Monthly Archives: July 2009

Setting up at the Denver Antiques Show

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Set-up at the Denver Antiques Show

Set-up at the Denver Antiques Show

I’ve never exhibited in Denver before, so I’m curious about business here.  The show is being held at the Denver Merchandise Mart on 58th Ave., off I-25.  Lia and I fly into cities where we exhibit and Bill, our employee, drives to each of the cities.  He also helps us with setting up and breaking down the shows.

Upon arriving, Bill remarked to me that one of the dealers in the show said to him “Do you think Phil will get mad at me? I have two lamps that look like Tiffany, but aren’t”. Bill replied “You’re not going to tell them they’re Tiffany, are you?” And he replied “Of course not”. I didn’t quite understand at the time, until I started to walk around the show and came upon a booth filled with over a dozen, obvious (to me), reproduction Tiffany lamps.  That’s one of the unpleasant parts of the business that I have to deal with.  I went to the show management and complained about the lamps and requested to have them removed.  The show manager visited the dealer and didn’t require the dealer to remove the lamps, but did insist that he not sell any of them, but use them for “decoration”. He was told that if he sold any of them that his contract would not be renewed for future shows. Pretty good, but not as good as requiring the lamps to be removed. After all, the show contract requires that dealers not bring reproductions.

Do I know the reason an antiques dealer fills his booth with reproductions? I can only guess at his motives but I don’t think they are benign.

Why do I complain? Two reasons. First and most important is that I eliminate unfair competition for me.  If someone believes this dealer that the lamps are original, he will be able to drastically undercut my prices.  Second is that I feel an obligation to make shows better for the public.  I want showgoers to have good experiences, so they will continue to shop at the shows.

More on Monday on the results of the show.  I’ve got no idea what to expect.  I asked some of the dealers if this was a good show and got neutral to negative answers.  So why do they continue to do this show year after year?  Are they gluttons for punishment?  Lia, my lovely wife, thinks they just don’t want me here because I’m strong competition for them.  Sounds good to me.  One of the dealers, who is a straight shooter, told me that the show has been quite good at times.  But we’re in a recession at the moment, so we’ll see.

Please visit chasenantiques.com.

If you like my blog, please recommend it to others.  Email me with your comments.  philchasen@gmail.comI

Celebrity encounters in the antiques business, part III

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Andy Griffith and Don Knotts

Andy Griffith and Don Knotts

I used to have a shop in the Manhattan Arts & Antiques Center on Second Avenue in New York City in the 1980s.  One day my wife, Lia, was in the shop.  I met her as she was leaving and I was coming into the center.  I asked if anything had happened and she replied “Some old man was looking in the shop and was interested in a lamp.”  I opened the shop and a few minutes later, Andy Griffith walked into the shop with a younger woman.  He was the old man.  My wife has never been very good at recognizing celebrities.  One day, she was talking to Eli Wallach at a show and told him he looked familiar.  She asked him if he were a relative.

Andy Griffith was interested in a small Pairpoint puffy lamp that he purchased.

Please visit chasenantiques.com.

If you like my blog, please recommend it to others.  Email me with your comments.  philchasen@gmail.com

Tiffany Favrile shades

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Tiffany 12" diam. blue Favrile shade with carved insects

Tiffany 12" diam. blue Favrile shade with carved insects

Tiffany Studios is most famous for leaded glass lamps, but they produced lamps with hand-blown shades, called Favrile glass shades.  Most of them are similar in shape (domical) and decoration (wave decoration).  They fit into harp lamps or counterbalance lamps, either in table or floor versions.  Most of the available supply are gold decorated, with green decorated shades being a bit rarer, followed by blue shades (rare) and finally red shades (extremely rare).

Occasionally the shades were blown with a flaw, such as an air bubble or an impurity.  Tiffany Studios made lemonade with these lemons, by hand-carving an insect over the defect.  The flaw would become the body of the insect.  Even though these shades were originally flawed, they are now worth a premium because of the added insect.

On rarer occasions, perfect shades were more intricately carved with leaf and vine decoration or insects.  The carving adds significant rarity and therefore, value, to them.

Tiffany 10" diameter blue Favrile shade with hand-carved dragonfly

Tiffany 10" diameter blue Favrile shade with hand-carved dragonfly

So to sum up, an undecorated shade is the least valuable, then a decorated shade.  Then comes the color, with the rarer colors worth more.  Then comes added details, like carving, adding still more value.  If one could find a red decorated shade with wheel-carving of insects, that would be something really special.  In all my experience, I’ve never seen one, but I sure would love to.

Please visit chasenantiques.com.

If you like my blog, please recommend it to others.  Email me with your comments.  philchasen@gmail.com

Celebrity encounters in the antiques business, part II

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OK, I admit it.  I’m a sucker for celebrities.  I’ve met many of them and had some amusing encounters.  Here are a couple more of them.

