Category Archives: Interviews

An interview with George Honchar about collecting Wain cats

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George Honchar (gbhbah@aol.com) has been a collector of Wain cats since 1997. I sent him a few written questions regarding his collection.

Wain cats

Wain cats

Q. How did you get interested in Wain cats to begin?
A. Our interest in Louis Wain began in the mid 90’s…. The house is full of cats and the library full of cat books….so…..An acquaintance told us about Louis Wain and a book By Rodney Dale entitled “Louis Wain, The Man Who Drew Cats”. It’s an excellent primer on Wain, but now there is a wealth of information on Google about Wain, if anyone is further interested. Suffice it to say, in his 20s, nearing the turn of the century, his cat art simply swept England. One of his patrons and supporters, H.G.Wells said…”He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves.”

Q. What is special about them?
A. The ceramic cats are quite special and unique in their design, considering that they were produced in 1914. Know of anything else quite this avant and cubist from this era..? Keep in mind..nearly 100 years old. Think of these next to other objects of similar age….Amphora, Galle, etc. Quite revolutionary. Once you hold one in your hands, you’re hooked.

Wain Futurist cats

Wain Futurist cats

Q. Tell me about your collection. Is one unique?
A. Our collection of cats began by chance in November of 1997 at the New York Pier show. We had set our sights on finding a ceramic, and …totally unexpectedly ran into our first, the large Futurist cat (shown with the small Futurist cat), in the first 5 minutes of the Pier show opening. My hand landed on it a mere second before another buyer. We paid an astounding $1000 for it, but were quite pleased. Our collection grew to 10 cats, each quite unique in color and design. Current interest and the market has accelerated for both the large (12-14 inch) and the small (6-8 inch) ceramics since then. Several of the rarer small cats have gone at auction in England recently for as high as $8000 and a larger one in excess of 5 figures, although most recently some softening of prices has been seen. As a direct result of the escalation of prices, a copy has recently been found and pulled from an auction at a well-known British auction house.

In the U.S. there is a small but motivated body of Wain collectors, for his ceramics, art and other objects…cards, period calendars,etc… so items that do come up for sale are aggressively pursued.

Wain designs

Wain designs

Q. I hear that a book is being written about Wain cats. What information can you give me?
A. Cork Marcheski, a west coast collector is finalizing a definitive book on the ceramic cats, to be published soon.

Please send me your suggestions or questions about art glass, lamps, Louis Icart, shows, auctions, etc. If it’s interesting, I’ll answer your question in a future blog entry.

Call or write and let me know what you would like to buy, sell, or trade. philchasen@gmail or 516-922-2090. And please visit my website. chasenantiques.com

An interview with David Rago

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David Rago

David Rago

David Rago is the owner of the Rago Arts and Auction Center, in Lambertville, NJ, specializing in 20th century design. He also appears on The Antiques Roadshow as an appraiser, specializing in ceramics, porcelain, 20th century furniture, and vintage wine.

I submitted several written questions to him.

Q. How has the recession affected your business?

Tiffany Studios Venetian table lamp, lot 409, June, 2009

Tiffany Studios Venetian table lamp, lot 409, June, 2009

A. The recession has affected our business in several ways. Most prominently, securing good consignments at reasonable price levels has become the most challenging part. We don’t believe we can BEGIN to evaluate pieces (in the form of estimates, which are driven by reserves) at 2008 or maybe even 2007 levels, which discourages many consignors from giving up pieces. I try to balance our and their expectations by saying that we often get prices at or above levels of a few years ago, but the approach now is to let pieces seek their prices through competitive bidding, NOT by starting at strong prices. We’ve found that buyers/bidders simply don’t want to be told that, to get their hands in the air for an opening bid, they have to be willing to pay anything near what used to be accepted retail. The old auction belief that, to get a record price you have to risk getting a record low price, has never, ever, been more true than now. We sold a Tiffany Venetian lamp in our last major sale (June 09) with an estimate of $27-32k.
Tiffany enamel on copper box, lot 393, June, 2009

Tiffany enamel on copper box, lot 393, June, 2009

It was a rare version with strong glass in pristine condition, fresh from an estate. It brought $81k, a record for the form. In the same sale we had a Tiffany enamel on copper box, almost as clean as the lamp, also fresh to the market, with a fairly strong estimate of $45–55k. Even though we had six “players”, I mean real bidders, on the phone, no one hit it once. We ended up selling it after the sale for under the low estimate. My contention was that, if the estimate were $30–40k, we’d have gotten the $50k for it.

Q. What areas show strength? Weakness?
A. Good things, in good condition, at reasonable prices, seem quite strong. Middle range things with condition issues, offered at regular prices, seem to languish. We just sold the estate of an old school New Hope dealer. The material had been off the market for 25 years and the family put no price restrictions on estimates and reserves. The sale was 100% sold and hammered near the high estimate plus the buyer’s premium of 20%. There was almost no glass in the collection, so this is relevant only in how it informs the marketplace. But we had a room full of active bidders, plus 100 people on the phone, plus 500 people on the Internet, for two solid days. It was like nothing had changed. But one thing HAD changed seriously, and that was the expectation of the seller.

Q. What do you foresee for the coming year?
A. The coming year is at the mercy of the economy, which is at the mercy of I don’t know what. Right now people (at least the ones buying art) mostly have more money than they did five years ago but they feel like they have less because they aren’t as rich as they were a year or two ago. Whether you own stock or real estate or middle range art, you in fact have less. Until people begin to feel comfortable with both their level of wealth AND the state of the economy, I don’t see great changes in the marketplace.

Please send me your suggestions or questions about art glass, lamps, Louis Icart, shows, auctions, etc. If it’s interesting, I’ll answer your question in a future blog entry.

Call or write and let me know what you would like to buy, sell, or trade. philchasen@gmail or 516-922-2090. And please visit my website. chasenantiques.com