Look no further than Dallas’s elite auction scene for fashion and decor’s most profitable trends.
Whether you’re in the market for a once-in-a-lifetime furniture find or struggling to sort treasures from, um, trash in a loved one’s estate, knowing the current trends and estimates at auction is essential. What makes auction houses, like family-owned Dallas Auction Gallery, so unique is they allow demand to drive prices, sometimes exceeding original estimates by tens of thousands. Today, we’re making it easy to assess your collection by sharing our auction insider’s tips on the hottest fashion and home trends this year.
Southern Style
Is there anything more iconic than timeless sterling flatware? Sought-after collections from American and European makers include Tiffany, Gorham, Georg Jensen; Dallas’s most desirable at auction? Past -Presidential favorite, Francis I by Reed & Barton. Pictured is a stunning, 193 piece set whose realized price doubled its $4,000 opening estimate.
Western Winners
Unsurprisingly, Dallas’s appetite for Texan and Southwestern fine art is consistently strong. One of the most popular? Porfirio Salinas, who many of us recognize from his more ubiquitous prints, meticulously framed in living rooms all over Texas. His serene Texas landscapes are perennial strong performers, original oil on canvas “Texas Bluebonnets” sold at Dallas Auction Gallery in 2018 at a whopping price of $42,375, one of the top ten highest sales for the artist. Clark Hulings “Windrush Plantation,” a rural landscape, nearly doubled its estimate with a winning bid of $149,000.
Must Have Modern
Furniture value at auction is swayed heavily not by original retail price or large size, but by current interior trends. Right now, Mid Century and contemporary designer pieces dominate the furniture marketplace. Mid Century names Frank Gehry and Knoll, as well as Contemporary notables such as Steve Crowly and father-son duo Philip & Kelvin LaVerne, are consistent furniture favorites at auction. Modern sensibilities meet organic lines in the pictured Sam Maloof chairs; rare sets like this keep customers coming back in hopes of bidding on designers, like Maloof, that can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, LACMA and The Smithsonian.
Coveted Couture
If you can’t guess the top fashion seller at auction, you may not actually live in the Metroplex- couture handbags! Vintage and nearly new bags from Louis Vuitton, Chanel and of course, the handbag lover’s Holy Grail: Hermes, make bidders hot and heavy as their frenzied bidding cards fly. Another Dallas auction forever-favorite? Estate Jewelry. Drool-inducing diamonds, thumbnail-size gemstones, and one-of-a-kind settings make even the most casual on-looker, like me, sidle up to the front desk for a bidding card and a chance to take home a sparkly something. Not sure if your collection has any auction-worthy treasures? Dallas Auction Gallery makes it easy to have your pieces valued by their in-house, certified appraisers. Their true-to-Texan commitment to making the process friendly and simple sets them apart from larger, international auction houses whose approach can be significantly less personal.
Auction houses, like local Dallas Auction Gallery, continue to hold their own in an increasingly online-dominated retail environment by providing live online bidding and an easy to use app in addition to in-person bidding (with cocktails and snacks!). By opening bidding to local and international customers, they’re able to access the global marketplace, making sure to achieve the most competitive realized prices for their consigners. Dallas Auction Gallery is accepting submissions for their 2019 auctions now, click here to learn more.
