But my Vuitton won't fit under the seat!

A friend asked me the other day, "What can I do with this luggage now that I can't take it on the plane?". Good question, with many good answers. One of which is pictured here, turn the item into useful home decor! We realized quite sometime ago that traveling with some of the older, larger and heavier pieces of Louis Vuitton that we owned can be tricky, expensive, and just plain inconvenient. That's when we discovered how useful many of these pieces are as home decor, display or even extra storage space. Large Louis Vuitton (or other maker) steamer trunks can be beautifully displayed at the foot of a bed, and double as storage for linen, or your extra sweaters. Smaller cube style trunks, such as hat boxes or linen trunks, have been used as end tables or night stands, to hold lamps, photos or your favorite piece of art glass, with more storage inside. Fitted with a custom base, with or without a glass top, large and medium sized suitcases become coffee tables, or accent tables, as shown here below. Stacks of 2 or 3 suitcases can also be used in the same manner, or as simple room accents. I have seen a large fitted piece with a shelf used in a entry way as a place for hats and keys. Fitted pieces, with jars and boxes, can be used as accents on the dresser in a bedroom for a lavish touch, and can hold small items such as jewelry. One or two pieces can be used as display to simply accent a room, and spark conversation of real or imagined travels!

For the well "heeled"

Louis Vuitton, the original luxury goods designer, has been in business as a luggage manufacturer since 1854. Prior to making his first trunk Louis had made his name as a dress-packer, packing the clothes of the wealthy into their trunks for their voyages, so he knew his way around the interior of a trunk. His first trunk was not of the type we know today, nor was it covered in the fabric we know today. The first trunk was a domed style covered in a grey canvas, called Gris-Trianon. Later Louis was to create a trunk with a flat top that revolutionized the trunk industry as it allowed them to now be stacked. He also invented the lock in use today on Vuitton trunks, which is virtually pick proof, and afforded unlimited variable combinations. He quickly moved from the grey canvas, to a striped fabric (1873), then to a checkerboard (1889), or Damier, covering in order to stay ahead of the counterfeiters, yes, you heard me correctly, Vuitton has been copied since the beginning, and he did everything he could to prevent it, including copyrighting the Damier fabric, which contains the trademark as part of the design. The canvas used today, the Monogramme canvas, was designed by George Vuitton (Louis' grandson) in 1896 to honor his grandfather, and which was properly patented to foil counterfeiters. The Louis Vuitton signature brand had been born! Originally the design was woven into the fabric, but today is stencilled onto the fabric. Trunks of all kinds, were and continue to be made, for clothes, for hats, linens, shoes (like that shown here), desks, dishes, picnics; the list is exhaustive. Custom orders for specialty trunks (or large sets of up to 80 trunks) were made and can still be made, and is only limited by imagination and the size of your pocketbook. Louis Vuitton was born in the days when the wealthy traveller went on "holiday" and took almost everything they owned onto the ship or train with them, as they would be travelling for weeks or months. People did not travel light, and Louis Vuitton catered very successfully to that need! There is so much more to tell about this fascinating brand, that I will continue this in a future blog entry (maybe two).

The shoe trunk shown below is a smaller hard sided case for six pairs of shoes, cases for up to 36 pairs are known to exist. The case is lined to protect the shoes from scuffs, and the accessory "pillows" keep the shoes from scuffing each other, as well as help keep them firmly held in the compartments. The lock will keep your shoes safe from thieves, and your sister whom may want to borrow your best pair!

Some Background, Please

The vase pictured was created by possibly the most well known glass designer ever to work for Kosta (and for Orrefors, too!), Vicke Lindstrand.

 

Vicke Lindstrand (1904 - 1983) was artistic director for Kosta from 1950 to 1973, and was reponsible for one of Kosta's most innovative and popular periods.

Kosta Glasbruck (now known as Kosta Boda), was founded in 1742 in Kosta, Sweden, and originally made window glass, chandeliers and drinking glasses.

The company has over the years changed it's output to include pressed glass ware in the 1840's, and cut glass in the 1880's, to the fine art glass made today by their many talented designers, but it is the period of the 1950's through the early 1970's, under direction of Lindstrand, that saw the creation of many popular designs that collectors currently seek out.

Lindstrand was a sculptor and a draftsman, newspaper editor and illustrator, he then turned his artistic talent to glass. His designs include figurative as well as abstract designs, unique studio pieces, domestic glassware and sculpture. He created designes of both large and small scale for private and public spaces. He also designed ceramic ware for the Uppsala Ekeby firm in 1943 to 1950 before joining Kosta, and was glassblower/engraver, then designer, at Orrefors from 1928-1943.

The design for the vase "Trees in the Fog" was part of the "UNICA" series of hand formed one of a kind studio pieces created by Lindstrand in 1955/56, each piece is unique with no two exactly alike, due in part to the nature of the material and the whim of the designer. The design features somber trees of black glass embedded in crystal glass surrounded with a background of fog.

Back for more!

Sorry, Followers, I've been away for awhile! Seems my work/life balance has been unbalanced and tilted way more to work (the 9 to 5, not my antiques). I do need to reconnect to my passions and move in new directions, hence a return to this blog, and passing along my thoughts and whatever knowledge I think you may want to glean from me. So I am back and will have a new entry available to you shortly.

Thank you for sticking with me,
Your host,
Tim

Riihimaki/Riihimaen Lasi Oy Glass

Tonight lets look at another item from inventory - an 8 inch glass vase from the 1960's. This vase (see photo below), and others with this label are known as "Lasi" vases.

The label tells the story as to the name of vases of this type of Scandinavian Art glass made by the Riihimaki/Riihimaen company of Finland.

