David's Blog from the Creative Coast & Carolina Low Country!

Debut Auction of Works of Local Artist May 3rd

           

Bull Street Auctions to Auction Works of Local Artist: Augustus I Riedel

Bull Street Auctions is Proud to announced that is has been commissioned to conduct
the first public sale of the works of Savannah Artist: Augustus I Riedel.In all 7 of
Mr. Riedel's original paintings will be sold to the highest bidder on Sunday, May 3, 2009.

The items will be part of Bull Street Auctions regularly scheduled auction. The auction begins promptly at 1pm. Preview times for the May 3rd auction are Saturday, May 2nd 11am-3pm and Sunday, May 3rd 11am-2pm. Bull Street Auctions is located at 2819 Bull street; behind Maggies' Antique Mall. Photos of the paintings to be sold can be viewed at www.bullstreetauctions.com. Known as

“Gus” to his friends, Mr. Riedel served as the Paint Shop Foreman for he Central Georgia Railroad during the first part of the 20th century..He was responsible for the creation of the color scheme for the logos for the trains: Nancy Hanks II and Man of War..During his spare time he was a painter and furniture maker...His paintings were part of an exhibit at the Telfair Art Museum during the in 1921. Mr. Riedel continued his painting through the 1950s. Mr. Riedel primarily painted using water colors or pen and ink. He skills in silk screening were also well documented. His primary subject matter included: coastal scenes, scenes of old downtown Savannah, trains and paintings of African Americans.

Upon his death his works stayed in the family and were never sold until only a few years ago. A collection of his works were sold to 3 separate art dealers. We are pleased to offer to the public the first opportunity to own a true part of: Savannah, Georgia and American Art History.

The paintings to be sold at auction include:
“Broughton Street”: 1921
“School Days”: “Valona by the Sea”: A wonderful study of shrimp boats mored in river and marsh
“Midway Church": a great depiction of a historically famous church
“Sunlight and Green: A study of light and color
“Marble Yard on West Broad”:Interpretation of Marble engraving Shop
“Garage Such As It Is”: A depiction of a private garage/Pen and Ink

“Gus” Began his love affair with painting while serving as an apprentice in the Paint Shop of the Central Georgia Railroad. He By 1916 he was promoted to Assistant paint Shop Foreman, and served in that position until 1945. During a 3 year period, Riedel Earned a degree from the School of Applied Arts located in Battle Creek Michigan. In addition to his contributions related to the Nancy Hanks II and man of War, he was responsible the painting of landscape scenes used for the murals inside the Railroad's
passenger cars.

His Estate included 140 paintings that he had painted from the 1920s through the 1960s. As a member of the Savannah Art Club, a showing of his works and those of fellow artists were conducted at the Telfair Museum from March 15-29 in 1921.

For further information regarding the sale of Mr. Riedel's Artwork or any questions regarding
Consignments or Estate Liquidations call Craig or Lisa Arcos 443-9353

Bull Street Auctions Announces Sales of Contents of P. Stephens Design Store: March 1st

 P. Stephens Furniture and Design store once located at Abercorn and Victory has       commissioned Bull Street Auctions to sell the contents of their store. Nearly $50,000 worth of store inventory will be sold to the highest bidder. Included in the inventory is over 200 home design items, mirrors, paintings and more. There are also 50 pieces of furniture.

This auction scheduled for Sunday March 1^st at 1pm will include lots of other items from local  estates.These items include a Victorian era bed, French dinning room tables and chairs,  early sheridan style and chippendale style sofas, 1930s bed room high chest and dressers, an Empire 2 door bookcase and much more. Auction preview is Sat. Feb. 28 11am to 3pm and Sun. March 1 11am to 1pm.

For pictures and more details go to www.bullstreetauctions.com. Please feel free to call 912 443 9353 should you have questions or desire to consign items to an upcoming auction.

Bull Street Auctions Sees Solid Figures on High Quality Items

While the recession has effected every business to some degree, it has been hard to see the affects of the recession at some of our recent auctions. Both attendance and sales of high quality items have been strong since the first of the year.

