Did we win at Doyle's auction Feb. 24th?

Doyle's had the Belle Epoque auction today and we had bid on two items.

We bid on this painting attributed to  Francis Davis Millet who painted at the end of the 19th century, and died on the Titanic. The painting is supposed to be of his wife. The painting has some condition issues that were noted in the catalogue. Thus we bid under the low estimate. This one was for me because I found her very intriguing and love her direct gaze. My husband was not as interested.

 

Francis Davis Millet. Est. $1,500 - $2,500

We won this one, and under the low end! This will hang in my new home office at the house we're building. I will really enjoy having her gaze over me every day.

The other item we bid on was this console table and mirror. 

 

  Art Deco Iron Console Table and Mirror Est. $800 - $1,200

We were not successful on this. We put in a bid above the high end of the estimate range but it went for $4,000 ($5,000 with the premiums added on). This is disappointing, but one needs to set limits!

One of the other pieces we admired that I'd profiled on the blog on this auction was this very interesting bronze hanging cabinet. We didn't bid on it, and we would have missed it by a mile. 

 

    Charles Parker Co. Aesthetic Movement Cabinet Est. $1,000 - $1,500

This sold for $8,500 ($10,625 with the premiums)! It really was a cool piece and I guess some others thought so as well!

This vase that was in my blog went for a steal in my view. It was as lovely in person as in the photo.

 

Art Nouveau Vase Est. $500 - $700

This went for $350 ($438 with premiums). 

I always find it very instructive to look through the auction results on line. It's part of the constant education on pricing. That said, each auction is a dynamic of the specific people bidding, and a competition between two people can drive a price up.

March Auction Schedule

The winter has been punishing with all the snow, and always seems long by March. The auction schedule this month is terrific and will provide some respite to the weather. I have some high and low choices below and different styles, so there should be something for everybody, even if only doing some web surfing of on-line catalogues.

Doyle Auctions, New York
http://www.doylenewyork.com/asp/schedule.asp

• March 10: Doyle @Home. Preview March 6 - 9. This is the 'decorating' auction, and often has good finds.

• March 22: Asian Works of Art. Preview March 19 - 21. This falls in to the category of a more specialized auction with many of the items well beyond our price range. We love Asian art and will go to look, but there will be many bidders with a lot more knowledge to 'invest' than us. 

 

Doyle: Sino-Tibetan Buddha Est. $5,000 - $7,000

Bonhams New York
http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=USA&screen=index

Bonhams has a good presence in San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as I'll give an example of upcoming auction in San Francisco below. 

• March 10 (New York): Africa Now: African Modern and Contemporary Art. Previews March 5 - 10. This also looks like a specialists auction, but very interesting. We just don't know anything about the contemporary African art and would be out of our depth to bid given the prices in the catalogue. We'll go to enjoy and learn more about contemporary African art and artists. 

Bonhams: Muraina Oyelami Est. $2,000 - $3,000

•  March 16 (San Francisco): Asian Works of Art. Preview March 12 - 14.
  

Swann Galleries, New York
http://www.swanngalleries.com/scripts/schedule2.cgi?type=schedule

• March 9: 19th and 20th Century Prints and Drawings. Preview March 4 - 8. No on-line catalogue available yet. 

• March 23: Fine Photographs. Preview March 18 - 23. 

Tepper Galleries, New York
http://www.teppergalleries.com/ 

• March 12 and 13: Estate Auction. Preview March 10 and 11. We have not yet been to this auction house, but it was recommended by a friend who has bought items to decorate her apartment in the past. She tells us it's a lower end auction, and we'll make a point of checking it out. The upcoming estate auction has no detail on line as yet. 
  

Stair Galleries, Hudson, NY

http://stairgalleries.com/

• March 12: Exposition auction: Modernism - 20th Century and Contemporary Furniture, Decorations and Fine Art. Preview March 5 -12. The last 'Exposition' auction we placed a bid for some items was just in February. There were a lot of good deals. We'll make a point of going to this one, and maybe in person to the auction!

 

Copake Auction, Copake, NY

http://www.copakeauction.com/index.html 

• March 6: Unreserved Catalogued Estate Sale. Preview March 4 - 6. We heard about Copake Auctions from a friend who's been following my blog. He says it's pretty low end and often the items don't look quite as good in person as on-line, but we have to try it. They seem to have interesting things and very good prices. 

New Orleans Auction/St. Charles Gallery
http://www.stcharlesgallery.com/

• March 20 - 21: Estate Auction. There are no details on this as yet, but we've had good luck with New Orleans Auction, and they will provide condition reports if you are interested in something. We bought a few things remotely and have been happy so far.We'll check their web site closer to the date to see what they have.

Christie's New York
http://www.christies.com/calendar/?month=3&year=2010

Christie's has almost too many auctions to list. The link above will take you to the March calendar.  I'll just note the next Interiors sale because it's the more affordable offering. The others would be fun to go to for art and education!

