I'll take the Tiffany Studios desk set. It will look nice with my Chin Ying Laverne coffee table. :)

I like the Finn Juhl chairs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bronze and Enamel Tables

Apparently my ears are more refined than my eyes. I'd pass most of that up at a yard sale, guess that means I won't strike it rich with a lucky find, lol!

Rarity is part of the equation.

The Paul Evans Studio and Nakashima Studio pieces were fabricated by the maker or under his direct supervision. The Nakashima pieces like this are almost all commissions.

Some of the Evans is commission. Of the cabinets of this style, all are unique and I don't know how many were made but I am thinking several dozen.

The Adnet desk lamps are leather, so lots of hand work there.

The Finn Juhl chairs would probably cost about as much new as these, and the teak is probably better.

Keep in mind that these are Auction prices, too. If they are bought for retail sale the price will double.

Nakashima prices have leveled off a bit but the Paul Evans seems to keep going up. I can remember being able to get one of these cabinets for maybe 10-15,000, which, in retrospect seems like a bargain :)

"Nakashima prices have leveled off a bit but the Paul Evans seems to keep going up. I can remember being able to get one of these cabinets for maybe 10-15,000, which, in retrospect seems like a bargain :) "

When I was in my late teens, I fell in love with a Nakashima desk on display at the Nakashima studio. I was seriously considered buying it, but there was no way I could afford it. I'd thought of asking my parents for a loan but ultimately rejected that idea. I think the desk was about $2,000.

His furniture was not outrageously priced if you commissioned it.
Commissioning now is more expensive, but probably aligned with buying upper tier off-the-rack furniture.

I looked at a dining room table at auction that was expected to reach $60,000, and it came with the original receipt from the mid 1960s for $600 and some odd.

"His furniture was not outrageously priced if you commissioned it. Commissioning now is more expensive, but probably aligned with buying upper tier off-the-rack furniture."

Unfortunately, to this teen, $2,000 was a lot of money for a desk! How I wish I'd bought it though.

"I looked at a dining room table at auction that was expected to reach $60,000, and it came with the original receipt from the mid 1960s for $600 and some odd."

Which auction was it? When?

We had Mira chairs among other things. I believe my parents paid around $35 per chair.

I still don't like any of the Paul Evans things. Too square, not enough grace and fluidity. Maybe too much angular metal? But I love the Laverne tables. There's another probably-too-late, should-bought-it then: I first saw those at auction previews several years ago and coveted, just lusted after them. But I was reluctant to bid: would I get tired of the look?

I think Paul Evans's furniture was to be found at the Phil Powell New Hope studio, although I'm not 100% sure. That's another place I could have visited at any time but never did.

I don't mind the Paul Evans cabinetry, because you can look at it as a huge sculpture. The tables are a mixed bag. I find the sofas and chairs particularly ungainly and some of them are really kinda ugly.

The thing about getting tired of something like this --I don't think I would get tired of Nakashima or a Chan table--but if I *did*, there would be a ready market for it.

I can appreciate everything there except for the Nakashima desk. I just don't get it. It seems ugly to me, like it was modeled on an ironing board.

Interesting because of all of this Nakashima will consistently retain its value.

Ten years ago you could've gotten the Laverne, the Dunbar, or much of the Paul Evans, for a fraction of what it goes for today.

Not so for the Nakashima. With a couple blips, the value of his pieces, over time, has done nothing but gone UP, sometimes precipitously.

Do I sound hopeless if I say the bookcases aren't that much different than Ikea expedit?

Carrie

You are right: the form is similar, but the Wormley bookcases are Mahogany and hand-stitched leather.

You are welcome to all of it.
Not my thing :-)

kswl, I think that sometimes, you have to see things in person. It can make a world of difference, e.g., like pal has commented, the Wormley bookcases (which I don't like btw) are mahogany and leather, neither of which shows up in the image. Another example is the Nakashima desk. nancybee, if you could see that desk top in person, I wonder how you'd react. It's simply a gorgeous wood, one I've seen in Nakashima before, with burls and a beautiful , silky smooth finish.

pal, I see your point about the Evans as sculpture. But then, I don't like every piece of sculpture I see, do I? ;) It's interesting though, but I keep scrolling back up to look at the cabinet again. I can't say I like it, but it does hold my interest.

As much as I try there are also some Nakashima pieces I can't love. I like virtually all the live-edge pieces with the butterfly tenons, but some of the burl pieces are not my favorites.

As the Evans cabinets like these are re-collected and disappear from the market again, the later pieces like the Argente series are starting to come onto the market from Their original owners. Size and style are similar but they are silver with black, blue and maroon enameling and much more forbidding than the bronze-y warm enameled pieces like above.

This post was edited by palimpsest on Fri, May 24, 13 at 22:19

This sort of piece, while technically kind of ugly, is kind of beautifully ugly, une belle laid kinda thing, and there is kind of an Organic quality to it:

These later pieces, I can't quite like. There is a sort of inorganic or made from a meteor from outer space quality to these. They are much more approachable price-wise, too, in the tens of thousands, not $100K. Of the pieces on 1st dibs, a number of them are "On Hold", so people are interested:

i too like the 1st of the 2 'buffets' shown above... much nicer to my eye than the 2nd...

of the above pieces, the coffee table and bookcases are the only items i would want in my home, tho i'm sure i could appreciate some elements of each piece... i like alot of nakashima, but not that desk...

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This post was edited by orcasgramma on Sun, May 26, 13 at 0:25

Thanks so much for posting this -- I love your posts like this, as I always learn so much!