This has undermined prices at auction, which had climbed from around £500-800 in the mid-’90s to anything between £1500-3000 in the past couple of years, depending on age and condition.
Two examples at Christie’s design sale in London last year made £2800 and £2500, but this example right manufactured by Hermann Miller in the past decade or so, only rated £1400 from a private buyer at Amersham Auction Rooms (15% buyer’s premium) in Buckinghamshire on August 1.
One of the most widely recognised and produced 18th century designs – a George III mahogany chest on chest with dentil and blind fret carved frieze, two short and six long cockbeaded drawers with brass bail handles, took the top furniture price of £2600.
Eames’ chairs are design icons but recliners decline in the age of online
ONE of the most widely recognised furniture designs of the 20th century, Ray and Charles Eames’ reclining chair and ottoman, designed in 1956 for the film director Billy Wilder, has also been among the most mass produced. Every second-hand design shop in Britain will either stock a copy, or will tell you they have just sold one, but the recent proliferation of online warehouse retailers has stabilised the price for modern copies at around £2000.
