Cool Adrian Pearsall Pick - Biomorphic Fun

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As time goes by and focusing on mainly mid century furniture I have come to put the pieces I see in different categories. On the bottom are Ikea and Scan design type furniture. They go after the mid century market using newer versions of the classics and in my mind its like an Andy Warhol painting versus a Andy Warhol print. For my own personal taste a Corvette kit car is not a Corvette. Are there pickers who like and resell these pieces? Of course. Just my preference I am always looking for real 40-60 year old mid century stuff. If you are interested in this area check out Ikea Hackers for some great idea's. It obviously can be fun and profitable if you focus on this area, it's just not for me.

My hunt is always for 50's, 60's, and a few 70's pieces of mid century modern furniture. Broyhill,

Lane (one of my favorites) Bassett are just a few of the signatures I look for. These manufactures made some cool looking fun pieces of furniture in the mid century era. Most were made in the U.S.A. A BIG PLUS IN MY MIND, but they also worked with big named designers on some of their stuff.

Just one example is Drexel furniture line Precedent. These were made in the 50's had a very famous designer named Edward Wormley design around a 100 pieces for them. Drexel mid century is not really Danish modern in it's influences so normally a Drexel piece does not blow my skirt up. On the other hand the Edward Wormley stuff does....blow my skirt up. F.Y.I. Adrian Pearsall spent a little time with the Drexel Precedent furniture line also in 54.

So it pays to do research and learn history on these name brands to understand better who did what.

My favorite picks by far though are the real deal designer pieces with actual signatures or markings. Milo Baughman, Finn Juhl , Paul McCobb, Hans Wegner, Paul Evans, Adrian Pearsall are just a few of the people who influenced furniture design. When you find any real, not in the style of or attributed to, real deal pieces it makes me want to just explode. It is neat to see a piece of furniture in good condition and so beautiful. The prices on this stuff is going through the roof of course but after you find them I take the time to research them properly and learn everything possible about the person who designed it and why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above pictures are of a Biomorphic planter coffee table I picked this weekend. It is an actual Adrian Pearsall piece. You will see many copy's but this is one of the real ones. Actual value is always based on how long you want it to take to sell it. Sell it quick for around 500 or wait on someone willing to pay more.

Whatever you pick, learn it and you will make better decisions and that means more money. Happy picking!

Picking Is Just The Beginning - True Dat!

Hope everyone had a great week end. I did myself found some ok, good, and great pieces. Now the real work starts. First off it is fun finding some good items to resell. That's a given. It takes a lot of discipline, and good time management to be successful in the area with a little luck thrown in. Don't get me wrong I have noticed its all peaks and valleys. Some times there is more targets then you know what to do with and other times it seems you cannot find anything that fits a good pickers buying parameters to save your ass. Peaks and valleys.

It all evens out though if you keep your efforts at a high level. So no worry's.

Then comes the part of the pickers world many fail at to be really successful. So you go picking in your favorite category your good at and you find a bunch to cool stuff to resell. Now what? Well you need to take the steps necessary to SELL IT!

That's right selling it is the only way to be successful at really being a good picker. If you are alone and doing this on your own it takes a lot of discipline to finish the cycle. What is the cycle?

FIND IT - RESEARCH VALUE CORRECTLY - DECIDE ON IF TO ENHANCE IT (REPAIR OR RESTORE TO SOME DEGREE) - PRESENT IT TO YOUR SELLING CHANNELS PROPERLY

I am lucky my partner in life matches up with me in wanting to be successful in picking. We both love mid century and she is great at refinishing and research. Me, I am the finder, logistics, and good at picking up big things. If you are alone you have to be everything and do it in a timely manner. It does you no dam good to find good stuff and have it piling up in a room. You have to finish the cycle or you are now on a hoarder reality show and all of us feel sad you can't get in your bathroom no more.

Finish the cycle!

How Does This Picker Start His Day

I have found "keeping head on a swivel" comes in handy more then one way. Yes when I am out and about your always looking for signs of opportunity. I.E. Yard sale signs, estate sale signs, etc. There is a better way to keep your head on a swivel and that is the internet. I am a early riser and living in Florida, you can normally find me on my front porch by 5 a.m. drinking coffee. I check emails first, EBay, then if there is nothing that needs attention I go hunting from my chair.

This is not always possible if you specialize in some area's. For what I like to pick it works pretty good. Now it also depends on the day but I am religion on looking for my next opportunity. You have to be if you want to survive. It helps being relentless in the amount of things you find compared to the other pickers. Remember you are not alone in looking for stuff.

My List Of Picking Websites

Craigslist - The first place I check. Have to see what was posted overnight. Remember to check surrounding area's also looking for unvalued items. My best war story this year is I woke up extra early one morning (4 a.m.) and popped open Craigslist and finding nothing I checked surrounding areas and found this piece.

That's right its an Kurt Ostervig Rosewood drop leaf table. The people were older, early risers and posted it 10 minutes before. I ended up being the first to email them....repeatedly...and they honored first come first serve. It came with 4 chairs that were unbelievable and they wanted 350.00. It pays to check for unvalued stuff in your area and surrounding area's ....a lot.

