This Otto Wagner Armchair by J&J Kohn was sold at Treadway Toomey Galleries for $ 650, while it was estimated at $1,000 – $1,500. Dirt cheap I would say. Especially when one considers I found the same chair for sale at Sam Kaufman in Los Angeles for $ 2,800 via 1stdibs…
Tag: J. & J. Kohn
Wright mistook a J&J Kohn Rocking Lounger for a Thonet Rocking Lounger
Some time ago I mentioned this Rocking Lounger that was auctioned at Wright. They attributed it to Thonet. Rather it is a J&J Kohn Lounger as the following 2 excerpts from a 1904 Catalog of both firms clearly demonstrate:
Many thanks to the Chairblog Reader, a real Thonet aficionado based here in Europe, who kindly has sent me the 2 excerpts.
He owns an original himself, you see:
Thonet Rocking Lounger
This Thonet Rocking Lounger will be auctioned in a couple of hours at Wright. Estimate: $4,000 @ $5,000.
Update 1:
and sold for $3,500
Update 2:
Rather it is a J&J Kohn Rocking Lounger
Last edited by Guido J. van den Elshout on November 18, 2011 at 10:49 PM
Die Zeit Armchair by Otto Wagner
Die Zeit Armchair by Otto Wagner is another chair in the important Wiener Werkstätte auction in NYC coming March 3, 2011:
OTTO WAGNER
Rare armchair, for the dispatch bureau of Die Zeit, Vienna, ca. 1902
Beechwood, nickel-plated metal, aluminum, cord, fabric. 30 3/4 in. (78.1 cm.) high Produced by Jacob & Josef Kohn, Austria. Underside stamped with “J. & J. Kohn/Teschen Austria.â€
ESTIMATE $35,000-45,000
via Phillips de Pury & Company.
My view: It seems very similar to the Postsparkasse chair….and already Art Deco.
See for instance the one that was auctioned, but probably held up at Wright in 2006:
According to Wright made by:
Thonet
Austria, 1906
stained beech wood, aluminum, upholstery
21.75 w x 23.25 d x 31 h inchesVienna’s Postparkasse, or Post Office Savings Bank, is Otto Wagner’s most important public commission and a landmark of modern architecture. This project illustrates Wagner’s pioneering use of aluminum as a new and modern material in architecture and design. Produced in a small series exclusively for the board room of the Post Office Savings Bank, this armchair utilizes aluminum both as a durable material for everyday use, and as a detail that fuses the design with overall architectural concept. Signed with manufacturer’s paper label to underside: [Thonet Wien] and stamped: [Thonet].
In 2008 a similar chair fetched $16,250 at Christie’s in a NYC sale.
In London at Christies there was not much interest in two leather upholstered ones in 2007 ($2,559) See Lot.
In 2000 at Christie’s (again NYC) this ebonized with aluminum one fetched $35,250.
Cord versus upholstery vs leather? Thonet vs J&J Kohn – who, mind you, later acquired the certain parts of the Thonet portfolio? New World loving this chair more than the Old World? Many questions…
Curious what this one will fetch in NYC.