In perusing an advance copy of a well-known shelter publication, Keith and I were pleased to see one of our furniture pieces featured, and all the more pleased that we were the only non-New York antiques dealer mentioned. Ironic, that with all the bloodletting in the art and antiques trade, and in particular on the island of Manhattan, it is still the nexus of the international fine art trade. Mind you, it is also still the Big Apple, with a huge concentration of big money buyers, and interior designers. Despite the loss of Concorde, New York remains a convenient jumping off point for those who may wish to enhance the reach of their collecting net by flying, privately of course, to London or Paris.
Or to San Francisco. While this will doubtless stir argument, no one in their heart of hearts really thinks of this as an art market city, but it is easy to get to, and get around once here. Consequently, we do have sufficient numbers of people transiting through- most of the time- to allow us to earn our daily crust.
And it is from ouslanders that most of our living flows. For whatever reason, we don’t do too much business with San Franciscans, and that includes Silicon Valley billionaires. Thinking about this for a moment, we do have one very good customer locally, a particularly well-known interior design firm. They do, however, spread their favors around, and trade in New York, too.
Given the dearth of local trade, it might be confounding that we do as much business as we do with New Yorkers. Well, not so confounding, really. What we see, every time we take a look, is the astonishing difference in price between what we are asking and what the New York dealers ask for comparable material. Although we bemoan what we have to pay for rent in Jackson Square, it is, while not paltry in comparison, let’s just say it is considerably less than what dealers pay for what amounts to only a bolt hole off 2nd and 3rd Avenues near the D & D Building, and, yes, paltry compared to Madison Avenue. Someone has to ultimately pay for this kind of rent, and if you hold a mirror up to your face, you will find out who it is.
There is nothing really secret about this kind of pricing disparity, with a number of our east coast customers flying out to look at pieces. The worst that can happen, assuming the piece is not to their taste, is they’ve enjoyed a pleasant weekend in San Francisco, with possibly a side trip to the Napa Valley. We are discreet about discussing this, however. My lesson was learned when making small talk with an occasional buyer, a stage and screen actress who makes her permanent home on the Upper East Side. When I opined about the vicissitudes of transcontinental commuting, she said, matter of factly, that she found it less taxing since she purchased her Hawker 4000. Well, yes…