A Treasure - Currier and Ives Print

Once and awhile you pick an item that makes your heart skip a beat, a real treasure. This garage sale find was one of those.

What was the item?  Only a Currier & Ives hand tinted print, titled AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAIN.

I've since sold the print, so I can only offer you a photo of a photograph I have, as seen below.

It was impressive, being quite large, roughly 3' wide, and it had been matted and framed. The frame was a modern one, with holes drilled in the edges. That does raise a red flag, as it usually indicates it was screwed to the wall of a restaurant or hotel room, and that would scream that it was likely  a reproduction. 

However, this one had all the hallmarks of an original! Plus, add to the fact that many places were decorating with vintage items, and there were plenty of people who fancied themselves to be decorators at the time, who were basically pillaging some attics and using whatever they found  as decor in some restaurants. I have spotted some formerly very good pieces in some of those restaurants....and I say "formerly" because some fool drilled holes through the items, impaled them on lag bolts, etc. It is sad to see what used to be a $500 item reduced to a $25 decor piece...

Anyways, the print in question was well done, and as far as any of the knowledgeable local dealers could tell, it was the "real deal." 

Now I was getting enthused!  

Why? Well, I had been looking through a magazine, and there was an article on that very print....the last one of these that sold at auction not a year before I found mine, had sold in range of $50,000!

So, the next thing I had to do was send it to an auction house, which I did. I seem to recall it was Sotheby's in New York, I believe.

So, I sent it on its way, rolled in a tube, and awaited their assessment.

I was told it was a very high quality piece.....but they would not be interested in consigning it in their auction, as it was also a reproduction.

They sent it back to me....with a bill for professional art packing, amounting to $250 US or so!

So, my initial $15 purchase now totalled a cost of nearly $200.  It was most certain professionally packed, flat, and well protected....but I would have been happier had they sent it back to me in a tube as I had sent it to them.

On the plus side, they appraised it at $500.

In the end, I did sell it on eBay, for $350, as a high quality reproduction.

It was a learning experience, which luckily I basically broke even, between postage, eBay fees, time, etc.

Oh well, can't win them all....but winning one once and awhile would be nice, wouldn't it?

The 3 F's - Future, Family, Furniture

Made a trip to Winnipeg last week; mainly to take my stepdaughter back to her home. With us we brought an antique wardrobe she had purchased from a friend of ours.  The unit is quite large, being about 7 1/2 feet tall. Quite the beautiful piece; exterior components being made with single super-wide planks of oak, 1880s, sporting hand cut dovetails and machine cut square nails. It is likely European (more than likely British) in origin, considering it had evidence of the type of woodworm occupation seen on many European pieces.  Woodworm, of which the sort that this piece shows damage from, does not occur in Canadian made items, due to our climate being less than ideal for that pest to survive in.

Being the loving step-dad, I got to load/pack/secure the wardrobe, deliver it, help unload it, and even repair/re-glue it, etc once it was in her apartment.  Her dad (yes, her dad and I are on friendly terms) supplied the claps and assorted tools I did not have with me. She's lucky to have 2 loving dads and a loving mother, all interested and plenty of experience in the antiques business. That has helped her in various past endeavors  and interests, and will help her in the future. She will realize this more and more as she goes through the years, but at present, she is young (21) and may not realize how much help this support will provide & educate her. No matter, she is on her own life path, and we are here to assist her.

Sometimes I am sure she thinks we are being a pain in the butt, critical, annoying, stupid, or just plain irrational....all of which might be true on occasion! She'll just have to sort out which times are legitimately "nutty" and which are truly our attempts to help steer her in a positive direction.  That is part of life experience, and she's an intelligent sort. As with anyone young & newly "out on their own," the haze created by the glitter, dismay, annoyance, sadness, excitement, anticipation etc, of her current  daily experiences, many of which are fresh and new, will become "ho-hum" and commonplace.

Once that occurs, the fog will clear, and she will see  things far more clearly, and in ways she didn't view them before.

We love her, and wish to see her succeed in whatever she wishes to pursue.

The lives of those in the "junk biz" are quite different from the "mainstream", and thus seem unusual to those who have never been part of this lifestyle. We are the same as everyone else in this world, really.   We have faults, needs, desires, goals, ups, downs, wishes, fantasies, dreams, interests, dislikes, good habits, bad habits, and  all the other long list of positive, neutral and negative attributes which comes with being human. 

So, now that everyone is weeping and feeling all gushy, it is time to change the subject!

This particular piece I had seen at an local antiques auction. I didn't stay for the entire sale, as I didn't need stock, and had bills to pay.  Knowing that it was a good piece, I had no doubt it would sell for $400 at minimum, despite some of is issues.  It was a well advertised sale, and every good item that was being sold received bids that were at retail levels,and most were actually exceeding retail levels. 

Tip, just because it is an auction, does not mean you are buying it wholesale no matter what you pay!

And that includes bidding against a dealer....we collect, too!  We also bid & buy on behalf of friends, relatives, collectors, etc! Plus, we are not stupid...we know when you are just trying to "bid us up"...and that is a dangerous game to play....it may cost you far more than you would think, and I don't mean just in dollars and cents, though you will take a hit in your pocketbook, for sure....if not at this auction, it may be the next.  The antiques community is far smaller than people would think, and with online social networks, your little game may have consequences that reach further than your local community.

No, nothing occurred at this auction to make me venture into that little tirade...just some good, solid advice for those newbies out there who may be tempted to play the games that some reality shows portray. Real life is not like Reality TV.. The true REALITY is that when you find the consequences of your actions coming back to haunt you, affecting you in negative ways, it is suddenly no longer amusing, interesting, nor  entertaining.

So, back to the wardrobe....

I found out later that an "oak" wardrobe at the sale sold in excess of $600. There happened to be two wardrobes at the sale, only one of which was really oak. 

My assumption was that it was the oak piece that had sold for $600+, and I was not surprised. Well worth that, and with a few repairs/restoration, and if assembled properly (the auction company's staff had assembled it with the base upside down!) it could garner $1500 - $2000.

The other wardrobe sold for $50, and it was a local used furniture dealer who purchased it, who we deal with and are friendly with.

I heard another friend of ours bought the wardrobe, and for a still cheap amount of $250, delivered. Good profit for the furniture dealer, and a decent price for the wardrobe, which I assumed was the "faux oak" (see my "Test Time" posting) one. It was maybe worth $450, in my opinion.

When our friend showed it off to us, I was stunned to see it was the REAL OAK one...The "faux oak" one had sold for over $600!


The truly valuable one sold for a bargain basement price of $50!

  I thought that the base being flipped over was quite obvious, but in retrospect, it perhaps  was not obvious to all of the potential bidders. I can only assume that they looked at the (typical) heavy wear present on the upright facing underside's 125+ years of floor contact produced wear as severe damage...to what they assumed was portion of the side that was meant to be visible. .

Goes to show that, despite an item being at a well advertised, well attended auction sale (or ANY sale), you well may be the only person in the room that recognizes the true value of that object.