10/22/18 , Catherine Tramell and the Sins of our Nation !

10/22/18

10/23/18

After a brief delay the English version of the upcoming “Rippon Boswell” fall major rug auction scheduled on Nov. 17th is up “on the line” for you to peruse and digest . This time out Mr Maltzahn has assembled a fairly eclectic selection of 273 lots with items from almost all of the popular weaving areas being well represented. The group is a little heavy on Turkish items with the Bohmer coll. group and another large selection of Turkish pieces from another collection. Turkmen , Caucasian , textiles and for a change Baluch items are also out in full force but the Chinese / East Turkestan group seems to be a little on the weak side considering the strong selection in some of the other recent earlier sales .

So after multiple passes through the sale inventory i am left feeling this is a good but not necessarily great assortment . As usual there is a smattering of high end pieces ( susani’s and South Persian) , plenty of better mid- range and of course some filler items but no real top shelf , barn burner item to light up the the Rug- Mob network !

Still an admirable job done by the R.B.rug dept. at a time when great pieces are hard to come by . It should turnout pretty well for them ,

Good Luck!

With that said a couple of lots that caught my eye are posted below .

Lot # 49 , Ersari ensi . Pre- sale estimate € 2-400.00 . My favorite piece in the sale . It should do well .

Lot # 226 Karachov Kazak . pre-sale estimate € 13-1,800.00 . A very good example , again in poor condition but listed accordingly .

10/24/18

Next up , Sotheby’s , London just concluded their “Arts of the Islamic World” today and as far as i can see it turned out to be a fairly successful venture for them with more than a handful of lots breaching the £ 100,000.00 level and one really taking off .

Lot # 134 , Blue and White “Iznik” Charger , circa 1480 . Pre- sale estimate £3-500,000.00 . Sold for a magnificent £ 5,359,950.00.

The lot i featured in the 10 / 8 post lot # 133 , “Ottoman” velvet “Cintamani” pattern fragment pre-sale est. £ 20-30,000.00. sold for an impressive £ 68,750.00 . I thought the condition might hold this piece back a bit , but i guess not .

All in , a nice production posted by the Sotheby’s Islamic Dept. !

10/25/18

Christie’s , London’s Arts of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including carpets just wrapped up and from a rug and carpet standpoint it turned out to be reasonably prosperous for them .

Concerning the overall sale , they also had a few lots pop over £ 100,000.00 mark but not quite up to the turn of events at yesterdays sale at Sotheby’s .

First let me say the textile selection was very weak with only approximately 10 out of 29 offered selling . None of the susani’s were particularly interesting but they all sold .

As for the rug and carpet selection if faired much better , however one thing worth noting .

None of the 3 “Lotto” carpets found new homes. Around the track once to often , perhaps ?

Out of the 104 total lots of rugs and carpets offered approximately 66 traded hands for a sold percentage of right at 63% .

Not great , but not bad either .

As you would expect the Konig coll. items had a pretty good showing with only perhaps 2 not selling .

Nothing else in the rest of sale inventory seemed strong and there were no notable upside pops . Seems to me maybe the Caucasian items in the group were a little on the weak side but then they were also a little of the ordinary variety !

That said we have to give props to Ms Broadhurst and staff for a passable job at the tail end of the fall season !

The lots i featured in the previous review all sold but with mixed results.

Lot # 217 , Iznik “Cintamani” pattern tile . Pre- sale est. £ 30-50,000.00 . Sold for an outstanding and well deserved , £ 218,750.00 , As i stated in my previous post my favorite piece in the whole sale !

Lot # 230 , Ottoman embroidered panel . Pre- sale est. £ 10-15,000.00 . Sold for slightly over the high estimate at £ 21,250.00 . A decent pop but nothing to get excited about .

Lot # 286 , Khotan frag. Pre- sale est. £ 3-5,000.00 . Sold for £ 3,500.00 .

Lot # 324 , Silk Farahan prayer rug . Pre-sale est. £ 4-6,000.00 . Sold for £ 5,250.00 . In the zone no surprise here !

10/26/18

And Friday !

10/27/18

10/28/18

Parting shot to end the week !

Henry’s .de , Mutterstadt, Germany has another rug auction scheduled on Dec. 8th . No details yet but their last sale did far better than i expected .

Riley Rules !

Dog o the week ,

Out of the darkness and into the “write” the world today will survive and prosper ! , Sheik Frederich , 2018.

Shitty movie o the week , Murder on the Orient Expresss , 2017 . 3.5 poopsickles out of 5 . Not really bad but considering the cast a something of a let down that drags a bit in comparison to the original version .

Movie o the week ,

Song o the week , Burning Witches , Executed on Hexenhammer , 2018.

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Follow me

10/15/18 Home sweet home in Raccoon City !

