Newel’s first participation in an antiques show, Avenue Antiques & Art at the Armory Show, has been an incredible learning experience.  While I might be critical of some aspects of how we could have done a better job, the overall effect on the public perception of our method of presentation was superb.  We attempted an innovative dramatic approach to displaying a sampling of our diverse inventory, and the startling and confounding reaction of the crowd was in evidence with the number of people who stopped to just take pictures of the booth. People who go to these shows want to see something new, and most were surprised not only by…

I really love the tag line “The Show is Newel”.  It says everything about this company and how antiques are used.  As the term “decorative arts” applies to furniture and furnishing (the Playbill description of Newel’s credit for supplying sets to Broadway shows in the 1930-70’s), they are part of a lifestyle as reflected in how they are used and displayed.  They all have a story and a past, so let the show begin! Newel is preparing to do its first “antiques show” with the Avenue Antiques Show at the Park Avenue Armory.  I might have to eat my crow with all my criticism of how these things operate.  However,…

There has never been a time of such dramatic changes in the art and antiques industry.  Certainly the last decade brought a steady diet of 20th Century in both paintings and decorative arts as a style trend, but the forms and methods of transaction have also been evolving.  With the newest auction methods, the Sotheby’s/Christie’s duopoly has reached new heights in their conflicts of interest built into their transactions.   Political influence aside, the ability to challenge these two “auctioneer” operators is beyond the ability of dealers to recognize, but primarily they lack any resources to make a case against them.  It has and always will be the impedance of…

Driving home tonight I heard on the radio a report about a Federal government raid on several hedge funds and included the name of Goldman Sachs (as if they wouldn’t add some cache).  The alleged actions were thought to involve some sort of insider trading information.  Would it make a difference if it was just “acknowledged” as a way of doing business?  Meet the art market; the Sotheby’s/Christie’s duopoly has made a science of this method. As having worked in this industry since the summer of 1969 (Woodstock anybody) I’ve seen great changes in valuation, buyers, and taste.  My first real experience in the market was when my grandfather would…

Besides looking at interesting and good merchandise as presented in a “fancy” antiques show, like the Haughton International Fine Art and Antiques Show in New York last week, it’s really fun to find the fakes or disastrously put together items.  Vetting? Excuse me! One of my favorite all time “finds” in one of those upscale shows was a magnificent Japanese round bronze jardinière with various animals like a lion, elephant, and monkey in relief. Great patina too, and I had 3 more.  The (French) dealer who displayed the piece is unfortunately no longer in business, but the vetting process is still promoted by the Show organizers as some sort of…

Antiques dealers should understand that their interests are not only with the public, but with themselves to survive.  They should also know that the interests of auctioneers are in direct conflict with how dealers operate. Public auctioneers are allowed to operate with blatant conflicts of interest along with a secret reserve deception.  The Sotheby’s/Christie’s duopoly is quite experienced at this and more, as a testament to their conviction of collusion back in the 1980s. As I was reading the Antiques and The Arts Weekly (The Newtown Bee) there was an article on a group of dealers, auctioneers, show managers, a trade publication, and a collector, among others in the industry…

I have written about my impression of the design trend “D’decade”, Mid-century Modern.  It probably hit its zenith several years ago at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House when the interior design trade exhibited its best talent in a classic mid-century designed apartment turned condo building, Manhattan House.  As I remember that event, nothing could have been less relevant to the design trade than antiques. Times seem like they may be changing.  It has always seemed that through almost 4 decades, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House was the singular place to exhibit as a professional interior designer.  Interestingly, this year several designers have requested pieces that I believe make…

The “go-go” years of the antiques trade in the 1980s relished the economy’s inflationary bias.  The effect on prices for these objects was devastating, in a good way.  Prices, like homes values prior to the present “Great Recession” had nowhere to go but up, up, up.  As long as I can conceive of pricing in this industry, the possibility of a contraction was not only remote, but strictly limited to small segments that might go out of fashion.  The comparison to real estate is uncomfortably similar. Real property and antiques are tangible in a different manner than gold, jewelry, or stocks & bonds.  Real estate and an 18th Century chair…

Sometime you have to look at the gift horse and wonder why and where did you come from?  For the art and antiques trade, the recently passed American financial reform legislation has many intriguing possibilities.  By creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the legislation would allow this government sanctioned agency to oversee some of the dubious operations of auctioneers like Sotheby’s and Christie’s.  No class action law suit needed, nor any call to create Federal or State legislation specifically focused on auctions. The August issue of the Maine Antiques Digest had an interesting article written by Daniel Grant that explained the details and possibilities of the Bureau as well as…