February 2007

I’ve been looking for funky retro water glasses and happened on this set in Hillsborough N.C this past weekend (at the “antique mall” in the “Daniel Boone” shopping center next to the Food Lion grocery store that sells more types of sausage then I can list here). I love how the glasses are a riff or meditation on the traditional blue willow china — Thanks to my grandmother, I have a couple of pieces of blue willow china and these glasses will get me to actually use them. Not to mention, the glasses are perfect for vodka tonics on our new balcony in the dog days of August. PS How amazing are the unicorn napkin rings !?! Predictably, T refused to let those into the house.

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In the course of my auction research I found the site igavel.com, which has a showroom in New York. The prices are high, but the quality is too. One highlight of their current auction is this miniature room (complete with French scenic wallpaper!). “Pink Parlor, Graeme Park, Hursham, PA, circa 1722″ was built by Mrs. Farnum and Thomas C. T. Brokaw, Harry Smith, Edward G. Norton and according to the auction website, was first exhibited at the Philadelphia Flower Show, 1977.

This room reminds me of the Doll’s House of Petronella Oortman c. 1686-1705 I studied in Survey of Decorative Arts I.

This is one of three seventeenth-century doll’s houses that have survived intact. It was commissioned by Petronella Oortman, a wealthy Amsterdam lady. The house is remarkable in that all of the components are made exactly to scale.

“Seventeenth-century doll’s houses were not children’s toys, they were a hobby. In the 17th century, many wealthy Dutch merchants had collections of one sort or another, which they kept in display cabinets. The wives of these well-to-do gentlemen also had collections, which reflected their personal interests: their homes. Some had large cupboards full of miniature furniture and dolls, replicas of a real home. These doll’s houses were sometimes on a magnificent scale. Whenever an important visitor dropped by, the host and hostess would show their collections. The master of the house would open the drawers of his cabinet and explain the contents to his guests, while his wife gave a comprehensive demonstration of her doll’s house. She would display the contents of the cupboards, reveal hidden spaces, light the lamps and would let real water gush from the fountain in the garden. Doll’s house demonstrations sometimes went on for hours. for ladies, comparable to the cabinets in which gentlemen kept their collections.”

I love the fact that 300 odd years apart, on different continents, two wealthy women produced such creative, unique objects that reflected themselves, no doubt.

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I’ve caught action fever. When I was 10 my mother and I would go down to the local auction house and check out the previews for the evening’s auctions. Everything was lined up on long dusty tables — I remember suitcases, old wooden kitchen utensils (my mother collects them still) and pink plastic dirty toys. My memories are hazy — I was 10 after all — but I also remember that coffee and sandwiches were sold in the back of the room and the old men sitting on stools. My favorite part was that the auction house sometimes ran a silent auction, so that if an item didn’t go for more then was bid at silent action during the live auction you’d still get to claim it. I think I even won a couple of things, but, I somehow don’t remember what I won. I also remember losing something I had really wanted (again, don’t remember).

This past weekend, I visited my parents, now living in North Carolina, and we went to the local auction house on Saturday night.
What amazed me was how much was the same — long tables (less dusty), coffee and sandwiches, old men sitting on stools. No pink plastic toys (but there were lots of christmas ornaments). However, on the whole there were some great antiques and good prices too. My parents bid on a sweet neoclassical loveseat and lost to a serious looking bidder on the other side of the room. Meanwhile, two silver haired women in their 60s right in front of us bought up prints and silver. The action was awesome, as was the mood in the room. My parents went go home with a wing chair for $60 dollars and two lovely lamps for $200.

High from the auction, I started researching good auctions near me in NY — any suggestions out there?

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