I have a dark secret that I've wanted to confess here for some time. I encourage others to do the same if their souls are heavy.
Okay... Here it is. Years ago, before I knew better, I threw away a Paul Mccobb Planner Desk. It was the very kind Rockybird recently found on Craigslist. In my feeble defense, I didn't know it was a Mccobb, it was badly painted and not in perfect condition. Regardless, I know I committed the sin of destroying an iconic piece of mid-century design. I didn't have room in the moving van, so I set it on the side of the road for the City to haul to the landfill.
I knew not what I did... But I do now, and I suffer.
But. . .
surely you did NOT destroy it, at least by your own hand. It may well be in another home right now, proudly rescued by a slightly less ignorant lover of furniture ! I recommend that you think of it in that fashion. . .
Now, let's see who has a truly shameful secret to impart. NEXT !
I took a circular saw to my...
I took a circular saw to my Grandmothers 7 foot by 5 foot 60's abstract cityscape painting, then relinquished to the trash. Guilt lays heavy upon me time to time...such shame! My saving grace is that it was damaged in two floods. Cost to restore would've been prohibitive.
I sold a validmer Kagan...
I sold a validmer Kagan game table for next to nothing, i bought in 1979 for my office from a store that was going out of business, and i had no idea it was Kagan. when I saw it on 1st dibs for $8,000 i nearly choked, I used it every day for 25 years, burl wood and lucite How dumb was I??????? I of all people should have known better..
OK
My shame is that I lost something valuable, and important to me, to theft. A one-time short-term roommate apparently made off with a pair of Robert Jarvie arts-and-crafts-period candlesticks like the one in the center of the photo below. I doubt that he knew what they were, and their lovely dark patina is probably "cleaned up" -- polished away -- by now. They were likely pawned. They are a quintessential A & C accessory. . .
The pair were a wedding gift to my grandparents, who were married in Chicago in 1904. Jarvie was in business as a siversmith in Chicago from 1893 to 1917.
I sold
I sold an Evans DCM for $200. It was in near mint condition, with all of the glides, original mounts - still flexible. I failed to clean up the chrome and popped it on eBay "as-was". It bombed terribly - I ended up losing about $20 because the shipping calculator was way off.
Georg Jensen flatware
My father bought me a set of Georg Jensen flatware when I was a feckless art student. It was destroyed in no time-- I used the elegant knives as screwdrivers, the beautiful spoons to pry open cans... I probably even threw several pieces in the trash to avoid washing them, in particularly slothful moments. (What can I say? I was barely human, at twenty.)
Warning to parents: don't give your feral children ANYTHING good until they're about thirty, or so.
Bitossi bit the dust
About 5-6 years ago I got a pair of huge, gorgeous pottery lamps at auction for $160. I figured I'd sell one and keep the other because I couldn't both. Put one on ebay and netted what I'd paid for both. Yay.
I put the other one aside until we finished off the room it was to go in. That took quite a bit longer than planned, like years longer. The lamp was off in a corner gathering dust. I'd admire it every now and then and was really looking forward to having a real place for it and using it every day.
OK, so the room was nearly done. Windows were in, door installed, walls and ceiling painted, FLOR tiles ordered. I'd put the lamp next to the wall on the cement slab floor, safely out of the way.
One day I had to move another piece of furniture that was kinda near the lamp. What I didn't see was that the lamp cord was under the casters of the thing I was moving.
Over it went. I didn't throw up, but I wanted to. It still makes me ill to think of it.
I glued it back together but the mends are very visible, a constant reminder of my carelessness. But I still love it too much to throw it out. Wah.
(I think it's Bitossi. It's Raymor, I know. It's like this vase only not uneven in shape at all.)
Beware the art major!
Like W.H.C. I was a clueless undergraduate art major (too many years ago now). The hapless me found a cool chair in the thrift store that had a wood frame and a floating upholstered seat and back. It had been poorly treated and the frame was painted black with spray paint. Thinking myself the artistic restorer, I stripped every bit of the black paint only to apply umpteen layers of translucent GREEN Japanese varnish until that sucker positively GLOWED! It was much later that I came across the work of Finn Juhl and nearly s%#t my pants. I realized what I'd done, and all too late. I'd long since grown bored of the chair and sold it at a flea market.
Live and learn. At least it was probably Baker production since it was unmarked. This is why nice vintage examples of good design bring so much today. Too many die a slow and painful death at the hands of uninformed dopes like me.
I passed on 2 Wegner sawback chairs
$50 for the pair...they looked familiar, but just couldn't place them. One had a broken back. The other was in better condition. But when I figured out what I had passed on, it was too late. I was sick, but hey, I got over it.
Not design related, but I'm still sick over having defaced my Fangoria #1 magazine by cutting out the Godzilla out of the front cover and pasting it on a calendar produced by a local Chinese restaurant (featuring beautiful maidens with large mountains behind them). Godzilla was making his way around the mountain when I got through with it...it looked like it belonged there. About a year later (when I had absolutely no money) I found out that mag was worth about $200. Chump change now, but back then I was smarting.
But that calendar looked *good* when I was done with it. 🙂
fm
Elephant in the Room
I once started a Mahog@ny Asssoci@tion thread on Design Addict, thereby marring an otherwise fine message board, frustrating members and misleading strangers into thinking we can help them put a value on their generally ugly furniture. And it never ends, of course. As Riki once said, it's like herpes.
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