10/15/18

This looks to be a slow week in “Rug-Dumb” till Sunday and the eagerly awaited Skinner’s sale featuring the first portion of the “Ronnie Newman coll.”.

10/16/18

10/17/18

10/18/18

TGIF !!!!!

10/19/18

10/20/18

10/21/18

Sale day , 12 noon in Beantown , so here we go.

9am in Costa Mesa , Ca .

The sale is underway and as i figured the R.N. items are garnering plenty of upside attention but the other lots are preforming as you would expect , selling but no big surprises so far .

Up to this point some of the R.N. lots worth noting are numbers 10, 52, 60, ,64 , 77, 139 , 142 and 163 with more upside action to come , i would imagine .

Here are a few more 2nd half highlights with #’s 172 , 174, ,209 and 269 jumping in the pool to spice things up !

As the sale is progressing the Skinner’s lots sans the Newman Coll. are having a modest bit of “upside popping” success , nothing major but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick .

Note lot numbers , 65 , 114 , 115 ,

late update , However as the sale concludes thats about it .

As for the overall sale itself i am only showing a handful of passed lots. Skinner’s 11 passed , R.N. passed 2 so for the time being L.K. and the Skinner’s rug dept. have a very successful production on their hands .

Nothing much in the way of upside fireworks as the offering winds down after lot # 269.

The sale finished up with only approximately 27 Skinner’s lots and 2 R.N. items not finding new homes. A sold percentage of just over 90 % . A very positive outcome for Mr Kearny & Co.

Something else in the way of an observation .

The bulk of the unsold Skinner’s lots were mediocre Persian city pieces , if it matters ?

As a parting shot i would say this sale for the most part lived up to the hype and is a very positive outcome for Mr Newman’s account but even with the price pops i wonder he would be happy with the outcome , NOT !

As for the lots i featured in the 10/1/18 post , all sold well , as you would surmise !

Lot # 42 , Yomut juval . Pre-sale estimate $ 8-1,000.00 , sold for $ 1,722.00 . Over the high pre- sale estimate but i thought it would do much better . Looks like someone got a pretty good deal , in my opinion .

Lot # 55 , Ningshia mat . Pre-sale estimate $ 2-3,000.00 . Sold for $7,995.00 . Again , well over the high est. but i thought it to would do better .

Lot # 140 , Chinese silk saddle cover . Pre- sale estimate $ 4-5,000.00 . Sold for a well deserved $ 39,360.00 and the high water mark of the whole auction and deservedly so !

Lot # 151 , Ningshia mat . Pre-sale estimate $ 1-2,000.00 . Sold for $ 7,380.00 . A pretty good purchase for the new owner !

Lot # 197 , Saryk juval . Pre- sale estimate $ 1-2,000.00 . Sold for $ $ 24,600.00 . And worth EVERY penny ! A real winner !

Next up pt.2 of the R.N. Coll. on Dec. 9th.

Back on the road !

Dog o the week .

In the world today you can’t teach a monkey to dance ? , Sheik Frederich , 2018.

Shitty movie o the week , The Wolfman , 2010 . Great cast , what a waste of talent !

Movie o the week , The Foreigner , 2017 . One of the very best Jackie Chan movies , in my humble opinion !

Song o the week , Doro , Be Strong on Forever Warriors // Forever United , 2018 .

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Follow me

10/8/18 Make no mistake Dimi’s have no soul !

10/8/18

To start the new week we have a little more fall auction activity .

Sotheby’s , London’s , “Arts of the Islamic World “ scheduled on Oct. 24th is a-live and “kickin” now .

To start with the sale features 255 total lots of all types of Islamic items but nothing in the way of oriental rugs and carpets . There are a few textile lots of which i though only one was worth mentioning and reviewed below.

Other than that , unless your interested in Islamic art objects this sale is not for you , that is unless you just have to see everything .

Lot # 133 , Ottoman Velvet “Cintamani” pattern velvet fragment . Pre- sale est. £ 20-30,000.00 . Decent condition and fairly scarce item but not a particularly inexpensive starting point , in my opinion !

10/9/18

10/10/18

10/11/18

Next up another Sotheby’s , London update , the big one !

Their fall major rug and carpet production is up and visible now for your “Rug-Mob” viewing experience ?

Well lets just see where we will start on this one .

The sale is compromised of 164 lots of a decent but not comprehensive selection of pieces from most of the popular weaving areas . Heavy on Chinese / Khotan pieces (21) and “classic type items , some notable , some not so much .

Nevertheless the sale is woefully weak on anything in the way of Turkmen , Baluch or collectable South Persian items . There are however plenty of Persian city pieces and roomsize carpets for the dealer , decorator crowd .

After multiple pass’s through the auction inventory i am left with the feeling there is just not that much that really appeals to my collecting taste . No , i am not saying this isn’t an admirable selection with a nice assortment of better pieces , just lacking in things i would want to own.

