A long line of approximately 200 people wrapped around the bend just before the opening on Friday
The 33rd National Arts & Crafts Conference at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC, ended yesterday. We had a decent show, but nothing to write home about. We were breaking even by the end of Saturday and then made a few sales on Sunday to come out a little bit ahead.
There was quite of bit of activity in our booth on Friday
We sold this rare Marblehead vase with herons on Sunday
We didn’t sell anything major, but we sold enough other objects, including Tiffany glass, a superb Gallé Cristallerie pitcher and several good pottery vases.
The National Arts & Crafts Conference is one of our most pleasant shows of the year. Dedicated, knowledgeable, friendly buyers fly and drive in from all over the country. We look forward to next year’s show.
No shows until October 20, 2022, when we’ll exhibit at the Baltimore Art, Antique & Jewelry Show. Two weeks later we’ll exhibit at the Antiques + Modernism Show in Winnetka, IL, starting on November 4, 2022.
There was a nice crowd minutes before the opening of the preview party on Thursday night
Thursday, 5:45 PM. The preview party started about 45 minutes ago. There were 75-100 people on line a few minutes before the opening. I generally hate preview parties because I never make a sale, but I have a feeling this is going to be the one where it might happen. I’m probably kidding myself, but we’ll see shortly enough.
Thursday, 10:00 PM. Silly me! The preview party is over and it was a bust, as usual. Attendance was reasonably good and there were a few serious inquiries, but no sales. Some of my clients said they’ll be back during the show, so there’s hope.
Friday, 4:20 PM. The show opened at 11 AM. Attendance has only been moderate. I remember when we exhibited a few years ago at this show the aisles were jammed. Not this time. There was some interest and a few seemingly serious clients, but no sales.
We’re jammed into our small booth, about 20% of the size of our booth in Miami Beach. If sales go well, we’ll keep bringing out more merchandise from under the table. We couldn’t put it all out in this tiny space. It’s a calculated gamble that if we lower our costs, we’ll come out with a net profit. Even with a small booth our costs are considerably higher than they were in Miami Beach.
Friday, 7:00 PM. Opening day is over with no sales. Hard to imagine. At this rate, the Palm Beach Show will never see us again. I hope to change my tune by the time the show ends.
2:50 PM on Saturday outside our booth
Saturday, 3:00 PM. The show has been open for about 4 hours. Attendance is moderate and interest has been slight. No sales. Astonishing! I’m looking at the crowd and no one, absolutely no one, is carrying a package with a purchase. So we’re not the only ones who aren’t doing well.
Saturday, 7:00 PM. You know it’s a bad day when all you do is give out business cards. The more cards you give out, the worse the show is going and we’ve given out many. We once met a dealer years ago who said he didn’t have business cards. When we asked him why, he told us that people who ask for cards are not customers. Grumpy, but wise old guy!
Sunday, 2:45 PM The show has been open for almost four hours. We finally made the first sale of the show, a pretty Ernst Wahliss Art Nouveau sculpture of a maiden. A small sale but at least we broke the ice.
Thomas Kail and Michelle Williams (photo credit Pip Hurley, courtesy of People Magazine)
The lovely Michelle Williams and her fiancé Thomas Kail visited our booth several times to admire a few Tiffany lamps, but unfortunately they didn’t make a purchase. Hopefully they’ll be back before the show ends.
Attendance is the strongest today since the show began. Let’s see if that translates into additional sales.
Sunday, 7:00 PM The third day of the show is over. We made an additional sale, but we are nowhere close to meeting our expenses, let alone a profit.
Tune in on Wednesday for the final results of the show. I’ll be shocked if they’re good.
We sold this lovely oil painting on Monday
Monday, 7:00 PM Two clients have shown serious interest in purchasing our Tiffany 17″ Poppy table lamp. The way the show’s been going, I’m pessimistic it will be sold, but hope springs eternal. In the meantime, it’s very difficult and depressing sitting for hours with nothing to do (except play spider solitaire and write my blog). We did make one small sale, but that was just a spit in the bucket. We have to sell something major to come out successful.
