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.

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.

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.

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.

I buy many items at auction. So does that mean you should too? The answer most probably is no. And here’s why.

Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, is the guiding principle when buying at most auctions. (There are exceptions that I will address in an upcoming post.) That means that after the item is sold, you are the owner, and you have no recourse against the auction house should there be any problem whatsoever. Nobody is forcing you to raise your hand at the auction, so you are responsible for your actions. Everyone wants a bargain, so armed with a little bit of knowledge, many people are willing to try their hand at the auction game. This is the perfect example of “A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing”. The problem is that auctions can be like three-card Monte. What you see is not necessarily what you get.

I do many appraisals for individuals and I can usually tell immediately if the collector has mostly bought at auction. I recently did an appraisal for a Tiffany collector and I knew right away that he was an auction buyer. He had an inferior collection of lots of items, none particularly good. It was a collection of stuff, mainly just bits and pieces, with several reproductions thrown in. Another time an auctioneer called me to authenticate a collection of lamps that were consigned to him. I viewed the collection and told him not to sell the collection, as most all of the lamps were reproductions. The collector had gotten stuck at auction time after time.

So why do I caution novices from buying at auction? First and most obvious is the problem of reproductions. There are many good reproductions for sale that frequently require an expert to differentiate them from the real McCoy. Some auctioneers are unscrupulous and intentionally mix in these reproductions with good items. Others mix in reproductions because they don’t have an expert on staff who can tell the difference. Unwitting buyers come to the auction and pay the same for these reproductions as for authentic antiques. In most cases, there is no recourse. If you don’t know enough to tell the difference, you shouldn’t bid. I’ve seen it time and time again. A collector comes to me to sell their collection or have it appraised. Mixed in with the good items are frequently a few that are repros, bought at auction at the same prices as for authentic items. Money down the drain. And here’s the perfect example.

This past weekend, Skinner’s sold a vase that they described as “Iridescent Cypriote Manner Vase, Possibly Tiffany”. To Skinner’s credit, they did not call it authentic Tiffany, but they did leave the impression that the vase was at least old. Well guess what? It’s a reproduction vase. Estimated at $2-3,000, it sold for $8,888. Talk about a whopper of a mistake. At least two bidders thought they knew enough to buy this vase, hoping it really was Tiffany. I hope that one day I’ll be called to do an appraisal for this collector.

Tomorrow, more caution about buying at auction.

I will be writing a thorough explanation of buying and selling at auction. It will available at a nominal price. I know all of the pitfalls and how to avoid them. This will be very valuable information from a seasoned insider.

I know I’m harping on the same point, but LOW estimates bring interest and interest brings action and action brings results.

Cases in point. A Tiffany 18″ Peony table lamp on a rare Peacock base sold for $118,500, against an estimate of $70-90,000. To be completely fair, estimates are not the only concern for bidders. Everyone wants something that is estate fresh and this lamp descended in a Massachusetts family.

Case 2. A Tiffany Art Deco clock in blue, estimated at $600-800, sold for $4,148, several times its high estimate.

The rest of the Tiffany items in the sale mostly sold well, with common items bringing less and more interesting items more, as would be expected. A very nice 20″ Daffodil table lamp sold for $50,363, against an estimate of $50-60,000. A very common and not very desirable Tiffany Studios Zodiac paper rack did not sell against an estimate of $5-600, one of the very few Tiffany items not to sell.

If you’re going to sell anything at auction, make sure the estimate and reserve are low enough to attract interest. And that’s exactly the point at Julia’s Glass and Lamp auction last week. Many of the Tiffany leaded lamps in the sale, including a Daffodil/Jonquil, a Peony, a Tulip, and others, did not sell because the estimates were too high and as a result, there was little interest in those items. Items with more conservative estimates did well, such as a gorgeous padded and wheel-carved poppy vase, estimated at $25-35,000 and selling for $32,500 + premium, for a total of $37,375.