Our New Years Day auction had over 250 persons in attendance, auction attendance since then has averaged over 170 per auction. Our consignors have recognized significant sales of sterling silver, coins and period furniture.

During our New Years Day sale, a 86 pc set of Ghoram Sterling flatware and serving pieces sold for $1400, while an 19^th century poster bed sold for over $1,000. 19^th century oil paintings have been selling from $300-$500. In February, we received an estate consignment of 70 pieces of 18^{th /}19^th century crystal wine glasses, English sterling flatware and serving pieces; and sterling and gold coins.

In all the items brought more than $11,000. Individual sale prices from the sale included:

2 sterling salts and spoons London c.1823 Charles Hougham $105

c.1880 sterling w/ mother of pearl/amber crown broach $155

c.1741 sterling marrow scoop ,London $190

Wm III 1697 sterling trefid spoon $115

c.1915 Set of 4 sterling decanter lables $220

Wm Deakin & Sons c.1910 sterling tea pot with burner $300

Engraved sterling divided serving dish $195

1905 Edward VII sovereign gold coin 90% gold $190

2 Pound English coin 15.9grams/90% gold $300

1694 Hungarian Gold Coin 8.3 grams $250

The Making of Hand Made Imported Rugs

Four or five times a year Bull Street Auctions conducts special imported rug auctions. Each auction contains over 300 hand made wool and silk blend rugs from tribes throughout the Regions of Iraq, Iran, Inda, Pakistan, and the Baltic area.

This is the second in a series of articles describing the history of imported rugs. The first article discussed the development of the art of hand knotted rugs. this article describes how rugs are weaved.

Materials

Wool is the most common material for carpets but cotton is frequently used for the foundation of city and workshop carpets. Silk carpets while also mad are less common than wool carpets since silk is more expensive and less durable. Due to their rarity, value and lack of durability, silk carpets are often displayed on the wall like tapestries rather than being used as floor coverings.

The Long Weaving Process

To begin making a rug, you need a foundation consisting of warps strong, thick threads of cotton, wool or silk which run the length of the rug and wefts similar threads which pass under and over the warps from one side to the other.

Weaving normally begins by passing a number of wefts through the bottom warp to form a base to start from. Loosely piled knots of dyed wool or silk are then tied around consecutive sets of adjacent warps to create the intricate patterns in the rug. As more rows are tied to the foundation, these knots become the pile of the rug. Between each row of knots, one or more shots of weft are passed to tightly pack down and secure the rows. Depending on the fineness of the weave, the quality of the materials and the expertise of the weavers, the knot count of a hand made rug can vary anywhere from 16 to 550 knots (1,020 km/h) per square in

Looms do not vary greatly in essential details, but they do vary in size and sophistication. Yet all
provide the correct tension and the means of dividing the warps into alternate sets of leaves.

The Horizontal Loom is the simplest form of loom is a horizontal; one that can be staked to the ground or supported by sidepieces on the ground. This style of loom is ideal for nomadic people as it can be assembled or dismantled and is easily transportable. Rugs produced on horizontal looms are generally fairly small and the weave quality is inferior to those rugs made on a professional standing loom.

Vertical looms are undoubtedly more comfortable to operate. These are found more in city weavers and sedentary peoples because they are hard to dismantle and transport. There is no limit to the length of the carpet that can be woven on a vertical loom and there is no restriction to its width.

To operate the loom, the weaver needs a number of essential tools: a knife for cutting the yarn as the knots are tied; a comb-like instrument for packing down the wefts; and a pair of shears for trimming the pile. In Tabriz the knife is combined with a hook to tie the knots which lets the weavers produce very fine rugs, as their fingers alone are too thick to do the 

The Two basic knots are used in most Persian Carpets and Oriental rugs: the symmetrical Turkish or Ghiordes knot (used in Turkey, the Caucasus, East Turkmenistan, and some Turkish and Kurdish areas of Iran), and the asymmetrical Persian or Senneh knot (Iran, India, Turkey, Pakistan, China, and Egypt).