This particular shape was designed by Tamara Aladin, and came in several sizes and colors. I've seen this vase in 6, 8 and 10 inch versions in either clear, red, blue or green. The Riihimaki company, I believe, was renamed Riihimaen Lasi Oy around 1937, most pieces when described carry both designations Riihimaki/Riihimaen, unless labeled specifically one or the other. Aimo Okkolin, Tamara Aladin, Helen Tynell and Nanny Still are probably the best known and most prolific designers for this company.

Glass from this period, 1950's - 1970's,  tends to molded/mold blown pieces with mulitple angles or sinuous curves with repeated (or some would say echoed) forms within a single piece. Colors are usually clear single colors, cased in clear glass, with heavy bases.

This glass is fun to collect as it bright and cheerful, with many different sizes and shapes to make an interesting display. Below is another piece from around this same period, labeled Riihimaki Suomi Finland, this is believed to be a Aimo Okkolin design called "Stromboli". In addition to the label, this piece is acid stamped and engraved with the model number 1436.

Good night, see you again tomorrow.

Know your inventory?

I had found an item listed online as a signed Venini 'a Canne' vase from the 1960's several weeks ago, and found it again just the other day. The photos showed the mark but was difficult to read, and the type of mark shown suggested the item was not a 60's piece, but I couldn't be positive without inspecting the item. Since I was going into that area for the day I decided to stop at this particular shop. I arrived there and the shop keeper buzzed me in, and greeted me. I told her what I was looking for and that the piece was listed on their website. She said to go ahead and look around, while she located the piece in inventory, as many of those are located in the on-site storage area (ie. basement).
She came back with a piece I hadn't seen on the website, and told her that wasn't it. We looked at the site together and I pointed out the piece I wanted to see, she again had to go to on-site storage. I checked out the piece she had brought up while I waited, this piece, while nice,  was not signed (or priced) and not what I wanted. I also looked around the shop at the other items of glass offered. After a few minutes, she returned without the piece, it was not where she thought it might be, so proceeded to check other cabinets in the shop, and text (yes, text) her partner to see where the piece might be stored.

After about 10 or 15 minutes of looking in various cabinets in the shop, and almost every piece of glass in the shop, I did find another piece I liked, but it was not priced (again) so she needed to look that up in inventory too, but it too was not in the inventory list, so another call (voicemail this time) to the partner on this item. The shop keeper mentioned that the partner likes to move things to and from her country house, so it "makes for an interesting method of inventory management". I decided to leave my number and they could call when they've located the items and information.

About 15 to 20 minutes after I left the shop I received a phone call from the girl in the shop. She had spoken to her partner. I was told that the partner had taken the first piece home, "to do a little more research on the piece", so it was still available. I was also told that based on the further research, the piece was not from the 1960's (as the website states), but from 1993, a difference of 33 years. Although I would have expected a price reduction as the piece is now "newer" , the price of course remained the same. A piece from 1960 and that from 1993 are vastly different in value and pricing.

There are a few issues which irk me in the scenario above; the first is the lack of knowledge on the part of the dealer. This shop mainly sells pottery and glass from the 1950's through the 1970's, and Venini from the 1980's on are clearly marked with a year; how did they not know the piece was from 1993? The fact that they put the item up on the website with incorrect information, and not changing it once that information was known. The moving inventory; I feel I have the reasonable expectation, when a shop has a physical location listed on a website, that the piece I am interested in will be available for inspection at that location, not at some offsite storage location (or the partners home) for the duration of it's listing. If it is stored offsite, that information should be available, and that would allow one to call ahead to see if the item can be inspected.

I have since re-checked the website, and unfortunately, the information that it is a 1960's vase has not changed, but inspecting the photo of the vase bottom again does show a date of 93, when one intently inspects the mark.

Questioning the price....

Today I went on an antique buying trip to a location a couple of hours away from me as it was a good day for a drive, and I'd wanted to revisit this area in Upstate New York. I stop at every antiques store along the way so drives like take me awhile, but that is not the story. This is.

I went into one of the shops in a row of shops, the shop had several customers in it already but the shop keeper greeted me pleasantly and acknowledged I was in the shop (I like that!). I looked around at the items neatly arranged in this particular shop, and the inventory was decidedly Oriental, but there were European antiques and some Mid 20th Century pieces scattered about the shop, a pleasant mix. I noticed a nice piece of glass with a really nice color and form with gold foil accents. I decided to pick up the piece and look at it, and read the tag. In neatly written hand, it gave the diameter and height, color of the interior and exterior, the gold foil accents, and that the piece has an indistinct signature and is dated 1995. On the back of the tag was THE PRICE - $1800.00!

Where did this price come from? Thin air? Dream pricing? Tarot Cards? From the tag I am being told only that this is a piece of glass from the late 20th Century, and there is no idea who may have made it (could have been an art student from the local university) but you are sure that $1800.00 is a fair price, with nothing to back it up. Aren't prices determined from known selling prices of known objects from known sources? Auctions, recent sales, and price guides do exist and publish prices for known objects. What source was used here? The same people who priced the Helmsly Mansion? Which by the way, was priced at $130 Million originally, but recently sold for $35 Million, a $95 Million miscalculation.

Based on the asking prices on the other pieces in the shop, I was expecting a higher price, but not a high end glass price on an unknown glass vase. The other pieces had known designers and manufacturers and were listed on the tags. What was the basis on the price for this vase? I had nothing I could go on except the dream price theory.

Does anyone else wonder what methods are employed by some dealers to determine their prices beyond just guessing at a number they like?