As a whole, the glass and desk set items performed well. A gold vase with intaglio-carved leaf and vine decoration, in the original Tiffany Studios box it was purchased in, sold for $4,485, against an estimate of $2,500-3,500. A solid red Tiffany vase, estimated at $5-7000, sold for $7,475. A beautiful big flower form vase, estimated at $4-6,000, doubled its high estimate and sold for $12,075, again proving that the items with the most conservative estimates did the best.

In desk set items, as should be expected, the rare and unusual items did best. A rare Pine Needle clock, estimated at $7,500-$10,000, sold within the estimate for $8,625. A Ninth Century frame, estimated at $4-6,000, sold within the estimate for $5,750, and a Spanish desk lamp, estimated at $8-10,000, sold for $8,625, slightly below the estimate, before buyer’s premium.

Apparently the Tiffany market is alive and well. If the consignors were willing to take the risk and estimate their items low enough, much more would have sold, probably at prices exceeding the estimates. That requires gambling on the part of the consignors and apparently too few consignors are willing to gamble. Quite understandable, but not the best business decision.

It was interesting sitting at Julia’s Glass & Lamp auction last Friday and Saturday.  The mood changed often, depending on the category for sale.  First English Cameo glass sold very well, then French Cameo glass didn’t sell as well.  The next day started with art glass shades (which were OK) and moved into Quezal glass (also OK), then Steuben glass (fairly strong).  Then onto Pairpoint puffies (not so OK).

The action started with a very rare lamp, a Pairpoint puffy owl lamp, only the 7th known to exist.  The lamp was estimated at $15-20,000, as the condition was not good.  The shade had some large border chips and a 3″ crack, usually the kiss of death.  However, due to the extreme rarity, there was plenty of action, mostly on the telephones.  The fierce bidding ended at $37,000 + buyer’s premium, for a total of $42,550 — an exceptional price for a cracked lamp.  This compares to $86,250 for another Pairpoint owl lamp, also sold at Julia’s, in December 2006.

After the owl lamp, the rest of the Pairpoint lamps didn’t fare as well.  I didn’t count each sale, but I’ll bet that over 50% of the puffies did not sell.  The exact information is available on the Julia’s website.

Handel lamps followed and did a little bit better, but again, there was softness in this market.

The next group of lamps were non-Tiffany leaded lamps.  Again this category can be called weak at this auction.  The only exception was a beautiful Duffner & Kimberly Louis XV table lamp.  Estimated at $45-55,000, the lamp sold for $41,000 + premium, for a total of $47,150.  Slightly below the estimate, but still a substantial price for a non-Tiffany lamp.

Tomorrow, in my last review of the Julia auction, I’ll cover the Tiffany Studios items.

After English Cameo glass sold well at Julia’s Glass & Lamp auction last Friday, I expected the same fireworks for the French Cameo glass, but it wasn’t to be.  I suspect that the estimates were too aggressive and the reserves too high to get the best results.  Daum performed better than Gallé.  A fairly large percentage of the items sold for less than the low estimate and some sold within the estimate but almost nothing exceeded the high estimate.  While sitting at the auction, it’s difficult to tell which items aren’t selling but checking the results on Julia’s website shows that there was a decent percentage that were bought in.

One of the most beautiful vases in the French Cameo glass section was a vase with a free-form shape like a pitcher and decorated with wild orchids and a bee.  It doesn’t get much better than this.  It was estimated at $15/20,000 and sold for $13,000 + premium, for a total of $14,950.  A strong price, but not what they were hoping for.  My speculation is that if the vase had been estimated more conservatively at $10/15,000, it would have generated more interest and possibly sold for even more.  Low estimates generate excitement and excitement generates strong competition and strong prices.    I’ve been at the auction game for many years and I know it inside and out.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen items that had obscenely low estimates sell for fantastic prices.  Everyone thinks they’re in the game and participates.

There was good interest in the Le Verre Francais section of the sale, but again, no fireworks.  Many items sold, but usually within the estimate or just below.  A pair of rare Palmiers Bleus vases sold for $5,462.50 and $6,325.00, respectively, at the low end of expectations.

Tomorrow a review of the non-Tiffany lamps at the auction.