What is a "Schmieg & Kotzian"?

[Furniture Antique and Vintage]

Hello again to everyone,

 

I've been off doing my thing looking for vintage furniture to restore and resell.  I came across this perfectly dazzling executive desk.  Inside the drawer it has a stamp that says:

Schmieg & Kotzian, Inc.

Designers and Cabinet Makers

521 East 72nd Street -- New York

The top is made from high grade leather with a gold leaf trim.  The front is flame mahogany veneer.  It is a gorgeous piece of work. 

 

I went online and found a bit of info on the company but not much.  Neither did I find many pieces for sale.  It makes me believe that they were a small company that did not mass produce.  However, I asure you the quality of this desk is top rate!

 

My questions to anyone who can answer is, What is the background of this company?  What would be the best way to establish value?  And, who could they contact to see about selling it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always, thanks for any input.  It is very much appreciated.

 

Richard Jones

[Nancy Tumposky]

Schmieg and Kotzian was a furniture firm in business in London from 1899 to 1907, when they moved to New York. After Karl Schmieg died in 1949, the company continued on for a few more years, but was then sold. Both Karl Schmieg and Heinrich Kotzian were German cabinet makers, who were trained in the traditional European apprentice system. (Disclaimer: Karl Schmieg was my grandfather; his wife, Maria Kotzian Schmieg, was the sister of his business partner.)

Their factory was on east 72nd Street for many years, but their show room was in mid-town.

In 1925, Karl Schmieg was one of the U.S. representatives at the Art Deco exhibit in Paris.

Anything else you want to know?

[Richard Jones]

Nancy,

Thank you so much for offering that info!! I like to restore old furniture so people can enjoy the beauty and history of the past craftsmanship. I admire the skill Schmieg and Kotzian acquired. I don't own this piece, but would like to see it out of the warehouse and put to its best use. This means in a good setting where everyone can enjoy its beauty. Can you email me directly? I'd like to ask how the owner can get this awsome piece of work back where it belongs.

[e-mail] or [e-mail]

My best regards,

Richard Jones

[jes]

Richard,
Do you have any suggestions on how I can get a good estimate on a Schmeig and Kotzian dining room set. it is in excellent shape?

Jane

[Richard Jones]

I'm just a hobbiest, and relatively new to the antique furniture world. My suggestion is to do what I do and start witht he pros. You can find two right here. They are Craig Phillips at BC Emporium and Vincent J. at Green Spot Antiques. Both of these gentlemen have been most helpful to me. I recommend them highly.

Richard

[jes]

Thanks so much!

[jes]

Nancy Tuposky,
Do you have additional recommendations - others i can get an estimate for 2 pieces of furniture that are Schmieg and Kotzian?

Thanks,
Jane

[Mark S. Morrison]

Hi Nancy -- I only saw these posts today. I own a number of S&K pieces including a bedroom set and a great reproduction storage chest for the dining room along with some occasional tables. The workmanship on all of them is extraordinary. I recently found a pamphlet S&K published many years ago (my guess is the 1930's or 40's) which gives a short history of the company, the woods and finishes they used, etc as well as a glossary of furniture terms. I have a furniture maker and restorer I deal with here in NYC and he is equally impressed with the very high quality of their workmanship.

Mark

[Adam Hutter]

Hello All - I stumbled upon this blog and I do not know why, other than I was looking for recent sales on Schmieg & Kotzian items. I am an auction house owner in NYC and I am making an offer to handle some S & K items. S & K has long been seen as upper tier English reproduction furniture. In my opinion, better than Baker furniture based upon woods, longevity and what people pay for similar items at auction. I would rahter have an S & K Sideboard than a Baker of the same size, age and period. I would say the English equivalent would be Tibbenham of Ipswitch, another fine English reproduction manufacturer.

By the way, I would give an auction estimate of around $1500 - 2500 for that desk, even in today's economy.

Please inquire with me if you any of you are interested in auctioning your Schmieg items. Google Adam Hutter.

[Dan Elman]

I also stumbled on this discussion researching my own piece. I have an oak Elizabethan style S&K court cupboard and was extremely impressed with the quality.  I've been dealing vintage and antique furniture for years and never saw anything quite like it.  And bizarrely I stumbled across it at a tiny estate sale in a 1960s ranch house, where everything else they owned was rock maple and tupperware.  Go figure...

 

In researching, I see a lot of the formal traditional styles by S&K like what you have here, mahogany Chippendale, federal style furniture, etc.  Accent pieces, side chairs, occasional tables I see in the $200-800 range.  Larger pieces like your desk, $1500-2000 is typical.  I saw one store in northern NJ who had a medium-size drop-leaf table (sofa-table size) in the exact same style and finish  as this desk, with leather top, that they sold for $750 in good condition.  The style here, in my experience, is very average.  It's usually the quality that sells the piece.

 

Pieces made by S&K of extremely large proportions or unusual styles I have seen at $5000-7000, however, and I noted a giant 14-foot wide breakfront recently sold for $16,500.  The same local auction house in south Jersey sold a very large banquet table a few years ago for $6500.  Like anything else, the more pizzazz it has, the higher the ticket.  This company's pieces are often mixed in and sold alongside very high-end, top caliber antique pieces at decorative arts sales, if they are the largest, most impressive, or unusual of what the company made.  Usually size is a part of that.

 

The traditional mahogany styles seem to be the most common, but that type of furniture never really goes out of fashion.  And this company being one of the best, even the common is a sure sell, especially now that the bigger more impressive pieces from this company are making such an impact.  

Nice to see people taking note of quality.

 

[gary guarno]

      MY PARTNER AND I PURCHASED S &  K  AROUND 20 YEARS AGO...NOT JUST THE COMPLETE INVENTORY,ALL OF THE BLUE PRINTS OF THE FURNITURE AND THE NAME AS WELL...WE DID WELL  BUT LOST MOST EVERYTHING IN OUR 'WESTCHESTER AUCTION GALLERY FIRE"