Antiqueswest "Guest Columnist" I.M. Chait - "The Internet and the World of Art"

by
I.M.CHAIT

How has the Internet affected the world of art, antiques and jewelry? The real question is how has it not?

We can all agree that in the 21st Century, things move at a rate exponentially faster then they did in the past. It becomes commonplace for inventions and innovations to be so ingrained and so part of normal operating bases as to be taken for granted.

One of the most radical and progressive inventions of humankind was the printing press. It probably took one or two hundred years (or even longer) for most of the world to become "matter-of-fact" about printed books. Another such monumental invention, in more recent times, was the World Wide Web and Internet. This is an invention that has radically changed most all of our lives, most all of our businesses and has created the greatest number of opportunities as well as pitfalls for human kind since the invention of fire.

Just last night at the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles, there was an event celebrating 25 years of the Gem & Mineral Council, a membership group connected with the museum. About 150 people were in attendance who were involved in the buying, selling and collecting of minerals, gems and jewelry. At our table was a world famous jewelry designer and various mineral experts as well as an "old time" miner.

The conversation turned to how things have changed and I boldly proclaimed to all that the Internet has changed completely how gems, minerals and jewels are bought and sold or learned about. What I said literally was that "the Internet" has totally changed the playing field.

There isn't anything you can't find on the Internet. If you want to know how much a pair of 1 carat diamond studs might cost for your wife's birthday, you have hundreds to choose from online. If you want to know about the recent mining of a mineral in Tanzania, all the data is available. If your grandmother passed away and left you an Art Deco platinum and diamond bracelet, you can shop it online. Literally there is hardly anything that can’t be done online that needed to be done in the old days through personal contact in a store, through glossy photographs, and through various and sundry antique shows, etc.

If a client wants to see pictures of a piece of jewelry, your "megapixel high definition camera" will download the image and you can email it and it will arrive in moments. If you are looking to buy that pair of earrings for your wife but want to see the GIA report, it can be scanned and sent to you immediately. If you want a three-dimensional view of the mineral specimen, there are cameras and programs now that can do this rapidly and cheaply. I could go on and on but you all know what I am talking about.

Each and every day, there are millions of items related to antiques, jewelry and gems being sold online and millions and millions of viewers looking. Let’s go one step further. Where are these viewers located? Where are these sellers located? The answer is "anywhere and everywhere" on planet Earth. And even in what you might call "Third World" countries or countries with restrictive governments, there are public Internet cafes. And even where there are now high speed or Wi-Fi connections, there are still modems and on my many travels I have seen people hook their laptops up to their cell phones for dial-up connections. It truly is a World-Wide-Web.

In my own business of antique auctions, our client base has become fully international and you might say, more Web-based than the norm for auctions in the past. Inquiries come from all over the world when people view our online catalogues. With our online bidding platform, we have clients all over Asia, Europe, Canada, South America, Australia, South Africa and even one in a weather station near the North Pole who can sit and relax, with a cup of coffee, in his pajamas, watch the auction and bid just by clicking the mouse.

The most interesting part of all this is that now-a-days we all consider this "the norm."

ISADORE M.CHAIT, owner of the I.M. Chait Gallery in Beverly Hills, has been a dealer of Asian and Fine art for more than forty years, is an appraiser, and auctioneer of Asian and Fine arts.

The Postman Always Rings Twice - 'Cause He's A Customer

In business for 15 years now Antiqueswest.com is constantly surprised by the extent of its own reach.

We've sold a lot of cool antiques in that time and managed to reunite a great many old items with the descendants of their original owners. We really like that.

But as a result of this constant interaction with folks who like the same old stuff we do, we find that that the once great circle of collectors and buyers is tightening somewhat.

This was borne out recently when a replacement mailman came to our door for a delivery and promptly said: "You're the antique guy."

He got that part right and I said so. That's when he said: "I've bought a bunch of things from you."