After all’s said and done Ms Coulter and the Sotheby’s , London Rug Dept. in a rug market that finds good , fresh pieces hard to come by have assembled a fairly impressive line up of pieces that should do well.

Good Luck to them !

A few items that did give me pause are featured below .

Lot # 6 , Oushak cloudband frag . Pre-sale est. £ 20- 30,000.00 . Awesome colors !

Lot # 78 , Karabaugh Embroidery . Pre-sale est. £ 8-12,000.00 . Not the very best but still scarce with interesting provenance .

Lot # 107 , Kazak rug . Pre -sale est. £ 20-30,000.00 . A very snappy item but possibly out of fashion these days , still my favorite item of the whole offering .

10/12/18

10/13/18

Last but not least .

Pt. 2 of the Ronnie Newman Coll. is now scheduled on Dec 9th 2018. Based on Pt. 1 this should be as good or better .

10/14/18

Sunday shine !

Dog o the week !

S.J.W. may just be real A- Holes and would not know justice if they stepped in it. Sheik Frederich, 2018.

Shitty movie o the week , Basic Instinct 2 , 2006 . Basic Instinct 1 was a decent movie but 2 is just a big payday for S.S. In my opinion.

Movie o the week , Chef , 2014.

Song o the week , Burning Witches , Hexenhammer on Hexenhammer , 2018.

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Follow me

10/1/18 Thin is in ! And don’t you forget it ,!!!

10/1/18

Tragic news to start the week !

Via con Dios , Famed French vocalist Charles Aznavour passed away today at the age of 94 . An international legend , he will certainly be missed by anyone who appreciates music , but fear not sir , your legacy in the arts world will live on !

10/2/18

Next up on the 2018 fall rug auction calendar , Christie’s , London’s , “Arts of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Oriental Rugs and Carpets” is live “ on the line” now for your viewing pleasure .The sale features 382 total lots of which include approximately 29 textiles and susani’s and 104 rugs and carpets .

So after multiple passes through the sale inventory it appears to be a reasonably diverse group with East Turkestan (H. Konig coll. items ) and Persian city items well represented but being “very” weak on notable Turkmen pieces .

There are also 3 classic Lotto carpets one of which ( lot# 307 ) is the piece i featured in the blog on 7//17/17 which sold at the “Leslie Hindman Auction Gallery” in Chicago , Ill. Listed at the “Hindman” sale as Caucasian with a pre-sale estimate of $3-500.00 it did much better ! Check the blog post , all the details are there .

As for the textiles and susani’s there are some better pieces but nothing that really peaked my interest .

All that said and done in a time when good , fresh , items are hard to come by for everyone Ms Broadhurst and the Christie’s rug dept. did a pretty good job assembling this selection . Not much in the way of things i would want but still a fairly wide-ranging assortment .

So here you go with a few pieces that caught my and i thought were at least moderately noteworthy are posted below.

Lot # 217 , Iznik Cintamani tile . Pre-sale estimate £ 30-50,000.00 . Not a rug but still my favorite piece in the whole sale !

Lot # 230 , Ottoman quilt panel . Pre- sale estimate £ 10-15,000.00 . Yes , i said the textile selection was uninteresting but this one grew on me ?

Lot # 286 , Khotan frag . Pre-sale estimate £3-5000.00 . A very reasonable pre-sale est. considering it’s a Konig piece and a fairly scarce design but as always it’s not where you start is’s where you finish !

Lot # 324 , Silk Farahan rug . Pre-sale estimate £ 4-6,000.00 . Gaudy to the point that it’s kinda cool !

10/3/18

10/4/18

Now for the one you have all been waiting for !

Skinner’s , Boston , Ma. , Oct. 21st , fall rug, carpet and textile spectacular featuring Pt.1 of the “Ronnie Newman” coll.is up and running on the Skinner’s website . The sale includes 330 total lots of as usual a wide selection from all major rug and textile weaving areas . Pt.1 of the R.Newman Coll. features approximately 135+ lots and it is certainly the highlight of the entire sale . The rest of the items are standard Skinner’s type pieces with unfortunately nothing to get excited about . Yes , there are some better things but nothing that truly stands out .

One thing that does standout about sale is the very conservative and reasonable pre-sale estimates on the Newman Coll. items . How L.K. pulled this one off is not known but it will certainly lead to plenty of competion on those particular pieces .

Up to this point this is the high water mark of the fall, 2018 auction season , but as always things could change !

Kudos to L.K. and Skinner’s for the realistic buying opportunity but it’s still not where you start , as always it’s where you finish !

As you would surmise there are plenty of stellar lots in this sale inventory . I can’t post everything i liked but a few i kept going back to are featured below .