I’d never seen this regular auction-goer so miffed. I even heard him use a few derogatory words to describe the bidder who was re-lent-less-ly knocking out his business partner for Murano art glass.
These two business partners buy much of the art glass at auction; it’s among the specialties of their antique shop. They are a fixture at two of my favorite auction houses – just as much a “piece of the furniture” as I am.
On this day, though, they were really learning that you have no friends at auction (interestingly, this regular was the one who had mentioned that to me, so I was a bit surprised at his reaction). This new bidder was an unknown; I learned later that she had driven up from Dallas especially for the art glass.
Tables were lined with rows of art glass in very large groupings and scattered about in smaller groupings. There were plenty of pieces to go around, but when you know and recognize the actual makers, then the list narrows. As for me, I was drawn to the designs and colors.
I understood the allure of Murano glass; some that I’ve seen at auction have been fetching. The glassware has a long history of production (since 9thcentury Rome, it is believed) on the island of Murano, off the coast of Venice, Italy. The web abounds with sites selling it in all forms – from vases to paperweights to bowls to sculptures to jewelry and more. Today, some of it is made by individual artists and others are mass-marketed.
One website noted that a visit to some shops on the island will get you pieces made for the souvenir trade, but look inside some of the better galleries and showrooms and you’ll see some of the finest of workmanship.
At the auction, the bidding jockeyed back and forth between the Dallas newcomer and the auction-house veteran. Only a few other people dared jump in – and only for pieces that the two of them didn’t seem to want. And that wasn’t often.
As usual, the auctioneer started high, and the veteran usually cast his bid when it hit $20. Then the woman took the next $25 bid, and so on and so on. In some instances, the veteran bid higher than the increment and the woman took the next highest bid. A few times, she just kept her number in the air, showing that she meant business and wasn’t interested in sharing.
The whole process was like watching a boxing match as she socked him over and over again, each time walking away with the prize. It was painful to watch, because many of us regulars have matched up against someone who wanted items as much as we did. But watching was about all we could do as we waited out the ordeal and for the rest of the auction.
I sat next to the partner through some of the bidding. He remarked several times that she was paying too much for some of the pieces, including $225 for a Seguso that, he said, retailed for $200 to $250. (Later, in the auction house’s Modern Design sale, a small Seguso “clear and blue” Murano art-glass sculpture sold for $550.)
On one piece of cased glass with a burnt orange center, the auction house had placed a note with the word Barbini and a question mark. That was not a Barbini, the partner said. He told me that he had picked up a Barbini at another auction and had found one selling for $2,000 on the web. A couple came to his shop, loved his piece and he priced it at $1,500. They said they would come back, he said.
All I know is that it was a beautiful half-circle of thick glass. The Dallas buyer paid $110 for it.
By the end, she walked away with most of the art glass, but the veteran made her pay mightily for all of it – purposefully, I’m sure, bidding the pieces higher. Some folks may not consider that good sport, but I’ve talked to many bidders who do just that to bidders they do not like or who won’t give anyone else a break.
The woman paid $140 for a smoked gray Holmgaard and got other groupings of up to five pieces for $100 and $110. Six pieces of cased glass went for $130.
The least expensive pieces went individually for $4, $7, $10, $27.50 and $30. The cheapest was a lot of six pieces of maroon-colored glass that went for $10.
Still, from where she came, maybe they were still a bargain. 