To make a Turkish knot, the yarn is passed between two adjacent warps, brought back under one, wrapped around both forming a collar, then pulled through the center so that both ends emerge between the warps. The Persian knot is used for finer rugs. The yarn is wrapped around only one warp, then passed behind the adjacent warp so that it divides the two ends of the yarn.

Knot density is a traditional measure for quality of handmade carpets. It refers, quite simply, to the number of knots per unit of surface area - typically either per square inch or per square centimeter.

For two carpets of the same age and similar design, the one with the higher number of knots will be the more valuable. With more than 30 knots per square centimeter (1 sq cm = approx. 0.155 square inch), the carpet pattern will have less pixelation. The carpet's surface will also feel more solid and will give better protection against aging.

A Persian carpet with fewer than 30 knots per sq cm is generally considered an average to low-quality carpet, while over 50 indicates a fine piece of work.

Hand-tying of knots is a very labour-intensive task. An average weaver can tie almost 10,000 knots per day. More difficult patterns with an above-average knot density can only be woven by a skilful weaver, thus increasing the production costs even more.

Bull Street Auctions is located at 2819 Bull St in Savannah, Ga. Auctions are held every two weeks.
Bull Street Auctions specializes in Estate Sales and Liqiudations; we also provide moving and clean out services. We are always seeking consignments of antique and quality used furnishings, rugs, chandeliers and collectibles.

For further information go to www.bullstreetauctions.com or call 912 443 9353

Antique Wholesale Warehouse Liquidation Oct. 19th

October 19, 2008 (1pm start time) will be the second in a series of auctions to liquidate one of Georgia's largest antique and decorator showroom. This auction will include over 150 items including imported rugs, furniture, chandeliers, and other fine collectibles. The auction will also include over 250 from a variety of consignors and local estates.

The auction will be conducted at Bull Street Auctions located at 2819 Bull St. Savannah, Ga. Preview will be held on Saturday, October 18th 11am to 3pm. For more info go to www.bullstreetauctions.com. 

We are now booking slots for high quality items for our special News Day sale which will feature 2 mid 19th century southern pine poster beds. Call 912-443-9353 for more information.

Giant Antique Warehouse Liquidation Auction

Bull Street Auctions proudly announces it has been commissioned to sell at auction the contents of one of the South's largest Antique Wholesale Showrooms. With over 1500 items it will take the next five auctions, including a special New Years Day auction to liquidate the entire contents. The first of the auctions will be held October 5 2008 beginning at 1pm. The auction will be held at 2819 Bull Street.

Over the next few months a wide variety of items, the qaulity of which has not been always available will be sold at auction. There are large selections of 19th century oils, large bronze statues, and many other fantastic collectibles. There is also a huge selection of early chandeliers and mirrors. All the furnishings are either mid 19th century or early 2oth century. The selection of furnishings is literally a dream come true for decorators and antique enthusiasts. Highlight of the furnishings to be sold is a significant selection of mid 19th century southern pine furniture, including 2 poster beds.

During the next few weeks we will post a sampling of the pics to be found on our website of the items coming to auction. For more information go to www.bullstreetauctions.com

Imported Rugs Where They Come From and How They are Made

One of the most popular items people keep requesting and buying at Bull Street Auctions are hand made “imported carpets”. We sell more than 600 hand made carpets yearly through our regular auctions and our special rug auctions.

The reasons for their popularity in are many: compared to wall to wall carpet it is cheaper; with so many homes having wood floors they offer a great way to  have  carpeting without covering up the wood floors, and they really can make a room pop! Finally, they are affordable: 100% wool rugs range from runners starting around $150, and larger sizes range in price starting at $300 and up.

The Art of hand made carpets are literally older than the bible! Of course when one thinks of a hand made imported rug most of us will us the term or think of “Persian Rugs. During my recent research I found a number of articles covering the history of rugs in the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Over the next 2 weeks I will be posting a series of articles that will help the average person develop an understanding of origins and types of hand made carpets.