Kareem Adbul Jabbar

Kareem Adbul Jabbar

I used to have a shop on Madison Avenue in New York City called Chasen-Stamati Gallery in the late 1980s.  One day, Kareeem Abdul Jabbar came in.  We had lots of chandeliers in the shop that were hung high enough for most regular-sized people.  The shop was not designed for basketball players.  So I said to him “Please be careful and watch your head”.  If looks could kill!  He might have been thinking “I’ve been this tall all my adult life, you idiot.  I know to watch my head.”  I sure wish I hadn’t opened my mouth.  He was interested in an Art Nouveau marquetry wooden planter, which we didn’t have, but eventually found for him.

Steve Martin

Steve Martin

Steve Martin came into my shop one day and looked at several Handel lamps that we had.  He’s a very quiet, serious guy in person, nothing like the comedian you see on television or the movies.  He liked three Handel lamps that we had and asked if we could send them over to his apartment on Central Park West, so that his wife could see them and they could decide together.  After several days, he called back and told me that they couldn’t decide, so they wouldn’t be buying any of them.  I personally went over to his apartment to pick them up, hoping that I could persuade him to purchase at least one of them.  When I arrived, he wasn’t home, but instead, a worker let me into the apartment to pack them up.  Mr. Martin left a bottle of champagne and a note apologizing for the trouble — a gentlemanly thing to do, but again unfortunately for us, no sale.  To make matters worse, I’ve misplaced his note and haven’t been able to find it for many years.  Oh well!

More celebrities soon.

Please visit chasenantiques.com.

If you like my blog, please recommend it to others.  Email me with comments.  philchasen@gmail.com

Celebrity encounters in the antiques business, part I

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Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker

Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker

Being in the antiques business for over 30 years has allowed me ample opportunities to meet many celebrities. Some of the encounters were rather amusing, so here are a couple of them, not in any particular order.

My wife and I were exhibiting at an antique show in the New York Coliseum, (it’s since been demolished and replaced by the Time Warner Center), when Jonathan Frakes came into our booth. For those of you who don’t know him, he was Commander William T. Riker on Star Trek when Patrick Stewart was the captain, Jean-Luc Picard. Picard always referred to him as “#1”. So when he came into the booth, I called my wife and said “Look who’s here.” She came over and said “Yes?” I replied “It’s #1.” And she replied “Yes?”, totally not recognizing him, even though we watched the show regularly. I finally had to explain to her that he was Commander Riker from Star Trek. My wife was a big Trekkie and was embarrassed because she didn’t recognize him. Suddenly a big crowd gathered around a woman near him. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. As it turned out, it was his wife, Genie Francis, the actress who portrayed Laura Spencer on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital. Apparently soap stars are bigger than sci-fi stars.

brucespringsteenAnother time I was exhibiting at the Miami Beach Antiques Show at the Convention Center. The booth was empty and I was sitting and reading. A couple walked into the booth. When I looked up, I thought I recognized the gentleman, so I asked “Are you the person who I think you are?” He replied “Who do you think I am?” I said “Bruce Springsteen”. He said no, he isn’t and then a few seconds later said yes, he is, and shook my hand. He and his wife, Patti Scialfa, admired some Handel lamps that I had in the booth, but unfortunately for me, did not make any purchase.

More celebrities in my next post.

Please visit my website, chasenantiques.com.

If you like my blog, please recommend it to others.  Email me with comments.  philchasen@gmail.com

The market in Louis Icart oil paintings

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Icart oil painting "Rendezvous dans le parc"

Large Icart oil painting "Rendezvous dans le parc"

Louis Icart was a prolific artist who enjoyed great popularity during his lifetime.  He was not the typical starving artist.  His popularity was greatest in the 1920s and 1930s, during which time he came to the US to promote his works.  Wanamakers, the Philadelphia department store, was a major outlet for many of his sales.  For one special promotion, Icart drew one very large pastel of a woman for every window in the store, going all around the block.  Those drawings are still available, but difficult to find.

Icart was most famous for his etchings, but he worked in several different mediums, including pastel, watercolor and oil.  Before the big runup of prices in all things Icart during the Japanese buying frenzy of the late 1980s, original oil paintings by Icart were available for the price of a good etching, in the range of $3-5,000.   Very little was written about his oil paintings and Americans (and most of the rest of the world) didn’t seem to be very interested in them.  The Japanese recognized the opportunity and bought them with zeal.  After all, paintings are one of a kind, hand-painted by the artist, whereas etchings are limited edition, hand-signed by the artist.  The prices of Icart’s oil paintings zoomed up in price and within just a few years prices reached $250,000 for the biggest and the best.  Even standard size 13″ x 16″ paintings were selling for $40,000 each at the peak in 1989.   When the real estate boom ended in Japan in 1990, and a worldwide recession ensued, the prices of all of Icart’s works tumbled faster than they had risen, but not to the levels seen prior to the rise.  Oil paintings became available

Icart oil painting of horse racing

Icart oil painting of horse racing

in the $10-50,000 range and haven’t done much in the years since.

It won’t take much buying power to move this market because of the limited supply.  I’ve seen it happen in many other areas of collecting.  Right now there is great opportunity, but I suspect that one day, someone will recognize that and people may look back on this time as a missed opportunity.

Please visit chasenantiques.com for further information.