Tuesday, 7:00 PM Our disastrous show in Palm Beach is over. Now we have to race to Asheville, NC, for the National Arts & Crafts Conference. We’ll miss the first day of setup tomorrow as Asheville is 11 hours away by truck. We should be able to finish the setup in a day and a half on Thursday and Friday morning. The show opens to the public precisely at 1 PM on Friday.
I believe the Palm Beach Show was a bust for the following reasons. First the local buying public is getting really old. Most of them are past their collecting days. Second the show draws mainly from the local population and as I just stated, they’re not buying much. Some shows, like The Original Miami Beach Show, draw clients from around the world. Anyone who takes the time and effort to fly in, or drive from a distance, is a serious customer. Lastly the show promoters give away thousands of free tickets. If you live in the area and are bored, it’s a great way to spend the day. The show is as beautiful as any museum, so why not? Most attendees who come on free tickets are not buyers.
We haven’t exhibited at the show for the last four years. I had hoped we would do better this time in a smaller booth. Unfortunately we didn’t, so we will not be back. That’s too bad as it’s a lovely show in a great area, but we’re not in the business of losing money.
No shows until October 20, 2022, when we’ll exhibit at the Baltimore Art, Antique & Jewelry Show. Two weeks later we’ll exhibit at the Antiques + Modernism Show in Winnetka, IL, starting on November 4, 2022.
The Palm Beach Show will open to the public this Friday, February 14, 2020, at 11 AM and close on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, at 6 PM. A preview party will be held on the evening of February 13th to begin the festivities.
A billboard in West Palm Beach advertising the show
We haven’t exhibited at the show since 2016, but decided we would try again this year in a small booth. It’s expensive for exhibitors to display there, so maybe the trick to make it work this time is to lower our expenses. You’ll find out if our strategy was successful by continuing to read my blog. (There will be an interim update on Monday, February 17th and a final update on Wednesday, February 19th.)
This fabulous Tiffany Studios Poppy table lamp is one of the many Tiffany lamps we’ll have at the show
We’re bringing great merchandise to the show including a fabulous selection of Tiffany glass, lamps, and desk sets. On the French side, we’re bringing a truly outstanding group of Daum and Gallé cameo glass, as well as a nice selection of pate-de-verre glass by Walter and Argy-Rousseau.
You can get two free tickets to the show by clicking here. Now that you have no excuses, I hope to see you at the show!
No shows until October 20, 2022, when we’ll exhibit at the Baltimore Art, Antique & Jewelry Show. Two weeks later we’ll exhibit at the Antiques + Modernism Show in Winnetka, IL, starting on November 4, 2022.
Fontaine’s Auction, Pittsfield, MA, held an Antiques, Clocks & Fine Art auction on January 18, 2020. Included in the sale were Tiffany lamps and the Edward Malakoff collection of Pairpoint lamps. Malakoff was the author of the book Pairpoint Lamps.
Pairpoint Owl puffy table lamp, Fontaine’s lot #1
The top lot of the Pairpoint lamps was #1, a very rare puffy Owl on the matching owl base. There are fewer than 10 known examples in the world. The final price realized was $65,000, against a pre-sale estimate of $25,000 – $40,000.
Pairpoint puffy Orange Tree table lamp, Fontaine’s lot #51
The second best lot of the Pairpoint lamps was #51, a rare Orange Tree puffy on a tree trunk base. It sold well above its estimate of $15,000 – $20,000, realizing $28,000.
The Pairpoint lamp market has been in a prolonged slump prices for decades, so it was nice to see some strong prices. There also were some good bargains on many on the more common lamps.
Tiffany Peony Border floor lamp, Fontaine’s lot #100
The top Tiffany lamp of the sale also wasn’t a surprise. Fontaine’s always saves lot #100 for the star of the sale. This time it was a Tiffany 24″ diameter Peony Border floor lamp on an unusual base. It sold for $125,000, against the estimate of $125,000-$175,000.
For the complete results of the sale, click here.