He gave me his card and I recognized him from his email address, of all things.

"Nice to finally meet you," he says, before climbing back into his truck and running off to complete his rounds.

And there you have it. Our customers are everywhere - and neither sleet, nor hail, nor dark of night will deter them from their collecting ways.

Antiques That Go "Boom"

Since we like old "Boy Toys" and that extends to sharp, shiny objects and some things that have gone "boom" at some point in their ancient lives, we at Antiqueswest have come across some pretty interesting old junk - er, antiques in our time.

There was the rat in the old howitzer tube, the World War II ammo for a Japanese Arisaka and the Mills Bomb on the bedside table. But never, ever have we found a box full of live fragmentation grenades.

Authorities at an Iowa appraisal event called the fire department and they, in turn, called the boys down at the bomb squad after someone came in carrying a box of - live - WWII-era "pineapples."

The box of Second War memorabilia included two of the grenades with the pins still in them. The owner had no idea what they had brought in and watched in stunned amazement as authorities carried the box away for destruction.

AntiquesWest Says: "Antiques Market Coming Back..."

After 2009 proved to be a veritable Sargasso Sea of stalled sales and picky buyers, there are new signs of life in the antiques market.

How do we know? Why, sales are up, of course, and we're getting more calls than ever - thanks in part to rebounding global financial markets and a rosier outlook at home.

For which we're grateful. People were feeling positively glum out there last year.

But recent shows in New York City and our own comparatively small business model are positive indicators. Good buys are still out there, too, especially in 18th- and 19th-century English and American furniture - where prices were hit hardest in the Depress... recession of '09.

The Winter Antiques Show in the Big Apple went well, we're hearing, with attendance up roughly 20 percent, to at least 22,000. Sales were strong throughout its 10-day run."

Okay, you don't want to hear us yammer on, you want to know where the bargains are, right? Well, try militaria, furniture, photographs, carpets, ethnographic art, beds and furniture made of exotic woods.

There you have it. Welcome back!

Tavern On The Green Auctions Off The Tiffany Glass

Beachcombers Find 18th Century Navigational Device

Beachcombers are a common sight on Long Beach Island. But the occasional lost class ring or buffalo nickle can't hold a candle to what Diana Adam found in a tidal pool one October morning ten years ago.

A metallic object, obviously deposited after a blowy nor'easter, was there just begging to be picked up and added to her collection of "beach junk." So she did, labeling it a "sextant" in her mind on the way home.

Recently, however, appraisers at the Antiques Roadshow said the quadrant would sell for $1,000 at auction but belongs in a museum and is priceless because of its age and the nature of its discovery.

Old Masters Prove Attractive Draw For New Money, Antiques Still A "Buy"

"No Wonder Grandma Was Always So Happy... And Hungry"

Antiqueswest has found some interesting things in old things that have come our way, including gold coins and an Imperial Russian jetton in an old desk; a very active rat in an old cannon tube, and some Confederate documents behind an old picture.

But this was an interesting find...

Hey, it happens. What are you gonna do?

Antique Dealer Uses Craigslist - And Regrets It

We're not big believers in the "big box" online sales components called Ebay and Craigslist.

Friends left Ebay in droves when their rates climbed and their vetting process slid and now no one we know uses it unless they want a cheap knockoff Tiffany bracelet or rebel belt buckle.

So when those same friends suggested Craigslist as a free alternative to the Ebay/Paypal money machine we thought: "What the heck..."

We posted a saddle. A nice old highback with some history, and kept the description informative and straightforward. We weren't prepared for the response - which was heavy - or the tenor of the replies, which were just this side of insane.

We can't tell you what the first reply said, it was incredibly profane and disconnected. For an instant we considered writing something like "please take your meds" but then saw little sense in that and said nothing.

