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 .
