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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
Tags:
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.
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.
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"
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