NEW YORK— A trio of overpopulated and underwhelming 20th-century design sales in New York last week — marked by buy-in rates averaging 40 percent — demonstrated that this usually buoyant market is struggling to absorb a tsunami of supply. Perhaps more disappointing, the sales offered a surprising paucity of world-class material by designers capable of pulling in seven figure sums.

Phillips de Pury & Company
At Phillips de Pury & Company’s June 12 sale, which brought in $5.6 million, the top lot was a 1996 lacquered wood desk by Marc Newson, which made $313,000 (est. $300–400,000). The desk was part of a four-piece set including a wall shelf, a cabinet, and a console commissioned for the uber-hip Tokyo recording studio Syn Studios. Each piece was on offer as a separate lot, and the desk was the only to sell. With each of the works carrying a financial guarantee, it was a painful set of results for the auctioneer.

Some cutting-edge works fared better, such as Jeroben Verhoeven’s curvy (and barely functional) Cinderella table (2005), comprised of 700 computer-cut layers of birch plywood, which sold for $253,000 (est. $140–180,000), far more than another version from the same edition of 20 that fetched $42,000 (est. $40-60,000) as the cover lot at Sotheby’s New York in December 2006. Curiously, the piece also sold for more than Ron Arad’s higher-estimated handmade prototype Two Legs and a Table from circa 1990 in mirror-polished stainless steel, which went for $241,000 (est. $200–300,000).

According to Marc Benda of New York’s Friedman Benda gallery, “Emerging, younger designers are selling for a lot more money than some of the really established people.” The gallery took advantage of this, acquiring Ettore Sottsass’s unique and stunning 1982 “Biedermeier sofa” in plastic-laminate-covered wood, painted tubular metal, and fabric for a bargain $55,000 (est. $50–70,000).

Of the more classic, midcentury design by French masters, Jean Prouvé’s iconic “Director” desk from circa 1950 in painted steel, oak, and aluminum made a hefty $181,000 (est. $40–60,000) while Pierre Jeanneret’s circa 1966 illuminated library table from Chandigarh, India, in teak, painted metal, and frosted glass, realized $301,000 (est. $150–180,000).

Asked to comment on the auction's steep, 42 percent buy-in rate by lot, Phillips specialist Alexander Heminway said, “Obviously, we’d like to see that figure lower but we’re trying to grow the design department and so we’re taking risks in certain areas.”

Christie’s
The following day, Christie’s earned $4.9 million in a sale whose offerings looked decidedly more old-fashioned than Phillips’ jaunty line-up, with Art Deco giants like Jean Michel Frank leading the highlights charge.

Frank’s elegant Patinated Wrought-Iron Desk frame (1925–30), sans the original leather Hermes top, led the entries at $506,500 (est. $60–80,000), and a pair of striking, primitive-looking armchairs in seasoned-leather and wrought-iron, made for a famed Parisian art-collector couple in 1925, sold for $194,500 and $170,500 (est. $150–200,000 each).

The cover lot, John Scott Bradstreet’s Japanese-influenced, Arts & Crafts–era Lotus table (circa 1906), in carved cypress and bronze, struggled to hammer at a final price close to its low estimate. But the piece, which last sold at Skinner Boston for $27,500 (est. $3,000–5,000) in 1989, still managed to hit a record $386,500 (est. $350–550,000).

Bouts of competitive bidding drove some pieces skyward, such as Francois-Xavier Lalanne’s 9 ¾–inch high Rhinoceros Mecanique (1976), a patinated copper sculpture with hinged flaps that conceal hidden compartments. The piece earned $98,500 (est. $25–35,000). An even smaller Lalanne rhino in bronze, sans the flaps and standing just six inches high, sold for $68,500 (est. $10–15,000).

Small and portable seems to be the latest category to infatuate buyers, as a trove of snazzy artist-made jewelry from a single owner showed. Lucio Fontana’s oversized, otherworldly, oval-shaped silver-and-lacquer bracelet from 1969 sold for $43,750 (est. $12,000–18,000), and the artist’s eight-inch minimalist gold arm cuff from 1967, from an edition of 30 and complete with its original pouch and promotional photograph by Ugo Mulas, fetched $55,000 (est. $12–18,000).  

“We achieved a good result in a situation in which the sale included little in the way of high-end ‘star’ lots and was strongly weighted in middle-value pieces,” said Christie’s international head of design, Philippe Garner. “There were enough strong flurries and very competitive interest in such sections as the Lalanne works and the jewelry to confirm that the market remains strong and hungry for rare and interesting pieces.”

Sotheby’s
On June 14, Sotheby’s Important 20th Century Design Sale mirrored its rivals’ rough mix of success and failure, earning the week’s biggest total at $7.4 million.

The progression of lots was deliberately anti-chronological, mixing periods and designers in a refreshing way that also seemed to partially obscure the sale’s overall lack of top-rate material and significant representation of any single designer’s work.

Still, some pieces fetched many times their estimates, proving there’s still considerable appetite for certain special works. On the conservative front, Tiffany Studios’s Apple Blossom table lamp in leaded glass and patinated bronze from circa 1905 was easily the top lot — and the week’s most expensive item — at $932,500 (est. $250–350,000).

Twin sculptors Jan and Joel Martel’s Futurist-inspired and decidedly fantastic model Locomotive en Marche (circa 1930), in sheet aluminum and lacquered wood, sped to $386,500 (est. $70–90,000). Jean-Michel Frank also made a strong impression, with a rare chromium-plated, zebra-hide-upholstered armchair from circa 1930 that fetched a whopping $230,500 (est. $20–30,000).

Rarity worked its charms for Isamu Noguchi’s prototype Prismatic Table (1957), fabricated in anodized aluminum for the Alcoa Forecast Program, which rose to $290,500 (est. $100–150,000).

A small group of rare, unique, and fresh-to-market wood pieces by Wendell Castle also met heavy demand, with a 1967 two-seater sofa carved from rosewood selling for $152,500 (est. $40–60,000).

On the downside, a pair of Prouvé surplus doors from 1949, in lacquered steel, Plexiglas, and fiberglass insulation and originally made for one of Prouvé’s Maisons Tropicales but never used, fell flat and failed to sell at $85,000 (est. $100–150,000). Another pair of the famed portholed doors made $680,000 (est. $60–80,000) at Sotheby’s New York in December 2004. Has the market love affair with Prouvé cooled?

Similarly, a tired set of a sofa and pair of armchairs by the heavily marketed Jean Royere, in sycamore, walnut, and fabric from circa 1938, was bought in at $65,000 (est. $80–120,000).

But Sotheby’s broke the recent bad luck spell of designer structures bombing at auction when Shigeru Ban’s 38-ton 2007 Artek Pavilion kit, in recycled materials, plywood, and clear polypropene, found a willing buyer, albeit well below the pre-sale estimates of $800,000–1.2 million, at $602,500.

Though officially anonymous, the buyer is believed to be an American art dealer eager to use the structure for exhibitions coming soon to the Hamptons.

Asked to explain the week’s seemingly high percentages of buy-ins, Sotheby’s design head James Zemaitis noted, “There’s an extreme desire on the part of the auction houses to spam the market with too many pieces of furniture, but there are not enough collectors to keep up with it. There’s just too much flipping, churning, and burning.”