The ebb and flow of the market in the works of Louis Icart

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Louis Icart Two Beauties

Louis Icart Two Beauties

I’ve been dealing in the etchings and paintings of Louis Icart since the 1970s, when his works were rediscovered by the buying public. At the time, Phillips Auctioneers occupied the Rhinelander Mansion on Madison Ave. and 72nd St., in New York City. They were clever to put together several auctions exclusively with his works. Back then, auctions were mostly attended in person, so the auction house was filled to capacity with an overflow crowd. It was very exciting to attend an auction when interest was so high. The auction went fabulously well, with almost everything selling at record or near record prices. And so started the first wave of interest in Icart.

The public lost interest in Icart in the early ’80s, so prices dropped significantly. Then an exhibition of Icart etchings and paintings was assembled and exhibited in Japan. This started the next wave of activity, but this time, the action reached a fever pitch. World business was good and the Japanese, in particular, were experiencing a monster real estate boom They borrowed against the value of their holdings and went on a worldwide buying spree of unprecedented proportion. French items were high on their lists and that included Icart. Japanese buying was so frenetic that prices went through the roof. The base price for an Icart etching was $4,000, with some oil paintings reaching $250,000 at auction. His best etchings, such as Two Beauties, were selling for $55,000. These were the prices paid in US dollars. By the time the merchandise was brought back to Japan, the prices were doubled and tripled.

Unfortunately, the recession of the early ’90s popped the bubble and prices dropped dramatically, most to less than 50% of their peak prices.  After a low in the early ’90s, prices recovered slowly, but never back to their glory days.

And now to today.  The current recession is having an adverse effect, as would be expected.  Prices have dropped significantly, so some Icart etchings are available for under $1,000.  The best ones are still more valuable, but the whole market has turned down.  See an opportunity here?  If you’re a collector, a decorator, or an investor (and I don’t recommend investing), this is the BEST time, not the worst, to be looking again with fresh eyes at his works.  Prices will not stay this low for long.  It’s no different than the real estate market.  This is a great time to buy.

French Cameo Glass shines at Christie's Interior sale

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Christie’s New York sold a group of approximately 30 French cameo vases by Daum, Galle, and Muller, from the Pinhas collection of Los Angeles, on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 with superb results. Everything was there to sell as judged by the low estimates for many of the items. Most of the items sold well above their high estimates, with some doubling and tripling them.

Daum, Christie's lot 336, 6/30/09

Daum jar and vase, Christie's lot 336, 6/30/09

A lot of two items by Daum, which included a mini jar and vase, sold for $4,750, including premium, against an estimate of $1-1,500. The jar was a rare shape and especially nice with fuchsia decoration and gilding.

An early box by Daum with busy geometric enameled decoration, 4¼” diameter, sold well above the estimate of $1-1,500, realizing $5,250, including premium.

Christie's lot 317, 6/30/09

Daum box, Christie's lot 317, 6/30/09

The only lot of the group that did not sell was a 17″ Muller vase with a scenic decoration of deer in the forest with a geometric band at the top. It was estimated a little too aggressively at $4-6,000. The vase was unusual with a geometric decoration at the top and was probably made in the late teens, the transitional period between the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements.

Muller vase, Christie's lot 329, 6/30/09

Muller vase, Christie's lot 329, 6/30/09

You can lose your shirt buying at auction, part II

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What else can go wrong at an auction? Plenty.

Consider restoration, for example. Many times antiques get damaged, whether it’s a vase that gets chipped or a lamp that breaks. Sometimes the restorations are excellent and sometimes they’re not. If someone want to get rid of this restored item, the best place is at auction. Frequently the extent of the damage is not revealed, either because the auction house doesn’t know or doesn’t care. It takes an expert to spot the restoration and either bid accordingly or not bid at all. Novices and even more experienced bidders can wind up buying items that they wouldn’t have if they had known better.

There are also some unscrupulous dealers who are quite inventive and create items from parts and pieces that look good to a novice but that never existed. Even major auction houses can make mistakes. Sotheby’s once had to withdraw a hanging Tiffany lamp from one of their important 20th Century auctions because someone complained that it wasn’t authentic. Sotheby’s called the restorer who made it and asked if it were true. He responded yes and Sotheby’s withdrew the lamp. Luckily in this case, a major problem was avoided by an astute observer, otherwise a buyer would have made a costly error.

There are many other pitfalls that unwitting buyers can fall into. Auction houses can run up your left bids. That means that you may have to pay more than you should have, if you were in control. An honest auction house will execute your bid fairly, but how do you know which are the honest ones? Not an easy question to answer.

There are many reputable auction houses where you can buy with some measure of confidence. As a general rule, the larger, more established auction houses would be the best bet. Make inquiries about an auctioneer’s reputation, with friends or dealers or with research on-line to find the best ones.

What is a shill bidder? What’s a reserve? How about a buyer’s premium? Seller’s commission? Buy-in fees? Insurance? Tax? Guarantee? I will be writing a complete insider’s guide to buying and selling at auction. Armed with this information, you will be able to avoid common buying or selling errors and come out a winner. It will be available on my website for a nominal fee.