Buying Vintage part II

I'm not sure if regret is the right word but there are a few pieces that go through your hands that you just wish you could keep and here are a few sofas I've had that I believe are very special.



This cantilevered sofa by Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin (above) is probably one of his best designs and again one of the early pieces I sold through mid-centuryonline.com. It is a firm and comfortable sofa with one of the most amazing profiles of any sofa Ive ever seen. I meet the lady who bought it every so often and she loves it so Im very happy though Id take it back in the moring if she wasn't.

There are a pair of chairs that were also in this line that I would love to own if anyone reading this blog ever sees them for sale or has them to sell then please let me know...I'm attaching a photo below of the chairs taken from Los Angeles Modern Auction / icollector.com.










I also had this beautiful large curved sofa (below)which had a real 50's styling to it, there was no label attached and I still have not seen another but this was top quality craftmanship in beautiful original condition and it went to a stunning new built modernist home. The wood trim which I believe was walnut and the legs were angled almost to a point in a really 50s way like the fins you see on the back of cars from that period and there were beautiful angles everywhere. If anyone reading can shed any light as to the maker I would love to hear from you.














The last sofa on this list is covered in the maddest fabric but looking beyond that fabric is the frame of an extremely elegant sofa. I love the way it floats above the base allowing light to stream in under and around the piece. This sofa also went to a beautiful new built modernist house and into a light filled room so it should look amazing. The thing I think that is funny about this sofa is that it was originally covered in an eggshell blue 50s fabric and somebody took it off to replace it with this mad patterned fabric..Yay the 70's. Anyway this sofa also had no label and Ive never seen the base of the frame like it but the top rail of the frame is very similar to some from Adrian Pearsall so for now thats my best guess.












If you can shed any light on the designer / maker of either of these sofas or if you want to offer me a sofa for sale or get advice on your sofa then please email me at killian@mid-centuryonline.com or comment below.

Thanks for reading.

Killian.

Buying Vintage

I'm going to go back over a few pieces I've sold during the last two years and hopefully give some form of insight into why I bought them and why I feel they will remain valuable over the coming the years and therefore avoid becoming landfill. My method for buying is based on whether or not I love the piece, I get an immediate and strong reaction to the pieces I buy and I envision how they would look in potential different settings. I obviously have some favorite designers like Milo Baughman and Willy Rizzo so I try to buy pieces by them but Im always coming across new designers and manufacturers that make interesting pieces.





These pink chairs (there were 4)were one of the very first things I sold. I purchased them in Florida and they had faded from an initial purple colour to a bright pink due to sun bleaching. The pink though looked great, it was a happy accident of sorts and the chrome once it was cleaned up was immaculate and really set off the pink. The chairs themselves were solidly built, they had a firm seat and back and were very comfortable to sit in. I cant see a day when a chair like this goes out of style so in my opinion they are a good buy because even if you have to ebay them you will certainly sell them and get most or all your money back and quite often you could make a profit.



Here are another pair of chairs I sold early on, these went to a house in London with what looked like a very nice collection of interesting modern and vintage furniture. These chairs were unmarked when I bought them and I sold them as in the "style of Vladimir Kagan". At the time Im not sure if I was aware of another similar designer called Adrian Pearsall so I went with Kagan as the influence. The chairs were really well made, very solid and in very good condition. At the time I sold these signed pieces of Kagan furniture was starting to get really expensive and Pearsall was still quite reasonable but now Pearsall furniture is starting to attract a lot of attention and the prices have been steadily creeping up all the time. While these chairs may not be by either designer they certainly will appeal to the buyers of Kagan and Pearsall so that will make these chairs a good long term investment for their current owner. They get to use them and love them and if they ever change their mind there will be a market waiting for them when their time to move on comes.

Buy things you like but the most important thing is to try to buy quality. Quality items will always sell even in depressed markets so buy the best you can and enjoy them while you have them. Look up Vladimir Kagan, Adrian Pearsall and Milo Baughman if you have time, they have some beautiful pieces though in the case of Baughman his name is becoming a byword for chrome framed items so there a huge amount of false attributions to his name. The way to avoid buying a non Baughman piece is to check and see if the piece has a label.