Something interesting is happening here. What we might have once described as junk is now fetching large amounts at auction, bought to decorate the thousands of new and renovated apartments built in recent times.
Fifty years ago people were picking up similar stuff from op shops like the famous Tempe Tip, a Salvation Army depot in St Peters in Sydney. These objects were destined for the Paddington terrace houses then being renovated by advertising executives and other arty farty types. Anyone remember all those penny farthing bicycles being hung on the wall?
A half century on and Leonard Joel’s July 24 sale at the studio of Yuge and David Bromley in Chapel Street, Prahran in Melbourne, saw a packed room of punters competing for the couple’s eccentric collection of oddities.
A large-scale Japanese lamp in the shape of an ice-cream cone sold for $1159 including buyers’ premium (IBP), way above the modest estimates of $100 to $200. Another strong result was for an antique diver’s helmet on a stand, selling for $3137 IBP (estimates $600 to $800).
A vintage American horse-racing carousel, with hand-carved painted horses, sold for $3224 IBP (estimates $800 to $1200). An antique Remington typewriter sold for $366 IBP, above estimates of $80 to $120.
These fascinating objects have much the same impact as sculpture when featured in a contemporary space. Leonard Joel’s modern design specialist Anna Grassham says the current demand is probably the extension of the “shabby chic” style which began around five to 10 years ago.
You can now buy mass-produced Chinese reproductions of shabby chic, but the objects sold by Leonard Joel are unique one-offs. In June they had similar success with the sale of the contents of Warehouse 8, a funky antiques store on Malvern Road (now relocated).
Here the treasures included a 19th-century life-size timber statue of Jesus, a 1950s Grant Featherston R160 chair, a lightbox from a 1960s Bally pinball machine and a plug-in Joey the Kangaroo toy ride, as found in many 1970s shopping centres.
Jesus sold for $12,200 IBP, Grant Featherston fetched $6100 IBP, Joey was one of the few items to be passed in. Anna Grassham achieved clearance rates of around 90 per cent at both sales. The second stage of the Bromley’s sale, held at their Daylesford property, was also a success.
This decorating style allows for diverse objects from various decades to sit comfortably in one space, even in a contemporary one-bedroom box.
“People now want to fill their apartments with something nobody else has,” she explains. One stand-out piece is enough to add some personality.
This scene has attracted a new generation of younger private buyers, largely replacing the antique dealers who once dominated this market.
The most recent trend is for ’70s and ’80s furniture, meaning lots of chrome, leather and ABS plastics. There’s also renewed interest in the quirky Memphis style of the early 1980s, and Anna says there will be plenty of this available at her next sale on November 10.
[Source:-The Canberra Times]
