I bought a set of five David Rowland Sof-Tech chairs that he did for Thonet around 1979. I'm going to resell them. My question is, do I break up the set and sell them by the piece or keep them together?
When selling traditional antiques, the rule of thumb is never, never, never break up a set but that doesn't seem to be the case so much with MCM. In fact, there seems to be a preference in this genre for owning just one of a piece. Am I incorrect? The only time it appears to be desireable to keep a set intact is for pairs of lounge chairs or sets of dining chairs.
I'm planning to sell them by the piece, unless you all come storming back at me to tell me I am an idiot. My chairs look just like this one, except the webbing on mine is blue.
When is a set not a set?
Y'all are cracking me up. Don't take the term so seriously. I use the word set to describe anything more than two. I will call it a group or ensemble or bevy or herd of chairs from now on.:)
WHC, I don't know if I'd call them dining chairs, either. They are really informal. Maybe for an eat-in kitchen or something. They would also look good in a teenage kid's room or maybe around a card table in a rec room.
Even numbers are unlucky
In Japan, when you give wedding gifts, such as cups, dishes, etc, you always give sets that cannot be divided evenly, as an even number of items is considered bad luck (increasing the possibility that the couple will split up). I have never heard of this rule being extended to dining sets (which generally are not purchased as gifts).
I imagine there are plenty of families that do what I did when I lived there...sat at the kotatsu in a vain attempt to keep warm while eating. No chairs, just zabuton (big pillows for sitting on).
Selling a single dining chair can be difficult. I've had some really nice single chairs that wouldn't move because nobody had the set they wanted to fill in. If you sell all 5, you'll probably have better luck.
fm
The rule of thumb
Riki,
The "rule of thumb" in business is always, I repeat always, sell for the highest possible profit margin possible. The method that puts the most money in your pocket is right. Who cares what purist think, they are almost always have nots dictating to the haves. Let them be pure and poor!
Oh, how
nice -- the Bottom Line is heard from !
Over time, pairs and sets have brought a premium, compared to the sale price of single items.
Breaking sets will always be a loss to the possibility of matching groups, an eternal human ideal. The opposite is entropy, nature's randomness.
This is a dining chair, based on its form: a typical upright-posture chair, with minimal horizontal dimension and a vertical stance.
I understand the rule of thumb is businesses exist to make money.
but is there ever space in the equation to perhaps do more then is expected. Or make a little less to enhance a business' reputation and allow the generated good will to sow the seeds of more business.
Short story: There are about 35 houses on my street, 30 of which are serviced by three separate landscape companies.
One of the 5 homeowners in the cut-it-themselves camp moved and left the house in care of a realtor to sell it. The realtor never had the grass cut.
Two of the landscapers tended the properties on either side of the uncut grass property and both of their respective clients asked each of their landscapers if they might just knock down the tall grass as a favor.
They didn't want it done every week, perhaps once in 7 or 8 weeks. Both landscapers attitudes were, and I'm quoting here: "You gonna pay me? I ain't cutt'in no grass unless I get paid."
The third landscaper who cut the grass across the street from this house ran his mower across the street and in about 6 minutes knocked down the grass when it was really starting to look unsightly. No one asked him to do this, he took it upon himself so that the whole street would look nice.
Word got out amongst the neighbors as to what he had done. Can you guess who now cuts 27 of the 30 lawns on my street. This 3rd guy went from 9 accounts to 27.
Sometimes there's profit, and sometimes there's purity, but oftentimes a little bit of integrity and doing a bit more than is expected can lead to a lot more profit. At least that's been my experience.
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