That didn't stop them. Three Nigerian wire-transfer scammers tried next, promising to send a check they had "mistakenly" cut for three times the price of the saddle if I would wire the difference to them in Lagos. This is pretty much the oldest scam in the book and I was going to ignore them, too, until one guy - probably sitting in his shorts and flip-flops in an internet cafe in Lagos - pushed it and asked when the wired funds would arrive.

We told him to come by the San Francisco field office of the FBI, International Fraud Division (no such thing) and we would personally hand over the money. That resulted in the following email message:

"*uck You You Stupid American Fool."

Then there were the Craigslist "experts." These are people who feel free to weigh in on your post, telling you where you've misidentified your item and how you're a moron for posting it at the suggested price. Oh, and by the way, they'll by it for $25.

We've since heard there are some frustrated individuals out there who like to string sellers along, asking seemingly pertinent questions and attempting to draw them into a meeting to consummate the transaction - and then not show up.

Lovely people.

Circuitous Route For Antique San Francisco Fire Badges

If you've been in this game for awhile you come to realize that the things we pursue sometimes take circuitous routes before they find their way home to us.

Here's a recent example. If you know us you know we have a special thing for California police and fire badges. We've found them in a variety of unique and interesting places, but recently had the lesson driven home again when we took a call from a gent in Pittsburgh, PA.

It seems he'd inherited a couple of old San Francisco Fire Department buzzers, one a retirement badge and the other a San Francisco Fire Association badge, presented in 1925. Gold with ruby and diamond embellishments and lovely from the look of them.

We chatted and arranged to have them shipped back to the San Francisco Bay Area for inspection and purchase. The badges belonged to Capt. William J. Kenealey, a rootin-tootin' firefighting man who went five rounds with Jim Corbett and pulled off more than one rescue in his long and storied career.

We were able to determine this because along with the badges came a rather large box filled with correspondence, clippings and other items - including his log book. Great reading, and finally home again.

Nice to have you back in the San Francisco Bay Area, Capt. Kenealey. Welcome home.

Archeology Ace "Chip" Stanish Says Ninety Five Percent of Ebay's Antiquities Offerings Are Fake

You want a KKK pocket knife or a bogus Tiffany ring - Ebay's the place for you.

Charles "Chip" Stanish, director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, says archaeologists were initially "terrified" that Ebay's arrival in the online antiquities market would send demand for ancient objects sky-high and more looters into sacred spaces in search of fodder.

But that didn't happen, not because of Ebay's self-policing (which most admit is pretty poor) but rather because most of the fraudsters selling there quickly realized they didn't need the real deal - they only needed the cheap knockoffs already proliferating on the tourist market.

In the May/June issue of Archaeology magazine Stanish goes on to say:"Now, 95 percent of the stuff you're looking at on eBay is not real."

An Ebay spokesman says that if fake antiquities were as rampant as Stanish says, buyers would complain and eBay would police the problem, but that it's not a problem they "hear about."

Hmmm.

From Russia, With No Love Whatsoever...

Things on the slow side these last two weeks or so as people sat on the sidelines, I guess, and wait to make sure the country's financial news was really as good as people were saying.

Upticking stock market, lower jobless rates, a few good economic indicators we thought would get people feeling good about spending again but nosireee, not these last two weeks.

Sure, we sold a nice Plains Indian pipe bag (thanks, Norm) and some lower end WWII things - all to nice people, but nowhere near the high-volume, high-end sales of yore. One interesting tale involved a call we made to a house in San Francisco, the lady adamant that we appraise her antiques.

She was interesting, let's put it that way. Rather brusque and not a lot of fun to be around. I resolved to "get in, get out" as she was making rather pointed comments about our pricing and services.

Long story short she didn't have much at all until I got to an old desk, partner's type and nice enough - I put it down as English in origin. She was hovering, jabbering on about stuff and distracting me - so much so that I almost passed one of the desk drawers, which was balky and unseated.

"There's something wrong with it," she said. "But that shouldn't hurt the price, right? It's early 18th Century..."

