Decorative Arts Market with David Rago

1. Decorative Arts Market With David Rago

2. The world of decorative fine arts, items prized for their beauty, collectability, and function, includes furniture, ceramics, glass, glassware, lamps and lighting, and tableware, among others. Auction Daily spoke with David Rago, President of Rago Arts and Auction of Lambertville, NJ, to get his thoughts on the state of the market in 2021 for this key auction category. His company has been in business since 1984 and enjoys an international reputation for leadership and excellence in the decorative arts auction space. What is today’s demand of the people for decorative arts? David Rago: People are buying modern art, whether it's Warhol prints or contemporary master oil paintings, and they mostly want modern furniture to go with it. Modernism New Hope, International School, Post Modern and Memphis School, all fresh and colorful and / or natural material that goes well with modern art. They're also buying old qualitative standards like Tiffany glass and lighting, as well as George Ohr.

3. When asked about the decorative arts category and its changes, David said as below. David Rago: This is a difficult question to answer because the antiques and decorative arts businesses have changed a lot in the last 15 years, but that change has had an uneven impact. I really started to see the change in the early 2000s. The death spiral first came about with the crash of the 19th century market for things like cut glass, sandwich glass, and Victorian materials. Around 2005, I saw things like furniture from the early 20th century stop increasing in value. As a friend once told me: "You can buy a Gustav Stickley shelf or 40 pots to put them in." The collectors had the furniture they needed; who wanted two dining tables? But the little ones, like forged metal and artistic ceramics, still had their place. But again, there are inconsistencies. Rookwood pottery, the best of its kind in the world, began to drop in price around 2007. As good as the work, people were less interested in buying the representative designs painted on those vases. His tastes gravitated toward the stylized designs of Grueby, or the relatively abstract work of George Ohr, the self- proclaimed "Mad Potter of Biloxi" from Mississippi.

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