Our next show, The Palm Beach Show, is only 10 days away. You can get two free tickets to the show by clicking here. It will be held at the Palm Beach Convention Center, February 13-18, 2020. We haven’t exhibited there in a few years, but decided to give it another try this year in a smaller booth.
Skinner Auction, Boston, MA, held a 20th Century Design sale on December 13, 2019. The sale included a diverse selection of French and American glass and lamps, and a sizable collection of Le Verre Francais vases.
Bigelow & Kennard Rose Blossom table lamp, Skinner lot #159
The top lot of the sale, #159, was a Bigelow & Kennard Rose Blossom table lamp. It was beautiful and large (21½” diameter), but the final price of $24,600, against a pre-sale estimate of $3,000 – $5,000, was a surprise. Bigelow & Kennard was a Boston company and the sale was in Boston, so there seemed to be a nice symbiosis.
Tiffany Studios 20″ diameter Daffodil table lamp, Skinner lot #30
The Bigelow & Kennard lamp sold for more than the second highest lot of the sale, a Tiffany Studios 20″ diameter Daffodil table lamp, lot #30. It sold below it’s estimate of $20,000 – $30,000, realizing $22,140, including buyer’s premium. It was a fairly standard, somewhat boring example, so the result shouldn’t have been unexpected. Regardless, it was a good buy.
Daum Nancy Rain vase, Skinner lot #36
The third best result of the sale was a beautiful, 22″ tall, Daum Nancy Rain vase, lot #36. It sold for $19,680, against a pre-sale estimate of $5,000 – $7,000. The estimate was quite conservative, so the competition was strong. Rain is a very desirable subject matter for Daum Nancy. Personally I wasn’t interested in buying the vase because of its monumental size. Huge vases are difficult to pack, transport, display and sell.
Le Verre Francais Lobelias vase, Skinner lot #256
The top lot of the group of Le Verre Francais vases was #256, a rare and colorful Lobelias vase. It sold for $7,995, including buyer’s premium, against a pre-sale estimate of only $500 – $700.
Our next show, The Palm Beach Show, is only two weeks away. You can get two free tickets to the show by clicking here. It will be held at the Palm Beach Convention Center, February 13-18, 2020. We haven’t exhibited there in a few years, but decided to give it another try this year in a smaller booth.
Sotheby’s New York held a Dreaming in Glass sale on December 12, 2019, devoted to the lamps and glass of Tiffany Studios. 43 of the 49 lots offered for sale sold, for a total of $5,292,500, including buyer’s premium. That averaged $123,081 per sold lot. Of the 6 lots that did not sell, most were chandeliers. Following are some of the more interesting results.
Tiffany Studios 22″ diameter Dragonfly table lamp, Sotheby’s lot #411
The top lot of the sale was #411, a fabulous, 22″ diameter, blue-purple, heavily mottled, Drop Head Dragonfly table lamp. It sold just above its high estimate of $700,000, realizing $884,000, including buyer’s premium.
Tiffany Favrile Lava glass vase, Sotheby’s lot #406
The top lot of the Tiffany Favrile selection of glass was #406, a rare and very desirable Lava vase that was exhibited at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition world’s fair, held on the grounds of the University of Washington in Seattle in 1909. It sold for $162,500, including buyer’s premium, against a pre-sale estimate of $80,000 – $120,000.
Tiffany Studios Turtleback inkstand, Sotheby’s lot #423
I’ve always loved the Tiffany Favrile rotating inkstand that was sold as lot #423. The same model has occasionally come up for sale at various auction houses over the years. The model has a band of iridescent turtleback tiles around its circumference and three wells at the top, with turtleback lids, in green, blue and red. It sold very well, achieving $60,000, including buyer’s premium, against a pre-sale estimate of $25,000 – $35,000.
Our next show, The Palm Beach Show, is only three weeks away. You can get two free tickets to the show by clicking here. It will be held at the Palm Beach Convention Center, February 13-18, 2020. We haven’t exhibited there in a few years, but decided to give it another try this year in a smaller booth.
Saturday, 8:45 PM. The show opened today at the unusually late time of 2 PM and will close at 10 PM. There was a decent crowd, but not much action. The show floor is dead now, so it’s fairly torturous staying so late. Tomorrow the hours return to the normal starting time of 11 AM.
