The Antique Victorian Furniture Blog

I’m not sure that “Economy slows antique sales” is the best headline for this article from The MetroWest Daily News, out of Framingham, MA. But that’s what you’ll see when you go to read it.

One hundred dealers showed up from around New England and New York for the Holliston Antique Show, sponsored by the Citizen Scholarship Foundation of Holliston. There were 400 people waiting to pay $6 at the door when the show opened for its first day on Saturday, despite weather conditions that kept some away. In the end the scholarship foundation was able to add $10,000 to $12,000 to its endowment.

Of the three dealers mentioned in the article, two were positive and one negative.

Phyllis and Sam Petnov of Millford, MA remarked that it wasn’t like the good old days, when they could make $10,000 to $20,000 at the show. “Those days are gone. It reflects the economy. It’s universal.”

Alan Seymour, on the other hand, owner of Franklin Street Antiques in Natick, MA, said he did well at the show, after setting various price points for broader appeal. He wants to remind people that antiques are a good investment.

And Tom Nagy of Hampton, CT, who sells 18th and 19th century accessories, also said it was a good show for him. His sales included an 18th century Sheraton server and a Victorian mirror.

Why put a negative headline over that? I prefer mine.

Here’s the article.

And here is my growing collection of posts about the current economy and its effects on antique Victorian furniture and on antiques in general: Feb. 17, Feb. 7, Dec. 9, Dec. 8, Nov. 27, Oct. 25.

Technorati Tags: 18th Century, Antique, Antiques, Dealers, Economy, Furniture, Investment, Mirror, sheraton, show, Victorian

If you haven’t heard about the auction called American Furniture & Decorative Arts offered by Bonhams & Butterfields, which took place in New York City on January 22, you’ll want to take a look at the articles I’ve attached here.

There were over 300 lots at the auction, and total sales topped $2.3 million. Standing-room crowds gathered in particular to watch the auctioning of the Warner Brothers Studios collection of 15 pieces of furniture by the famed Victorian cabinetmakers Herter Brothers.

The prize lot was a Herter Bros bed — parcel-gilt, carved, inlaid, ebonized, and “considered by many scholars to be the finest American bedstead known to exist in the fully developed American Renaissance style.” It was originally commissioned as part of a bedroom suite for the master bedroom at Thurlow Lodge, home of former California Governor Milton Slocum Latham in Menlo Park, CA.

The final price of the bed was $326,000, purchased by collectors Max and Judy Foote of Louisiana, who also came away with a mirrored dresser ($103,700), a rare shaving stand ($61,000) and a pair of night stands ($23,180) from the same suite. The Footes already have in their collection a Herter Bros antique Victorian bed that appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho.

Many of the pieces at the auction, and not just those by Herter Bros, brought in sums far exceeding top estimates. Quite a few others failed to attract any interest at all.

There’s a lot to read about, and you’ll want to see the photos of the bed, the dresser with its massive mirror and other pieces.

I have two links here for you to follow. This one is to the article at Bonhams’ website and this one is to an article at Antiques And The Arts Online.

My thanks to Ben Mijuskovic (see my posts on Oct. 23 and Nov. 20) for bringing this to my attention. He tells me that the price on the Herter Bros bed is a record or near-record for any piece of Victorian furniture.

Technorati Tags: American, american renaissance, Antique, Antiques, art, Auction, Bed, bedroom suite, bedstead, cabintmakers, Collectors, decorative arts, Dresser, Furniture, Herter Bros, Mirror, night stands, shaving stand, Victorian

Here’s an upbeat article on antiques from the Reporter-Herald in Loveland, Colorado. A local Valentine Antique Show, which featured everything from Victorian furniture to prohibition-era memorabilia produced by the Coors Brewing Co., attracted quite the crowd. As the article points out, there are certain things you can only find at antique shows and in antique shops.

Regardless of the economy, an antique remains an antique.

Click here to read the article.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Antiques, Economy, Furniture, shops, show, Victorian

Here’s an excellent video on buying antique furniture at an auction, made by Blake Kennedy from Kennedy Brothers Auctions. Mr. Kennedy is an insider who knows what he’s talking about. His tips are insightful and practical and are useful no matter what type of antique furniture you’re interested in acquiring, Victorian or otherwise.

Have a listen.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Auction, auctions, Furniture, Victorian

According to a recent article in the Daily Gazette out of Schenectady, NY, there are a number of pressures working to push down prices of Victorian furniture and other antiques and collectibles.

Current economic conditions, for one, are leaving people strapped for cash. Mark Lawson of Mark Lawson Antiques of Sarasota Springs says that more and more people are coming in trying to unload collectibles. In the past he saw this only once in a while, and it was often the elderly trying to pay property taxes. Now he’s seeing younger people.

As he explains, “Because of the economy, people are desperate to raise money to live or get by on. That’s really new.”

Unfortunately, what these people don’t understand is that the market has sunk because of online sites like Craigslist and eBay. Collectibles relatively rare in the past are now widely available and therefore less valuable. Hummel figurines, for instance, that used to sell between $100 and $200 are now worth no more than $30.

Also, the market has simply changed. Young people aren’t collecting. It’s not fashionable. Antique Victorian furniture used to sell well. Today the market for it has shrunk.

David Ornstein of New Scotland Antiques in Albany tells of a woman who brought him a Victorian marble-top table. He offered her $100, thinking he could get $150 for it, but the woman thought she was being cheated. “We’re caught in a tunnel we can see no end to,” he explains, “and I’ve been in this business for 30 years.”

Is there really no end to this? Or does this represent an unusual opportunity for the more astute? The greatest investors have always bought when the masses were selling.

You’ll find the article here.

And here are some earlier posts of mine that deal with the current market for antique Victorian furniture: Dec. 9, Dec. 8, Nov. 27, Oct. 25.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Antiques, collectibles, Craigslist, ebay, Economy, Furniture, marble, Market, prices, Table, Victorian

I found an interesting article at the WorthPoint blog, written by WorthPoint worthologist Tom Carrier. Tom tells how he had the chance to follow Will Seippel, WorthPoint founder and CEO, around the huge antique show in Brimfield, MA. Three times every year the town of Brimfield, population about 5,000, doubles in size as 5,000 antique dealers show up to create the “Antique Capital of the United States.”

Will Seippel wanders around commenting on various things he finds, including a Sheraton style New England work table dating to around 1820, with its characteristically thin legs, some Victorian drawer pulls, and a Victorian bed. Will remarks that the bed is “a little bit higher end of Victorian furniture.” Fruit carvings adorn the head and foot of the bed.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a video accompanying the article. We get the chance to follow Will Seippel around ourselves. The Victorian bed comes at the end.

Click here for the article and here for the video.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Bed, brimfield ma, carvings, Dealers, drawer pulls, Furniture, legs, sheraton, Table, Victorian, video