like the Christie’s endeavor this sale includes a good mishmash of better pieces but again as with the Christie’s group nothing in the way of a real standout collectors item to get the rug world wire buzzing . As usual with a Sotheby’s , London sale this inventory is anchored with a substantial inventory of Persian & Tukish city pieces in good condition geared toward the European retail trade. However the mid range collectors items included are to my taste a little more absorbing than the Christie’s group but nothing truly exciting . Unfortunately still nothing in the way of an even modestly noteworthy Turkmen item , where have they all gone ? Perhaps the Sotheby’s rug dept. will be the ones that come up with a Turkmen of note , first ?
After all that there are a couple of items I felt interesting enough to mention .
Lot # 81, Ninghsia mat , 18th century . Pre-sale set. £ 5-7,000.00 . Scarce and if the condition is decent a reasonable starting point .
Lot # 103, Ghiordes rug ,.pre-sale est. £ 8-10,000.00 . Unsual and with a somewhat aggressive starting point but as always it’s not where you start it’s where you finish.
10/5/16
Bonham’s , London has a sale titled “Islamic and Indian Art ” scheduled on Oct. 18th that features a group of textiles from Turkey , India and other areas of the east . Nothing as far as rugs or carpets are concerned but if velvet items , ikats , susani’s and the like are your area of interest it’s worth your time to peruse the inventory .
10/7/16
Hold your horses and gather your thoughts it only 14 days till ART’s , S.F. The suspense and anticipation build !
10/8/16
Very quiet !
What have we here ?
Skinner’s, Boston , Ma. is now live “on the line” with their “major” rug and carpet sale scheduled on Oct. 21st. so let’s just see how Mr Kearney and the rug dept. stack up against the competition.
For starters this is a fairly substantial undertaking by the Skinner’s rug dept clocking in at 424 total lots of all manner of hand loomed pieces . Looks like they are trying to make for the lack of top shelf items with quantity and lower priced items. As it’s been with Skinner’s past sales nothing much in the way of a standout example in the whole group . That’s not saying there aren’t some intriguing pieces in the inventory just not much you would want to consider to be at the high end . They are however keeping on track with their past few sales and including a large selection of Kashmir or Paisley type shawls so if this is “your thing ” this may certainly be your opportunity . There are also plenty of beginner style collectors pieces with varying degrees of condition issues which should keep the costs in line if your on a budget. So with this many pieces in one place at one time it’s worth everyones time to take quick look !
10/9/16
Early morning road trip . Thenout of town visitor . And commerce !
You can’t blame a compass for always pointing North ? , Sheik Frederich, 2016.
Song o the week , “latest 2 fer” You decide !
The Yardbirds , Shapes of Things on “The Yardbirds Story” ,1966 .
Gary Moore , Shapes of Things on We Want Moore , 1984 .
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