Today’s results were disappointing, with only a couple of small sales. But I’m far from throwing in the towel. There were several serious clients today who I hope will return and make purchases.
We sold this fine Tiffany Favrile vase with wheel-carved grapes on Sunday
Sunday, 6:20 PM. The day is almost finished. We had a decent, but unexciting day. There wasn’t much energy in the crowd. As of this minute, we’re having a lackluster show, but we’ll keep chipping away.
Monday, 6:30 PM. Today’s show is almost finished and it was a bad day. There weren’t many people and only a few inquiries. No sales. Doesn’t look like this show is going to be a winner, but anything can happen in the next two days. I need a drink.
We sold this important Tiffany red and yellow carved vase on Tuesday
Tuesday, 5:40 PM. Oh my, the show is slow and boring. From what I heard, the NFL rented the convention center for an entire month prior to the Super Bowl, so the antiques show was bumped to its earlier date this year. And it really shows. There are fewer people, less interest and fewer sales. We made one good sale today from a client who saw a beautiful Tiffany vase a few days ago and called today to make the purchase.
We sold this beautiful Tiffany 16″ diameter Tulip table lamp on Wednesday
Wednesday, 4:00 PM. The show is over and I’m happy to report that we ended on a high note. I was prepared not to sell a thing today, the last day, but a new client came to the show and purchased two Tiffany lamps. :>)
This was a very strange show for us. The totals were close to last year’s excellent show, but it didn’t feel like a good show. Traffic was down, as well as interest. We answered fewer questions and made fewer sales. Many of our good clients never showed up. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. In listening, a few dealers said they did better than last year, but not the majority. Thankfully the show returns to the normal late January dates next year.
Since this blog is being posted on Thursday, January 9th, there will be no new post on Monday, January 13th. My next post will be on Monday, January 20th.
Tiffany 20″ diameter Dragonfly table lamp
P.S. Thursday. We sold the superb Tiffany 20″ diameter Dragonfly table lamp, pictured above, the day after the show closed to a client who saw it at the show. That means we had a great show, better than last year’s excellent show.
Our next show, The Palm Beach Show, is approximately one month away. You can get two free tickets to the show by clicking here. It will be held at the Palm Beach Convention Center, February 13-18, 2020. We haven’t exhibited there in a few years, but decided to give it another try this year in a smaller booth.
First I want to wish a Happy and Healthy New Year to all of my readers, friends and associates. It’s going to be 2020 in a couple of days. Sure looks and sounds funny, but we’ll get used to it soon enough.
The Original Miami Beach Antiques Show opens to the public this coming Saturday, January 4, 2020, at the strange time of 2 PM and continues until Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 4 PM. It’s not too late to make your plans to come to the show. I just checked hotels on Hotwire. 3 to 4 star hotels are available for $85 – $150/night. Can’t beat that. Come to Miami, enjoy the warm weather, great food and visit the best show of the year.
I know I always tout the items I bring to an important show, but this year is really special. I’ve got some items that I rarely ever see, let alone all together at the same show. Following are a few examples. You’ll just have to come to the show in person to see the rest. I promise you won’t regret it!
The first item is a truly killer Gallé lamp. It’s one of the top two best and largest Gallé lamps I’ve owned in 50 years of doing business. It’s gorgeous, with intense, beautiful, blue and purple flowers on a deep yellow to gold background. The chrysanthemum flowers are all windowpane, meaning the yellow glass layer on the interior of the shade, behind each of the flowers, is etched away. It keeps the color of the flowers pure. Otherwise the yellow and blue layers would combine to show green flowers. The bonus decoration is two beautiful butterflies on the top of shade — a real rarity. Gallé lamps do not get better than this!
Monumental Daum Nancy Blackbird vase
If there’s one Daum Nancy Blackbird vase in the world that is the best, it has to be the one pictured above. Because of it’s monumental size at 28″ tall, there’s lots of canvas for the artist to paint details that can’t be done on a small vase. Most examples have tiny little blackbirds with no discernible detail. This example has large, realistically painted birds, with superb detail in the trees and snow. It’s thebest there is!