• March 2 and 3: Christie's Interiors. Preview February 26 - March 3. This is another of their lower end 'decorating' sales. The last one we went to had some very interesting things and we know that several that we'd looked at went for less than the low estimate. So, it's time to go again and see what they have!

 

 Christie's: Bernard Cathelin $800 - $1,200

Sotheby's New York

http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/event/EventSearchResults.jsp

This is the link to the Sotheby's New York March calendar. They have seven auctions going on in March ranging from Contemporary art to Chinese, Indian, and Impressionists. Just to pick one that might be fun:

• March 17: Important 20th century Design. Preview March 12 - 16.  This looks to have a great selection of 20th century furniture and lighting with prices to match!

 

Sotheby's: Louis Marjorelle Desk Est. $9,000 - $12,000

Wright Auctions, Chicago

http://www.wright20.com/ 

We have developed an interest in mid-century modern art, decoration and furniture. I had seen Wright auctions mentioned a number of times in decorating magazines, and look at the web site periodically. They are well known in the mid-century market. I have used it more as an education on specific designers and pricing by reviewing past auction results. Always interesting things to look at if this is an area of interest for you.

• March 23: Modern Design. Preview 15 - 24 March. On-line catalogue not yet available.It would be interesting to compare with the Sotheby's one noted above.

Philips de Pury, New York
http://www.phillipsdepury.com/auctions.aspx?sn=NY010010

• March 4: Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Preview Feb. 27 - March 4. This is definitely not up my alley, but going to the previews can be fun people watching and a great view of the High Line.

 

Philips de Pury: George Condo, Est. $80,000 - $120,000

There's a lot going on in March, and we'll need to be selective on where we go. There just isn't enough time in the day! We'll at least take a look at the catalogues on-line even if we can't go in person.

Doyle's and Swann visits this weekend

We visited Swann Galleries for the preview of African-American Fine Art. We saw paintings we liked, but most were out of our price range. I think this is a market requiring more knowledge than we have just yet before contemplating a bid.

We did make an outing of our trip to the Faltiron district and had lunch at a very good Greek restaurant, Kellari Parea Bistro, which we would recommend.

http://www.kellari-parea.com/

We went to Doyle's twice this weekend There was a good range of furniture, paintings, and decorative objects. As is often the case, some items look better or worse in person. One art nouveau cabinet that I profiled in a previous blog entry was disappointing in person. It just didn't look that well made.

Because there were a number of things we liked, the second visit was to finalize what we would bid on. We placed our absentee bids on two items. I will be deliberately vague until after the auction!

We bid under the low estimate on a painting that I like very much, but don't want to pay as much as the estimate range. The artist is a known American painter who worked at the turn of the 19th century. I googled him which turned up a Wikipedia entry and a fair amount of photos of his paintings. An interesting side fact is that he died on the Titanic.

There was a piece of furniture we also liked very much and we bid well above the high end of the range. We will have to wait and see if others like it as well as we do! I hope not. The auction is this Wednesday.

Books I've found helpful with Auction Decorating

I've added a book list to the blog of books that I've found to inspire, give guidance or be resources when needed. The list will be on the side panel of the blog, but a brief review of the first ones to make it to the list. Many are a bit old and you may find that you have to buy them used on Amazon. I got one of them recently for under $3.00 (the shipping was as much).

• 'Antiques for Today's Interiors' by Genevieve Weaver and Helen Chislett. Genevieve Weaver is an owner of Guinevere Antiques in London. The shop always have very interesting and sometime quirky, unique pieces. I find the book full of ideas of how to decorate your home with antiques and unusual objects. 

•  'Caring for Your Collections' is an essential resource guide for preserving and protecting art, furniture and collectibles of all descriptions. So when you buy that table with the water stain or the veneer problem, this book will help you find the way to fix it. 

•  'Decorating with Pictures: Collecting Art and Photography and Displaying It in Your Home', by Stephanie Hoppen. I connected immediately with the author who also hates bare walls! She approaches collecting from the stand point of buying what you like rather than trying to 'invest'. She's my kind of girl when she says at the beginning 'Rules are meant to be broken.' The book is mostly a primer on how to approach collecting, with fewer pages on framing and displaying. But there are lots of pictures to give inspiration.

•  'Displaying Pictures and Photographs', by Caroline Clifton-Mogg and Piers Feetham. This book's focus is on the art of display. This include framing, arranging and lighting, all of which can enhance any work of art. 

• 'Irreplaceable Artifacts: Decorating the Home with Architectural Ornament', by Evan and Leslie Blum.  I have always liked decorating with architectural or ornamental salvage. We recently bought a set of deco styled window grills at auction with that in mind. This book has lots of ideas, and the authors have a store in Manhattan - The Demolition Depot on East 125th Street - that we've been to a few times. 