"Twentieth," I responded, and shouldn't have... but what the hell. About 1910. Nothing spectacular. I worked on the drawer a little more and quickly realized something had fallen down behind it. Shifting drawers revealed the problem as a lovely little sterling silver czarist military jetton fell out of the carcass and landed with a lovely warm feel in the palm of my hand.

Nice marks, all Cyrillic lettering and three piece construction... I guessed it's age at about 1890 and probably from one of the higher end military academies. I didn't have as long as I'd like to study it because she snatched it from me.

"What's this?" she said. I told her. I had a sinking feeling when I did but nevertheless, I told her. The badge disappeared into her sweater pocket as she prattled on about thieves and con men and how she'd had such good luck with ebay.

I was heartsick. In my hand and gone, probably to be misidentified and raffled off at the earliest opportunity. I did my job and left her, still grooving on the way that little badge dropped right into my palm.

And that's the way it goes in the antiques biz.

Minding The Curators - When Museums Go Bad

Our customers are always so surprised when they learn we buy a lot of things from museums around the country. Many labor under the impression that museums are just these great big warehouses where cool old things come in, are cared for, and displayed in a way to benefit the former owner's tax status.

Sometimes. But those warehouses cost money, have limited space, and cannot accomodate the flow of incoming items. So the museum "deaccessions" - a fancy word for sells off duplicate items or things they cannnot build a display around.

And we buy it. We've purchased items from the Smithsonian and small local museums around the country, and loved the items we've gotten. We often receive a phone call from people trying to get it back, thinking they'd donated it to the museum in perpituity.

Nope. Not the way it works.

And sometimes, things go way wrong, with the curator taking the items that come in to the museum and "deaccessioning" them for himself.

This happened recently in the Northern California town of Fortuna, when a former curator of the Fortuna Depot Museum was arrested for skimming off some cool - fishing items - and selling them on E-Fraud, we mean, Ebay.

The accused has been charged with stealing museum items, some of which he later sold on eBay for $826.18.

Investigators said the items consisted of around 40 pieces of antique fishing equipment dating from the 1920s through the 1940s. All were later found at the man's home.

"I guess there's a collector's market on that stuff," an investigator remarked. Well, yeah, copper - there is.

The curator was booked on charges of grand theft and possession of stolen property and later released on his own recognizance.

So, consider this a cautionary tale about museums - they don't always do what they're supposed to do, and sometimes the things we all love so much are reduced to the status of mere commodities. It's a fact of life, if somewhat sordid.

Know who you're donating to and get the details in writing. It's the best advice we can give you.

"Let Them Eat (Urp)... Cake"

Those who know us know we have had a longstanding love affair with things British for many years - the architecture, the people, the antiques.

And every so often an item ends up on a dealer's table or under the auctioneer's hammer that makes us smile and say: "That's just so... so British."

Take the case of the royal wedding cake. A piece of one, that is... from the 1871 wedding of Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, Princess Louise, to the Marquis of Lorne.

Not the decoration, an actual piece of very old cake. Asking price: 145 pounds, or $215US. Would you shell out your hard-earned pound notes for this slightly crumbly tidbit?

We'll find out - it goes up for sale today in Birmingham.

The slice, which is one-inch thick and protected by parchment, is a tiny portion of the towering 5-foot (1.5 meter) cake served at Princess Louise's wedding. The entire cake originally weighed over 225 pounds (102 kilograms) and took three months to create.

The wedding caused an uproar when Princess Louise angered the Prince of Wales by becoming the first British princess to marry a commoner. She was determined not to be burdened by the ritual of marrying another royal.

The cake slice is still wrapped in its original parchment, and it was kept for generations in a gentlemen's "cabinet of curiosity" where men kept treasures to show off, such as fossils and pieces of Egyptian art.

Old Guns and Buffalo Bill!