The above are only two examples of the phenomenal collection of French glass we’re bringing to the show (including two rare Daum Nancy miniature Blackbird vases and a Swan covered egg).
Tiffany Studios 20″ diameter Dragonfly table lamp
We’re bringing an extraordinary collection of over 25 Tiffany Studios lamps. The beautiful 20″ diameter Dragonfly example pictured above is one of two 20″ Dragonflies. We’ll have over 15 leaded Tiffany lamps, several Favrile glass table and floor lamps, as well as several gold and green Linenfold table and floor lamps.
Since the show ends on Wednesday, I won’t publish next week until Thursday, January 9th, with the results of the show. Make sure you tune in. (More people read my blog every year on the day after the end of the Original Miami Beach Antiques Show than any other day of the year.) Consequently, there will not be a new post on Monday, January 13. Instead the following post will be published on Monday, January 20.
Our next show, The Palm Beach Show, is about a month away. You can get two free tickets to the show by clicking here. It will be held at the Palm Beach Convention Center, February 13-18, 2020. We haven’t exhibited there in a few years, but decided to give it another try this year in a smaller booth.
Bonham’s New York held a Modern Decorative Art + Design sale on December 13, 2019. Included in the sale were a handful of items by Daum, Gallé and Tiffany Studios. Following are a few of those results.
Tiffany Studios 20″ diameter Dragonfly table lamp, Bonham’s lot #13
Four of the seven Tiffany Studios lamps offered for sale sold. Of those that sold, lot #13, a 20″ diameter Dragonfly, brought the highest price. It sold for $68,825, including buyer’s premium, within its pre-sale estimate of $50,000 – $70,000. Personally I didn’t care for it because of the strange combination of shade and base. Apparently my opinion had no bearing on its sale. :>(
Gallé pitcher, Bonham’s lot #7
Only three pieces of cameo glass were offered for sale. Lot #7, an unusual Gallé pitcher with seashell applications, sold for $25,075, including buyer’s premium. That was well below the pre-sale estimate of $40,000 – $60,000. The estimate certainly turned me off. Had it been estimated at $15,000 – $20,000, I would have bid. My guess is that it probably would have sold for more than it actually did.
Tiffany Studios 18″ Alamander table lamp, Bonham’s lot #12
Another Tiffany Studios lamp, lot #12, an attractive 18″ diameter Alamander table lamp, sold within its pre-sale estimate of $35,000 – $45,000, realizing $43,825, including buyer’s premium.
The Original Miami Beach Antiques Show is less than two weeks away. If you haven’t made your plans yet, there’s still time. You don’t want to miss the best antiques show of the year.
Heritage Auctions held a Tiffany, Lalique & Art Glass sale on November 21, 2019. Following are some of the more interesting results.
Tiffany 20″ Daffodil table lamp, Heritage lot #79006
The top lot of the sale, #79006, was a Tiffany 20″ Daffodil table lamp. It sold for its low estimate of $35,000, which equates to $43,750 after including the buyer’s premium.
Two Loetz Titania vases, Heritage lot #79176
Loetz glass sold exceptionally well at the sale. Lot #79176, two Loetz Titania vases, sold for many times their pre-sale estimate of $800 – $1,200, realizing $18,750, including buyer’s premium. Another Loetz Titania vase, lot #79178, also did well, selling over its high estimate of $7,000, realizing $12,500, including buyer’s premium. It was a lucky day for the consignor because in my opinion the vases weren’t worth the prices paid.
Daum Nancy Rain box, Heritage lot #79087
Lot #79087 was a lovely Daum Nancy Rain box. It sold within its pre-sale estimate of $6,000 – $8,000, realizing $9,375, including buyer’s premium.
For the complete results of the sale, click here. You will have to sign in (free) for the prices.
No shows until October 20, 2022, when we’ll exhibit at the Baltimore Art, Antique & Jewelry Show. Two weeks later we’ll exhibit at the Antiques + Modernism Show in Winnetka, IL, starting on November 4, 2022.