• Learning to See: Bringing the World Around You Into Your Home' by Vincente Wolf. Wolf is a well known decorator, but for me this book is somewhat different from the other decorator books I have on my shelves. It has lots of ideas on how you might decorate with even ordinary objects (likes shovels!). I find it full of ideas to make your house really interesting.

Another auction this weekend: Swann Galleries

I saw an ad in the paper for an upcoming auction at Swann Galleries. I had not been familiar with them so we plan to go this weekend. The next auction is of African-American Fine Art. The auction will be February 23rd and the preview began today through February 23rd at Noon. This is a link to the on-line catalogue.

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/search.asp?st=U

Admittedly we don't know very much about African-American art, but this will be a chance to start to learn, as well as check out a 'new' auction house. The prices are also a bit out of our range. I found myself drawn to this artist who has a number of paintings represented in the catalogue.

 

Swann Galleries: Romare Bearden (1911- 1988) $12,000 - $18,000

The gallery is at 104 East 25th Street so we may have a chance to try a Malaysian restaurant we've heard about - Laut, 15 East 17th Street. As always, going to an auction preview should be an event that includes lunch!

Doyles This Weekend: Belle Epoque Auction

We're quite excited by the upcoming Doyles auction titled 'Belle Epoque: 19th & 20th Century Decorative Arts'. In my opinion it's not really all strictly 'Belle Epoque', but that doesn't matter. It has lots of interesting items that will tempt us.

There are some 605 items in the auction and a wide range of  decorative items including furniture, paintings, silver, pottery and lighting.

You might have fun looking at the on-line catalogue. Not all the photos are in as yet.

Doyles on line catalogue

A few examples (and not necessarily the ones we're interested in so that you can't bid against us!).

 

      John McClure Hamilton, 1916 (?) Est. $600 - $800

If you Google the artist he lived 1853 - 1936 and was a Philadelphia resident who most of his life worked in London. His work is held by 4 American museums including the National Potrait Gallery in Washington, DC. 

        Syrian Bone and Mother of Pearl inlaid Chair: Est. $800 - $1,200

I think this is a fun conversation piece. It would be more to look at than to actually sit in, but of course you could. You would feel like royalty on a throne!

  

      Gorham Sterling Silver Pitcher: Est. $400 - $600

I think this is a very nice shape and would make a beautiful table decoration or a vase for flowers.

 Charles Parker Co, Aesthetic Movement Bronze 

      Hanging Cabinet Est. $1,000 - $1,500

I think this is really interesting looking, and would be a focal point in a room.

  

    Art Nouveau Gilt $ Enameled Vast: Est. $500 - $700

I think this is a lovely vase and one of the less expensive offerings in this category. They have quite a number of well known makers represented such as Lalique and Galle.

             Venetian Mirror: Est, $500 - $700

I love Venetian mirrors. They dress up any room. We have a reproduction one in our powder room, and bought a pair at auction with one of them in our living room.

We'll be going to the preview this weekend and it looks to be lots of fun. I'll bet we bid on something! Check out the catalogue on-line and it may give you some ideas.

Profile (1): Auction decorating

One of my step-daughters bought a mid-19th century Italianate-style house in New York State. She plans it to be her home and a bed and breakfast. She searched for the right house for a few years, and purchased furniture along the way with this in mind. This includes buying a number of items at auction. I thought several of her purchases could serve as a good profile for auction decorating.

This antique table was purchased at Doyle's in New York a year or so ago, and now serves as a focal point for the dining room. She had attended the auction preview and fell in love with the table. The blue and white decoration set the decorating scheme for the dining room (the table was temporarily out of the dining room for this photo).

 

Her only disappointment at the auction process was that she was not successful bidding on a set of chairs that went with the table. She subsequently bought chairs that go very well, in my opinion. I happen to love this table and we subsequently bought a chandelier at a local antique shop that is painted wood that will look great over this table.

She also bought this fireplace fan at Doyle's. This is an example of something she is not that happy with. She saw this only on-line and bid absentee. She says that when she saw it in person it did not meet her expectations from the on-line photo, and it needs some repairs. 

Finally, this 19th century linen press was purchased at Lots Road auctions in London. She came to visit us when we still lived in London about two years ago, and we wandered over to view the sale preview. She made a successful absentee bid, and we arranged for shipping back to the US. The shipping probably cost as much as the linen press.

 

We probably hadn't done our homework on the shipping costs before she bought this, but I'm still convinced it was not a bad deal with all costs included. I've done some quick on-line searching and have found antique linen presses ranging from $4,500 to $9,000.  Besides it's a wonderful focal point in her parlor!

I think all in all my step-daughter has found some wonderful antiques at auction to decorate her terrific old house. She loves auctions as much as we do, and she will no doubt have more opportunities to find great pieces to bid on and hopefully win the ones she wants most!