More items coming in via consignment as everyone still seems very much on the hunt for neat old things.

We've got some interesting American Indian items in as well as some antique guns and other neat old things, including a sally port reportedly from Yuma Prison and a bandsman's costume from the Buffalo Bill Wild West Shows.

Drop me a line if you're buying or selling, we're doing plenty of both at the moment and we're always looking for new friends.

Good hunting!

Of Cons and Coins

If you get into this game you are reminded every so often that many people covet what you have, and some are willing to try and take what they want.

It’s the not-so-gentile side of antique collecting. We don’t talk about it much, but it’s there. There are a lot of unsavory types in the world, particularly in these tough financial times, who are looking for “soft” targets.

Antique dealers are considered “soft targets.”

That’s why a colleague here in Northern California left his home one day to find a man waiting for him outside. There was an altercation, a stun gun was produced (not by our colleague) and the man was pushed back into his apartment, bound with duct tape and forced to stand by while this miscreant pillaged the dealer’s coin collection.

This appears to be happening more and more frequently as dealers advertise to meet buyers are lured to remote locations and are robbed, usually of money (why doesn’t that hurt as much as when they take our antiques?).

So, we’re getting cautious and taking steps to protect ourselves, our homes looking like armed camps even though we don’t keep anything of any real value there. I have a small safe in my place. I like it for its California feel and keep my scotch in it, and that’s all.

Many of us are loners, single men or women who like old things and perhaps don’t relate well to the modern world. It can be a problem.

We buy the cameras and the safes and all the rest, and try not to think about what can go wrong – until it does. Until then we share our love for old things with others we hope are likeminded.

It’s all we can do.

Strange Estate Sites I Have Seen... Part I

Definitely quieter out there these last two weeks as folks appear to be waiting for someone to write a more optimistic headline about the economy. I've had a few strange estate calls in recent weeks, with people feeling the effects of this meltdown and civility in short supply.

It's always dicey, going into someone's home to look at their things. We try to do it with respect, returning things they may have overlooked and of no obvious value but to their family, but sometimes there's just no pleasing people.

We were at one of the so-called "gated" communities in our area recently, to look at "some really good silver" and other "antiques" the lady of the house had called about. We've been to this development before, but this one stood out for some reason, not for the "his and her" Range Rover and Lexus (Lexi, plural?) in the driveway, but for the hubris exhibited by the owner.

Now, the house was probably $1.7 million by last year's realtor's listing and was certainly built to impress, as was the lady of the house. She motioned me inside, cell phone plastered to one ear, and made me take my shoes off - which was fine, as the whole house was white as a snowstorm.

But then I noticed something else.

"Sorry about the mess," she said. "The kids have been playing." I took a good look and saw that the walls bore an unfamiliar scrawl - crayon. The floors were marble but uncomfortably - tacky - from some spilled substance. There was a hole next to the mega-TV that looked like someone, probably upset over the Super Bowl results, put there with a fist.

"Uh..." I started.

"The silver's in here," Mrs. Maven says, waving me into the kitchen. There's more granite in there than in Half Dome, the refrigerater big as some morgues. Her kids, mercifully, blow past my ankles on their way outside to torture the family dog.

"Uh..."

"This was my mother's," she starts. "We've had it all looked at and we know what it's worth. We're not looking for lowball offers...and we'll only take cash."

It was all plate, nothing older than the kitten back at our house. Not only that but it was in abysmal condition. If it was indeed her mother's, the poor woman must have had a palsy because she dropped everything she owned.

"Is there anything else you want me to look at?" asks I. Her face falls.

"You don't want to make a bid for the silver?"

"It's not for me," I say. "Anything else?"

She couldn't have gotten me out of there any faster, pausing to lecture me at the door: "You could have let us know before we made the appointment that you're not serious."

"Sorry," I says. And sometimes that's all that's left to say to some people.

