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Don't mess with the Clackamas Indians. They think the Willamette Meteorite was sent to them by the Sky People and, as a sacred object, it shouldn't be bought and sold, and guess what? The rock couldn't find a buyer at Bonham's this Sunday. The hair on my neck is standing on end.
Nobody was tempted by a slice off the top of this famous space rock.
Continue reading "Willamette Meteorite fails to sell. Blame bad karma. " »
Seventh Avenue @ 17th Street
Saturday and Sunday 5 am "until the last one leaves the lot."
Nearby: 17th Street is home to several consignment stores
"If the Archdioces kicked us out, I'd march right down and talk to the Cardinal about it."
So says dealer Pat Sweeney ("Ask Sweeney, tell it to Sweeney, sell it to Sweeney"). The Chelsea Antique & Collectible Flea Market is standing its ground against the vanishing of flea markets around the city by clinging to life in a small parking lot at Seventh Avenue and 17th Street. Three years old, and staffed by dealers displaced from the Eighth Avenue market, Sweeney is adamant that they're not going anywhere soon. The parking lot is owned by its neighbor across the street, the New York Foundling Hospital, a Catholic institution. The Mary Help of Christians sold out the Avenue B flea, but I guess the Sisters of Charity aren't tempted. Yet.
Pat Sweeney (at right) and fellow vendor.
Continue reading "The Chelsea Antique & Collectible Flea Market: Divine Intervention?" »
Know what's sad? That the houses don't preview wine auctions. There are two sales this week, one at Christie's and the other at Sotheby's.
photo by Sharon M Leon
Continue reading "New York City auctions: Oct 29–Nov 4, 2007" »
Lot 41, Christie's Mary Cassatt Collection sale: On the Balcony
This week the big auction houses are previewing their prints sales.
Continue reading "New York City auction previews: Oct 27–Nov 2, 2007" »
hi: $1,105,000 "Nautilus" by Edward Weston, lot 18
lo: $4,375 "Kissing Shadows" by Alfred Eisenstaedt, lot 222
prices include buyer's premium
I told you so. There are treasures waiting for the trash on the streets of New York. Not two weeks after a trailer park resident sold the Charles Rolhfs chair he'd found in his neighbors trash for $189,000, another eagle-eyed picker has scored.
Elizabeth Gibson, "a self-professed Dumpster diver," found a painting on the corner of Broadway and 72nd Street four years ago. It wasn't really her thing, style-wise, and she debated whether there was really room in her apartment for the large canvas, but in the end, the painting exerted an irresistible influence over her and she dragged it home.
Elizabeth Gibson, triumphant. AP photo.
Through a few years of sleuthing, Gibson discovered that the painting was "Tres Personajes," by Rufino Tamayo, considered the father of modern art in Mexico. It was stolen from a Houston couple 20 years ago, has been the subject of an F.B.I. investigation, and a story about it had even aired on an "Antiques Roadshow" segment called "Missing Masterpieces."
And of course (drum roll) it is now valued at one million dollars.
Continue reading "More Trash Tales: 1 million-dollar painting found in garbage" »
UPDATE: As of summer 2009, this flea has been revived until at least June, located now at 4th Street between Avenues B and C. For more info, see the comments section below, or read here.
RIP: site of the former MHC flea market on Avenue B @11th Street
I used to pass the MHC flea market many weekends as I walked my dog from the West Village over to the East (the squirrels in Tompkins Square Park being somewhat more desirable than those in Washington Square). I went down on Saturday just to make sure I had my facts straight about it and . . . in fact, it no longer exists.
I can't substantiate the number, but Shane, who sells used bikes at the Monk Thrift Shop down the street, told me that the church sold the site this spring for $160 million.
Too big a temptation for the Mary Help of Christians, apparently.
The vendors from the market have tried several different sites, but nothing is sticking yet, according to a woman helping Shane sell bikes. Unfortunately, search around the internet and pages that list fleas in New York City still include this one, as well as other defunct markets.
Spooky glass at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, by anniebee.
