Mid Summer Night at Skinner

The first surprise of the evening, which drew the highest price of the sale, was Lot #8, an Anatolian Karapinar pile rug with a large diamond medallion and a generally somber but lovely palette. There were some faded re-weaves in the center of the piece. It was not pictured in the catalog and carried a $400 to $600 estimate. To our surprise, the bidding was suddenly intense and it quickly rose to sell for a lofty $8,625. Apparently others saw in it what escaped the eye of both Skinner and this reviewer.

Lot 16 Another piece earning buyer attention was Lot #16, a Fachralo Kazak prayer rug with very decent drawing, a blue-green prayer cartouche, good pile, and a well-drawn, leaf-and-wineglass border. Its estimate of $800 to $1,200 was very low and it sold briskly for $3,737. Another Kazak, Lot #173, a long rug with four gabled medallions and serious condition problems sold to a phone bidder for $805, just above its top estimate because of its striking appearance and beautiful saturated colors. Other Caucasian rugs of interest included a Shirvan garden design, Lot #100, which, at first glance, appeared to be missing an outer guard border, but the original top-end finish indicated otherwise. It sold for $2,185. A very unusual Chi-Chi prayer rug, Lot #7, with an olive field and a most unorthodox treatment of the slant-bar main border was a good buy at $1,265. Prospective buyers had several Anatolian kilims to select from, all either late l9th century or early 20th century and reasonably estimated. Lot #40 selling for $1,610, and Lot #31 selling for $1,495 were particularly attractive.

One of the bargains of the evening was a wonderful early l9th century Bergama with rows of flower heads on a rosy-red field (Lot #12) in tattered condition and mounted on a fabric and wood frame. It had been included in the Skinner December 7, 1996 sale (Lot #98) with a $1,500 to $2,000 estimate, but did not reach its reserve. It was snapped up in this sale by a lucky buyer for $546.25.

Among the decorative room-sized carpets were nine Heriz area pieces, the best of which was Lot #66. It featured an overall design on a royal blue field and made $6,325, considerably more than its high estimate. A most striking Bahktiari small carpet, Lot #121, with a field featuring a man on horseback and several brilliant cobalt blue peacocks and camels, and a terrific ivory field border was marred by a rotted corner, probably caused by a potted plant. It was still a bargain at $920.

As usual there were several Turkoman rugs and trappings in the sale, none especially noteworthy and selling for very reasonable prices. An exception was Lot #58, a Beshir Ensi, very worn, but lovely with an overall mina khani lattice field. Someone agreed, to the tune of $862.50.

Several Baluch rugs were offered. Most sold in the $300 to $600 range. The most appealing Baluch of the evening was a tile-patterned piece with aubergine a-plenty offered post-auction by one of the parking lot vendors for a mere $250. We should have bought it.

Note: All sale prices quoted herein include a buyer's premium.