Fakes and Finds: More Coming in Every Day

Well, the economy is having a strange effect on the antiques world. More people are finding themselves in situations where they have to sell things, prices are soft in some areas and stronger than ever in others.

It's really hard to get a handle on what is happening to us. "Book Prices" are out the window, which is okay especially since Antiqueswest.com has always relied on comparative valuations when determining value.

We've been on the road a little these past few weeks, travelling to established collections and meeting with people who have contacted us in recent weeks to see what's out there and, also, to buy when possible.

As I've said, there are still plenty of nice things out there (watch our pages for more on this later), but there is also an increasing number of fantasy items and outright forgeries in the marketplace.

Initial impressions: Furniture is soft, particularly here in the West, with good pieces available for a relative song; paintings are also selling at about a half of what they were doing a year ago. We're seeing some very good copies of English pottery out there, and more facts are beginning to intrude on the historical arms and accoutrements sectors. Paper is, as it has been for some time now, very dodgy as several accomplished copyists are producing Civil War letters, commissions and even some diaries. This is disconcerting to say the least.

Like most of the country we're hoping the stimulus package has some positive effect on the national malaise, but we're not holding out hope as sentiment appears to be running deep and many old buyers are sitting on their wallets right now.

That said, whenever we get a nice piece in - check out our badge collection - they continue to sell briskly. The "best" continues to sell - and not just to semi-retired bankers and financial advisers on the lam from the SEC.

So, hang in there with us and give us a shout if you're buying and selling. We'll help when we can (some of the stories out there are horrendous) and try to get us all through this thing and back on track.

Thanks for visiting... and reading!

Antiqueswest.com

Dr. Carr's Car: A REAL Barn Burner

Just got a call from "The Brigadier," my London pal and resident U.K. antiques expert, and he says the automotive world is buzzing with news about that Bugatti they just found - and sold - for a record number this week.

Dr. Harold Carr died childless in 2007 at the age of 89 and no one knew what he had stored away in his dusty garage. Estate agents found a 1937 Bugatti 57S Atalante, one of 17 in existence, along with the rat and bat droppings and, as soon as word got out, the antique car dealers started lining up.

The Bugatti, a black two-seater, was delivered to Earl Howe, the first president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club and a winner of the 24 Hour Le Mans race, soon after it was completed on May 5, 1937. He kept the car for eight years, adding personal touches including a luggage rack, after which it changed hands a couple of times before Dr. Carr bought it from Lord Ridley, a member of the Northumberland gentry, in 1955.

He drove the car for a few years, but he parked it in the 60s. The Brigadier says it has exceptional originality, retaining original chassis, engine and drivetrain. Even the odometer gives a mileage of only 26,284, although the vehicle is almost 72 years old.

"It's an amazing piece of machinery," The General says. "When it was built most cars were doing only 50 mph or so - with tailwind. This beauty could do 120."

It could also do a million, $4.4 million to be precise, when the car went on the block at Bonhams Friday.

$25 Consignments: Sell Your Antiques!

Folks:

It has been great hearing from so many of you in recent weeks as economic conditions turn many of us "collectors" into "sellers." As usual, quality, early wares sell well and briskly - especially antique arms, early California pieces, photographs and militaria.

You can look at this "downturn" in a couple of different ways, I suppose, and I don't want to present too rosy a spin to it as people are, of course, suffering in many ways - but it also present opportunity for those who have saved wisely, want to invest, and have the means to acquire nice things as they "come out of the weeds."

This, we have seen at Antiqueswest, has been the case. So if you have something you wish to place with us, hit the "Consign" button and send us pictures of your item. A one-time $25 fee gets you hosting for three months on our site - though many things are not lasting for days! One caller recently told us a competing site offered to host his items for a considerable up-front fee and 50% off the sale price.

Again, Antiqueswest charges you just 10% of the final sale value when we move your item for us. An unlike other sites, you KEEP your item.

Check us out, you'll be glad you did!