hype hype and more hype....
hype hype and more hype. This is more offensively expensive than the damn Eames lounge. Somebody says the monkey is cool, it gets picked up by the press and then hey presto, a few years down the line a "large" one sells for 8k and in some cases 50k... what a disappointing exemplification of human self-indulgence and obscene ostentatious displays of wealth. at least with the eames people could notice that you've got money, if I saw this in someone's house I'd think they'd spent about 20 quid down the toy shop... but then again I guess that makes me unrefined or something 🙂
As has been said many times,...
As has been said many times, something is worth what the market is willing to pay for it. If I had 10K in disposable income floating around, the giant Bojesen monkey is not the first thing I would chose to buy. That said, I LOVE it! I love all Bojesen's toy designs (the monkey, puffin, soldiers, barns, cars, dacshund, elephant, bear, etc. When it comes to older wooden toys/figures there's Bojesen, Vitali and the Naef design crew. As far as I'm concerned the monkey is worth every penny!
Seriously, Lit Up
Were you born yesterday?
Yes, the art market can be obscene, and material items (including furniture) can be infinitely overpriced relative to "cost of goods/materials". It is just one of the many mystical facets of human nature.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/michael-jackson/news/jacksons-84-victory-tour...
Sure, art can be expensive...
but it usually comes with some sort of provenance, or an appraisal, or an artist's signature. At the very least it'll be sold by a reputable dealer or auction house. Often it'll be documented by a reputable historian.
As far as I can tell from the Ebay ad, this monkey doesn't have any of that. To me, that makes it valueless.
Woodywood...
Maybe it's fake, maybe it's not. Maybe the seller knows, maybe he doesn't. All I know is:
a) The seller is on a distant continent.
b) He's sold only a handful of items on Ebay, and none were anything like this monkey. He occasionally buys on Ebay, but that seems to be mostly watches and coats; again, nothing like this monkey.
c) He claims that this monkey is a Kay Bojesen piece, but his source for that information is only unnamed "experts". He claims it was manufactured in 1956, but has nothing to substantiate that claim except a letter which he claims is from the original owner.
d) As far as I've been able to discover, there's neither contemporary documentation from 1956 nor any scholarly historical documentation of this monkey.
e) The seller admits that the monkey is unmarked/unsigned. He gives us his assurance that it's "100% original", but of course "original" is not necessarily a synonym for "genuine" or "authentic".
f) He claims to have purchased it from "a reputable auction house in Denmark", but he doesn't name the auction house.
g) He claims to know of another example for sale that's priced at $55K, but says he's prohibited by Ebay rules from divulging the name of the seller. Of course, even if that other seller does exist, his monkey is only worth $55K if someone PAYS that much; the fact that he's ASKING $55K is meaningless.
h) This seller's return policy is "no returns accepted".
For what its worth, this is...
For what its worth, this is the home of the 55K ape
http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=402661
Lit Up
Google ( http://www.google.com) is great for answering questions like "When did Kay Bojesen die?" and "What is Kay Bojesen known for?"
http://www.google.com/search?q=kay+bojesen
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