Lot 1020 at Doyle sale 07CN03: William Strutt English, Reclining Lions (2)
This Friday, collectors will be bidding on the Williamette Meteorite, which the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, consider sacred. The Times had a good article on Sotheby's Ariane Dandois sale, Direct from Paris, an Out-of-Business Sale Like No Other. And I like the drawings above, which are at Doyle on Wednesday with a reserve of $2-300. Even Manhattan auctions hold some affordable gems.
Continue reading "New York City auctions October 22-28, 2007" »
Olivia Garay
917-584-7171
Third Ave at 70th in front of Gracious Home
approximately 1:00 pm until 6:30 (or dark)
every nice day except when at an antiques show
Rising rents are forcing many dealers out of their shops and, presumably, out of Manhattan. Seventeen years ago, Olivia Garay went on the offensive: she shuttered her store, took out a vendor's licsense, and now sells her pricey designer and estate jewelry right out on the sidewalk.
The day I stumbled upon her cart, a Very Famous Actress was avidly presuing the goods. I didn't recognize her until I took a photo of Garay's table and the woman recoiled. Later, Garay asked me not to expose her identity (there goes my first sale to the tabloids, sob) but told me that whenever she's in New York from Paris, the film star makes it a point to stop by, with her loup, and shop. Apparently, the table attracts a number of other wealthy and famous patrons.
Continue reading "Only in New York: dealer sells pricey jewelry on the street" »
The International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show starts today. The Times review had this to say: "How much money do you need to shop at the International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show, the ostentatious jumble sale at the Seventh Regiment Armory through Thursday? Let’s just say that when a tureen costs $3 million, and a mirror is the same price as a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, working folk beware."
The tureen they're talking about is the one I have pictured under the hi/lo report. (I wonder what the knives are now going for....) The dealer bought the piece on Saturday and is trying to turn it around for three times what he paid. Worth it? The only other in existence is owned by Queen Elizabeth.
Also this weekend: the Gramercy Park Antiques Show, the International Vintage Poster Fair, and (out of town) Atlantique City. Check the Shows + Fair guide for details.
If you're interested in old things as a career (in which case you'd probably need to refer to antiques with more respect) the Bard Graduate Center and Christie's are both holding open houses on Monday, the 22nd, from 6–8.
On Tuesday, check out Bard's lecture on authenticating silver, The Fake's Progress.
The Princess Grace Tribute continues at Sotheby's; besides the usual suspects, Poster Auctions International is holding a sale, as well as Richmond Galleries over in Staten Island. Read NY1's review. Best, after the "magnificent jewels" of the past weeks, we have another type of rock on view: meteorites, at Bonham's.
Bonhams sale 15648: lot 8, , The l'Aigle Meteorite Shower-One of the Most Important Meteorites in History
Continue reading "New York City auction previews: October 20–26" »
Auction houses trumpet their highest bids. But what's on the other side of the scale? A random sampling from last week's Manhattan auctions:
Doyle and Swann prices do not include buyer's premium; Sotheby's prices do. Final prices may be subject to change.
UPDATE: Ugh. As of 2014, this flea seems to have died! Here, for laughing purposes (the kind where you're really crying) is my story from 2007:
Dying? Dead? Hardly. After being told that few vendors were left, and remembering a dreary visit in the 90s where its condition seemed, at best, anemic, I arrived expecting to find this little flea on life support. What a surprise–the place was bustling. The goods tilt heavily towards vintage jewelry, but there were fewer crafts than at other markets, more satisfactory "old things" to browse through, and even at 5:00, with many sellers beginning to pack their wares, the market felt lively.
Many dealers enjoy a strong following. Bob, the market manager, pointed out one fine jewelry merchant with customers who have been coming to him for over fifteen years; some upper east side ladies stand by his table for two or three hours at a time on the weekend.
Continue reading "East 67th Street Market: vital and alive" »
Ebay and development are usually blamed for the disappearance of flea markets and antique districts in New York.This weekend I heard another explanation. The manager of the 67th Street Market thinks that Antiques Road Show is in many ways responsible for the gasping trade.
