Eliel, Eero, Don and the Find of the Week!

Eliel Saarinen Chest of Drawers

Fab find of the week - An Eliel Saarinen for Johnson Furniture chest of drawers - Eliel is the architect and father of the famous Eero Saarinen and for the fab fact of the week - they share the same birthday, August 20th, which also just happens to be Don King's birthday.

Find of the Week - Seriously Though

Frank Lloyd Wright for Henredon Hexagonal  coffee table
photo via COLLAGE

That's right - scored a FLW for as my father-in-law calls it  "Henry Don" -  sincerest apologies but this baby is GONE already!!!!! 

You are very ...how do you spell stupid?

Contractually, we are obligated to work retail... I love buying, obviously... but selling, face to face... not so much.  I lack patience and a healthy respect for most individuals.  I generally make my husband fulfill my hours at the antique mall so I would like to send a special thank you to him for his bi-weekly sacrifice.  I often accompany him for a few hours on those days to do a little editing and rearranging and so I was fortunate enough to share a special encounter with some of our "regular" senior customers the other day.

Their disheveled liver spot on liver spot post-coitus appearance, 10:00 am high, fresh Heinekin in hand and "can we drink in the store?" might have alerted us to the oncoming verbal onslaught, but we naively made small talk as our loyal customer placed her empty green bottle on the counter to select several items including a few pieces of costume jewelry. Upon checkout,  I watched my sweet betrothed painstakingly wrap these items and place them in a shopping bag.  I then watched the customer immediately unwrap the jewelry (I am not entirely sure why) and toss them naked back in the bag.  A few hours later, said customer returns having lost the jewelry and demands that my husband give her some free jewelry to replace the jewelry that she lost.  My dear husband, failing to see the logic in her argument and also lacking in the authority to give away other dealer's merchandise explains that he is sorry but there is really nothing he can do.  She responded that she would never be back and left,  returning seconds later to pop her head in and deliver her coup de grace, "You are very stupid."

 
Make no mistake, I have said those same words countless times and probably for lesser offenses.  That being said it these times when I love him the most.  I would have hopped the counter and slashed her tires with the abandoned Heinekin but my wonderful husband gives these "retail experiences" their appropriate universal perspective and gently asks,"Have you been talking to my wife?"

Found - Russell Kagan Raku

Found - fantastic RAKU vessel by raku master Russell Kagan - the shape is beautiful and begs to be opened which makes the metallic effect on the inside a much sweeter reward than anything that the vessel might be hiding.

Sad Cowboy Story

Today I was armed with the glamorous task of sorting, pricing and packaging a box of photos that I accumulated over the summer.  A picture of a geographically malapropos statue for a tiny Texas oil boom town in the 1920s incited a little history lesson....Apparently in 1917, 21 year old Charles H. Noyes fell from his horse trying to rope a calf and died.  His parents, completely grief stricken, commissioned the famous Pompeo Coppini to sculpt a statue in memory of their only child. When Coppini traveled to the modest Noyes ranch in 1919 to discuss the statue, he had his doubts about Noyes' ability to pay what amounts to a quarter of a million dollars today, but Noyes assured Coppini that he was prepared to pay twice that.  His bridle, boots, and saddle were sent to Chicago to help the sculptor, but since the boy had had only three pictures taken in his life, his parents had to travel to Coppini's Chicago studio when it was time to sculpt the face.  After a few adjustments to the sculpture, Mr. Noyes told Coppini "Please do not touch his face again, for that is our dear Charlie."   Mr. and Mrs Noyes sold the ranch and did not return for the unveiling, stating that they could not bear to see their son again.

Coppini's statue of Chas H. Noyes watchin over Ballinger Texas. Coppini's work can be found in Italy, Mexico but closer to home, he is known for the Cenotaph honoring the Alamo defenders, sculptures around the Texas state capitol and the Littlefield Fountain in front of the University of Texas tower.

 

Anthony Roussel

Vieux Loves... Anthony Roussel's sustainably resourced bangles and rings..

Anthony Roussel's birch wood branch bangle - photo by Rob Popper

Anthony Roussel's Small Wave Ring - photo by Juliet Sheath

Anthony Roussel's Ram Ring - photo by Juliet Sheath

Frankenshimas

Once upon a time there was a young couple with a fondness for hand-crafted organic modern furniture. Though their tastes varied, his a bit more masculine and hers a bit more feminine, together, they enjoyed the discovery and adventure in the hunt.  They could not believe their eyes one day while perusing online when they spotted two chairs with the stink of Nakashima on them in a place called Cedar Hill.  In case you have never been to Cedar Hill, it has no reputation for being a hotbed of iconic furniture.  These looked exactly like the famous three legged Mira chairs (the chair Nakashima named after his daughter) ... at least the top of the chair looked like a Mira chair.  The bottom, however, had one extra leg. 

Their first reaction naturally was "I guess not" but you could feel the internment camp in this photo of the chairs.  They sat down together at the computer with squinted eyes - shaking their heads, perplexed at the extra leg in the front.  They laughed and made jokes at the expense of a hillbilly they had never met "fixin' these funny lookin' chairs with Granny's broomstick and Pa's cane." They imagined maybe times were hard and these people needed "some kindlin' for the fireplace." Their laughter faded as the husband decided to make the rush hour hall down to Cedar Hill to meet the heir of these fine chairs.  Tears fill his eyes as he flips the chairs over to find the slaughtered remnants of the third leg, stumps crying out that "Yes!," they were once legs crafted by a master.  He slumps over as he sees the remnant of the tag with that four syllable name that conjures up images of something exquisitely beautiful.  It takes all of his strength not to curse this woman's grandfather.  He calls his wife, who is also heartbroken, but clearheaded enough to advise him not to swear at the innocents but to purchase the chairs anyway as they may be able to have them repaired.
 
He heads back North crestfallen, pulls in the driveway, carries the chairs inside and sets them down less gently than he may have if they were in their original state. He and his wife sit down, squinting their eyes again like they are looking at their own ugly newborn baby and they imagine ..... to be a fly on the wall that day when the Frankenshimas got their extra legs.

Our little Frankenshimas

Hurts...Doesn't it?

The amputee

Painful yet?