confused by my Finn Juhl Vodder Chieftain chair  

leif ericson, please keep me updated on the many auctions you see offering a chief. I'm not interested in Piasa, Artcurial, Philips or Christies, ie overpriced pieces. Others auctions are fine, and I'd be more than happy if anyone can give me a heads up when there's one up for sale!

I just don't get why some of you get sooo annoyed when others declare interest in this chair? Plus, I am serious and open with the fact that I am prepared to pay good money for it...I'm starting to think that that's what irritates you really; that you see your own chance to pay an under-auction price for this chair go down the drain.

I would say, beware Paxto, some people state their knowledge, then underrate the chair/object, then want to buy it cheap.

Can you please explain how it is that certain auction houses are overpriced?

Yes, ofcourse leif; You see in a perfect market supply and demand set the prices of a good/commodity/object. Prices are stabilized. This is well known economic theory. However such stable prices are only seen in a market where all participants/bidders acting in the market have the same information, and where there are no cartels or monopoly.

The auction market, and furniture market, sure do not fulfill these requirement. Participants in the furniture market do not have the same information when it comes to where to find an object. A chieftain on ebay or a real estate sale, lets say in Anchorage, do not cost as much as if it is sold on Artcurial/Piasa. This is because these auction houses have certain clients, clients that are not well informed that the same object could be found at smaller, less well known auctions/market places. Same thing with 1stdibs, where prices on Scandinavian pieces are ridiculous sometimes. 1stdibs dealers in Scandinavia, where I reside, buy their goods on bruun rasmussen or lauritz, take photos of the object and then sell them for six to seven times the price. If it was a perfect market such differences in prices would not exist. Hence, some auction houses are overpriced. I am surprised that you, with your experience and activity in this forum, did not know of this, that many dealers literally live of the fact that prices are different depending on where something is sold?

There was

I need golden trousers AND better friends.

Present company excluded, of course. Y'all are tops in my book!

If I could only admit this to myself, I'd be on my way to true and everlasting happiness (and houseful of furniture that I wouldn't let even my new friends touch).

Wow, that Piasa auction was nuts! I mean that light blue Juhl credenza for Bovirke is one of favorite Juhl pieces, but 45K Euro? That is nuts.

Probably better off buying a new piece from One Collection, ..... that is after I find out where Doclounge lives and rob his ass blind, because you know, I need a half dozen Cheiftans to go with it, and I don't have 7K to put down on a Credenza right now.

It is a widely acknowledged principle that I know very little and must be educated very much.

This reminds me of a story I once heard. A man goes to the butcher shop and asks how much is the filet mignon. On hearing the answer he protests loudly that in the last five butcher shops right down the street their prices were so much less.. The butcher politely asks him, "sir, why don't you go buy their filet mignon, then?" The man gives him a snippy reply that every single one of them is sold out.

This is all getting a bit tedious (quoth the guy who actually has the chair). I do appreciate some of the comments about various auctions. I'm still waiting for the true owner of the chair to return from Japan, at which time I'll tell him that the chair he gave me is too important to give away, that it needs some work, that we need its provenance, and that we can probably get good money for it. But until that happens, I'm going to remove myself from this thread (if I can figure out how to do that) and then post a new thread regarding the chair in question.

Cheers,

paxto

Best thread-kill to the best post on DA in a long while.

Thank you, paxto.

It's a chair that I've never had the pleasure of sniffing under..... face up.

Hi,

Aunt Mark

ps _ _______ ____!

Funny thing you mentioned that story Leif! -What most people do not know however, and what the story doesn't tell, is that the butcher shops owned by the french families Piasa and Artcurial refused to sell the filet mignon supplied by regular farmers, they only accepted filet from certain affiliate partners.

At the end of the street however there was a danish lad by the name Bruun Rasmussen, he sold filet mignon! You know who bought Bruun's filet mignon? -A german dealer named Leiffler! He took the filet mignon he bought at Bruun and rushed into the butcher shops owned by the french families Piasa and Artcurial. -Good thing for Leiffler, he was one of the affiliates of the french and they accepted to sell his recently bought filet mignon to less informed upper class people who did not know that they could have bought it of Bruun.

Paxto, sorry that you feel that this thread has become too much. It sure would have been more comprehensible if all parts who had a genuine interest in your chair were open and honest with it. Instead some people try to hide their intentions behind some kind of expert status on this forum and attack those who are honest with their interest.

When it comes to auction houses you should know however that the auction houses mentioned in this thread (Piasa, Artcurial, Philips) as well as a few others of the "high end" houses do not accept objects from whoever. You can't simply walk into these auction houses with a chief and expect them to be "all over the place" and ready to sell it. It all depends on when they auctioned the last one and what their suppliers (well known dealers) are offering at the moment.

If you should have a chance with this chief you will have to put a lot(!) of work and money into the chair. To be honest I don't know if that will be enough to charm the auction houses mentioned. My best guess is that your chair will make it into a regular but good auction house in the states given what has been done to the reupholstery and frame. An other option, if you decide to sell it, is to put it up on ebay with a fixed price.

Inform me whatever you decide. You got my mail in the picture I posted. I'm serious and prepared to pay accordingly.

I wish you all a great day.

CORRECTION: I have a look at the larger images again. I am very unsure about whether this is a knock-off. I misunderstood the wedge. I see it now. That's definitely a repair. I would contact a Danish dealer to have it authenticated.

Dear Paxto,

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting read. I own a Vodder chieftain with original leather.

From what I see, this frame looks legit. The wedge shape on the horns is normal - that's how Vodder made them.

However, the edge of the cross beam on the front of the seat worries me. It will need further investigation.

The upholstery job is obviously newer and not very well done (probably done in the US). I am sad to say that the only place to get reupholstery done properly is in Denmark and even here you need to select carefully. I would suggest using Mette Palsteen or LM Tapetserne in Copenhagen. They have extensive experience with chieftains and are used by most dealers in Denmark and New York. Despite the high shipping costs (be sure to use a reputable shipper like Bourlet Art Logistics) it will be well worth while and increase the value significantly. Be sure to choose either black or natural vegetal leather, which is most original.

However, in all honesty, if this was really a gift from a friend, I would suggest making them aware of the value of the chair and offer to return it. If they don't take it back, good for you! - get it reupholstered and enjoy it for the rest of your life. If you plan on selling it, it might make more sense to sell it as is to a reputable gallery like Dansk M

"... the only place to get reupholstery done properly is in Denmark"

No longer an accurate statement.

Yep. That is no longer an accurate statement at all.

Why not? Because meanwhile there are numerous capable upholsterers on the globe? Or becaus even the danish upholsterers are not skilled enough anymore to do it properly?

I don't have a Chieftain Chair, I'm just curious.