Back in the day, dealers drove upstate and shopped yard sales for merchandise. Now, anybody planning a garage sale probably watches Antiques Road Show and knows or thinks they know what an item is worth. (I guess the poor slob who tossed the $198,000 Charles Rolph chair in the garbage wasn't a fan of the show.) It's becoming more difficult for traders to find sources from which they can buy and make a good profit.
Maybe it's time to stop supporting public broadcasting!
Yard sale goodies may carry a higher price than you might think.
photo by Sean Lloyd
Lot 66 at Swann, photo by Jacques Henri Lartigue
The auction theme this week in Manhattan is photographs, jewels and watches.
Continue reading "New York City auctions: October 15–21, 2007" »
The other auctions houses seem to be taking a breather, but Christie's and Sotheby's rampage on. Get your Halloween pumpkin picking done early with this nice tureen (by Nardi, lot #2 at Christie's Magnificent Jewels). Sotheby's pulls out the stops with a two week tribute to Princess Grace; will there be clothes you can mix and match with your new Kempner threads?
Continue reading "New York City auction previews: October 13–19, 2007" »
photo: Mike Sheehan
His neighbor's trash! That's where a trailer-park resident discovered a rare Arts & Crafts chair made by Charles Rolhfs. Did he understand what he'd found? Well enough, apparently, to have it appraised. The appraisal was $30,000 but last week at Cottone Auctions in Geneseo, NY, the hotly contested chair sold for $198,000. Someone's singing "Movin' On Up" in the trailer park tonight.
But since this is a blog about finding antiques in New York City, why do we care? Because we're surrounded by the same opportunities.
Continue reading "On your way to Christie's, try some dumpster diving" »
A lecture on October 23 by silver specialist Alastair Dickenson will discuss forgery and how to tell the real from the fake. Learn how disreputable silversmiths and dishonest dealers might swindle you. Mr. Dickenson's resume includes acting as the silver expert on BBC's "Antiques Road Show." His talk, 6–8 pm at Christie's, will follow a seminar in silver fakes and forgeries being run all day at the Bard Gradate Center.
Doyle+Design lot 4020, Attilio Salemme, "Abstract Figures."
There's a full week's worth of running around town, if you're inclined, with six previews at Sotheby's, three at Christie's, and two each at Doyle, Stack's, and Swann Galleries.
Why are many people intimidated by auctions? Admit it–deep inside you're afraid that you'll sneeze or blink and voila! you're heavily in debt for Van Gogh's "The Fields." It's almost like we fear that auction houses fill quotas by pouncing on the unsuspecting.
I started to wonder if there was a movie or TV show, way back in our collective dimly-lit, black-and-white past, that somehow contributed to this sense of unease. I googled "auction phobia" and eureka! someone had the answer. In episode 64 of the Dick Van Dyke show, "The Masterpiece," Dick attends an auction where he pulls on his earlobe, scratches his nose, and nods his head, all the while wondering who is pushing the bidding up so high until–you guessed it–he's declared the winner.
Relax. It doesn't work that way. But if you're feeling any queasiness at all, Doyle New York is running four free informal sessions called "How to Buy at Auction." They will cover all procedures and provide the most basic step-by-step instructions. (Hint: you raise your hand or paddle.)
In addition, Thursday night, October 4th, Doyle is offering a "New Collectors Evening" that will preview the exhibition of the Doyle+Design auction. There will be specialists to answer your questions, and there will be wine to calm any lingering Dick Van Dyke-induced auction phobia.
Tomorrow, October 2, outfits belong to the late Nan Kempner will go on auction as part of Christie's House Sale. And in November, in a Sotheby's sale, Calvin and Kelly Klein are divesting themselves of jewelry once in possession of the Duchess of Windsor.
Is the allure the object or the owner? Obviously, in the case of the famous Jackie O auction, the latter. For the Kempner sale, "We've set estimates considering the condition, the collector, as well as the date and the style of the items," says Laura Layfer, couture specialist in the house sales department at Christie's. I'm kind of a Banana Republic girl myself, but a quick look at the catalogue leads me to believe that this Bill Blass and Calvin Klein get up for $3–500 might be a deal.
Continue reading "Clothing of the rich and famous on auction in NYC" »