In The Beginning

The art of carpet weaving existed in Iran in ancient times, according to evidences and in the opinion of scientists. An example of such evidences is the 2500-year-old Pazyryk carpet dating back to 500 B.C., during the Achaemenid period.

The first documented evidence on the existence of Persian carpets came from Chinese texts dating back to the Sassanid period (224 - 641 CE).^[3]

 This art underwent many changes in various eras of the Iranian history to an extent that it passed an upward trend before the Islamic era until the Mongols invasion of Iran. After the invasion, the art began to grow again during the reign of the Mongol dynasties of Timurid and Ilkhanid.^[1]

With the passage of time, the materials used in carpets, including wool, silk and cotton, decay. Therefore archaeologists are rarely able to make any particularly useful discoveries during archaeological excavations. What has remained from early times as evidence of carpet-weaving is nothing more than a few pieces of worn-out carpets. Such fragments do not help very much in recognizing the carpet-weaving characteristics of pre-Seljuk period (13th and 14th centuries AD) in Persia.

The earliest surviving pile carpet in the world is called the "Pazyryk Carpet", dating from the 5th-4th century BCE. It was excavated by Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko in 1949 from a Siberian burial ground where it had been preserved in ice in the valley of Pazyryk.

The origin of this carpet is attributed to either the Siberian Turkic groups, Scythians or the Persian Achaemenids. This carpet is 200 x 183 cm (6'6" x 6'0") and has 360,000 knots/m².[1]

The earliest group of surviving knotted pile carpets was produced under Seljuk rule in the first half of the 13th century on the Anatolian peninsula. The eighteen extant works are often referred to as the Konya Carpets. The central field of these large carpets is a repeated geometrical pattern. The borders are ornamented with a large-scale, stylized, angular calligraphy called Kufic, pseudo-Kufic, or Kufesque.^[3]

By the sixth century, Persian carpets of wool or silk were renowned in court circles throughout the region. The Bahârestân (spring) carpet of Khosrow I was made for the main audience hall of the Sasanians imperial Palace at Ctesiphon in Sasanian province of Khvârvarân (nowadays Iraq). It was 450 feet (140 m) long and 90 feet (27 m) wide and depicted a formal garden.

In the 8th century A.D. Azarbaijan Province was among the largest centers of carpet and rough carpet (ziloo) weaving in Iran. The Province of Tabarestan, besides paying taxes, sent 600 carpets to the courts of caliphs in Baghdad every year. At that time, the main items exported from that region were carpets, and small carpets for saying prayers. Furthermore, the carpets of Khorassan, Sistan and Bukhara, because of their prominent designs and motifs were on high demands among purchasers.^[1]

During the reigns of the Seljuq and Ilkhanate dynasties, carpet weaving was still a booming business so much so that a mosque built by Ghazan Khan in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, was covered with superb Persian carpets. Sheeps were specially breeded to produce fine wool for weaving carpets. Carpet designs depicted by miniature paintings belonging to the Timurid era lend proof to the development of this industry at that time. There is also another miniature painting of that time available which depicts the process of carpet weaving.

 Over the centuries numerous sub-regions evolved contributing their own distinctive designs to Persian carpets such as Tabriz and Lavar Kerman. Common motifs include scrolling vine networks, arabesques, palmettes, cloud bands, medallions, and overlapping geometric compartments rather than animals and humans. Figural designs are particularly popular in the Iranian market and are not nearly as common in carpets exported to the west.

The next article will deal with the art of making rugs.

Bull Street Auctions has more than 25 hand made carpets for sale at each auction. During our special  Rug Auctions we have more than 300 for sale. Our next imported rug auctions will be November 9. For more information go to www.bullstreetauctions.com.

Going, Going, Gone! Auctions and Antiques!

We are Craig And Lisa Arcos, Owners of Bull Street Auction. We are located at 2819 Bull Street. More and more people from finding just how great you can decorate your home by attending one of our bi-weekly auctions. While we have our own website (bullstreetauctions.com) and have a site also on "auctionzip",we are very new to blogging! Through our blog page, we hope in the coming months, to provide some insight into  how auctions are conducted, a bit of history in regards to antiques, some refinishing and restoration tips. Our travels across the South and North have afforded us the opportunity to find some really fun Antique shows and fairs. For the Flea Market and Antique Show junkies out there, we will try to expand you knowledge of where to go.

Recently a writer with the Savannah Morning News wrote an article explaining with the status of the current economy Consignment Shops were a great place to find deals on clothing. The article interviewed various local persons that explained how thrilled at the savings they gained by shopping in our local consignment shops.

Well that is not the only place where you can find deals and huge savings….and it’s right here in Savannah, one block south of Victory Drive on Bull Street! On Sundays you can walk in and experience one Savannah’s fastest growing favorite places to shop at....Bull Street Auctions! Whether you have just moved into town, purchased a new home or just want to rejuvenate your home decor,
Bull Street Auctions must be on your list of places to check out!

When you walk in to preview on an “Auction Weekend” at Bull Street Auctions you will feel like you have stepped back in time, and see the type of furniture that was found in your grandmother’s home:there is always a large assortment of  chairs tables chests buffets and china cabinets made in the Chippendale, Empire, Sheridan and Victorian styles. You'll even find the occasional piece of English or European furniture. If furniture is not what you seek you will also find a large assortment of crystal candelabras and sconces, pottery, jewelry or art. In addition, each auction always a fine assortment of imported rugs and chandeliers.

As buyers tastes change and decorating trends change so do the items for at the auction sale. More and more we are finding a market for newer designer furnishings, mid century modern and Hollywood regency pieces, says owner Lisa Arcos, in fact we often refer to the home decor magazines to see what is popular; and then seek those items out for our auctions.

Many of the regular patrons asked why they come they will answer that there is nowhere else to locally to buy antiques and other home decor items at such a great savings! In fact, a tour of some of Savannah’s B&B's and private homes from the Historic District, Ardsley Park and The Landing, you would find more and more homes decorated with furnishings, rugs and more that they acquired from Bull Street Auctions!

                              
In each auction you find more that 400 items up for sale to the highest bidder. Each person wishing to bid for an item up for sale must register prior to the beginning of the auction. Once registered you receive a “Bidders Card”. From there it is very simple; each item will be introduced by the auctioneer. After a brief description of the item the auctioneer will ask for someone to begin the bidding, once bidding begins, the auctioneer asks others if they wish to bid more for the item. Each item is sold to the “Highest Bidder”.

Often Craig and Lisa Arcos, the owners of Bull Street Auctions, are asked’ “how is so much stuff gathered every two weeks for an auction”? They will tell you that most of the items come from local families trying to settle an estate or from persons wishing to refurnish their homes; or turn their unneeded items into to cash. Other items are brought in by “Cosigners” who travel the North to find quality items to sell at auction in the south. We even have a Rug Importer from New York, who brings down 300 imported hand-made wool and silk blend rugs from the Far East on a regular basis.

Since 2005 the size of the business has tripled! :The reason for that is once people find out the deals they can get, they keep coming back”, says Lisa. For many Sunday's at the Auction has also turned into a social affair! Groups of friends gather at most auctions and discuss what they plan to bid on; other come for the food! The auction House has a family owned catering business take care of the lunch for each auction. While the chili and burgers are always a big hit, the real star here is the homemade cakes! “We even have had people come to just buy lunch”, says Craig. Today more that 2,000 persons receive emails and post cards on upcoming auctions. Our customer base today covers a wide area, says Craig; thanks to our website and our site on “Auctionzip” we have buyers from from California to New ?York. We even find vacationers attending our auction who found us through our website.

Previews for each auction are held on the Saturday preceding each auction from 11am to 3pm. To find out about an upcoming auction go to www.bullstreetauctions.com for information. There you will find out how to consign items for an auction as well. To speak with either Craig or Lisa call 912 272 3584 or 4439353.