Estatesales.net - This site of course helps you see what sales are in your area and lets you pin point your targets and manage your efforts better. Look at the pictures, see what you like make your plans and route up for the days of the sales. Remember to develop relationships with the people running the estate sales so you wrangle some better opportunity's down the road. They are people to and it helps them some times for you to be a resource for stuff left at the end.

StorageTreasures.com - This resource I have not used a lot yet but it is cool and could be a resource for stuff. The trick is you leave a deposit and have to cleaned out the locker in 24-48 hours and be swept clean. This means you need the storage to do this without affecting your regular picking.

Well these are just a few of my head on a swivel places I start my hunt at. Soon I will cover thrift shop secrets I use to score there. Have a great day. Take care everybody.

Smile for the day........Space Coast Style

Picked A Beautiful Tansu Mystery Chest

The one thing about picking is there is always something that catches your eye that you have to buy. This is an area of Mid Century I have not a lot of experience with. During the 50's and 60's Asian influence was big in many homes. Loving mid century I have never ventured down that road but being an off shoot it is time I dug in. And I did.

This piece to me had enough going for it I bought it with little knowledge but I was still comfortable doing so. Once home we did some due diligence on research and even contacted what seemed to be a big reseller of vintage and antique Asian furniture but they were little help.

SEE EBAY LISTING HERE

So now in picking terms, you wing it and all the research we have done seems to be it is probably more valuable then what we listed it for on EBay. But one trick to EBay is there are I wish numbers, and to a potential customer it's an oh shit number. Then there is the selling number. So in pricing on EBay we try to go with a realistic selling price more then a oh hell that would be great to get number.

Every piece normally has flaws, hence it's vintage. This has a loose connecter on the drop down door and tarnish and minor scratches. But nothing to get your panty's in an uproar over.....it's vintage. These things are minor and being this is older it has a cool personality. Just thought I would share my latest pickins.

Take care and as the Red Neck Picker says.....keep your head on a swivel.

The First Lesson In Picking I Learned

Good morning. Just hanging out on my porch getting my day lined up a.k.a. looking for targets. Thought I would share something that works for me in my lessons in picking self taught style. One of the skills I have developed over time is spotting value in Mid Century stuff. To back track a little bit. When I first started picking, I picked anything I thought remotely had value. In other words it was worth more then I bought it for.

This meme really captures my attitude when I started. I guessed if there was value, then I brought it home and researched it, then I hoped to shine it up of repair it if needed and was tickled to make 10-30 dollars.

"I thought I could learn everything and be the expert on everything"

And with that attitude I picked, find it, guess its worth more, hope for success.

Here what I found that leads to. Stuff needing fixed to being sellable, money tied up in low value items that sat around forever and I had lost my enthusiasm for its potential. This meant also many appointments to make 20.00.

"After awhile I Learned knowing a little everything about a lot was less successful then knowing a lot about certain things."

So todays info is specialize. At every estate sale I meet the same people when there are certain items in the sale. They have developed their network on these area's to sell them and also it helps them buy the right things. There are military item pickers, glassware pickers, antique pickers etc. They know their area well enough to be successful and yes everyday all of us that specialize learn even more. For example:

I learned this week that in the 50's Precedent furniture by Drexel had two famous designers on board. In the 1953-1954 range Edward Wormley designed around a hundred pieces for them. After he left Milo Baughman did pieces for awhile for them.

 

That one piece of info gives my picking added value at some point down the road. I learn every week about what I specialize in.

Pick in and area you also have passion for is something that helps me. I love the Mid Century era and the stuff in it. I despise all new furniture except for some stuff. When I look at what is offered today with 36 month financing and is considered furniture it makes me want to throw up. I would rather have surface scratches on a mid century credenza holding up my T.V. then any new piece of crap made today in Asia.

Passion helps you in your picking, you may see I have some. Love what you do and it will never be a job. But if you want to be successful....specialize.

Have a great day...


By the way here is a picker I love learning from. The REDNECK PICKER. Enjoy!

What A Week For Picking Mid Century

The one thing about finding stuff for resell is you never know exactly where it will be. Week to week I have a rhythm to my hunting, I check Craigslist for under valued stuff, I visit thrift shops daily and last but not least estate sales. The one thing you have to count on is your knowledge (which is always growing) and your eye.

Do not fool yourself in thinking your the only one buying what you buy but I think perseverance is my strength. I cross my T's and dot my I's everyday. So should you. And have patients. The biggest thing you should try to do is build relationships everywhere you go so sooner or later you get preference and better pricing.

Well this week it paid off and I pretty much hade the run of a great estate sale. Picked up some Selig Monroe chairs.

 

 

These chairs sold in 2 hours on EBay. The estate sale was for a man who was 90 and served in Korea in the 50's and had brought back some great oriental pieces. So it was a mixture of MCM and hand made Asian piece. One of a kind stuff and some neat things indicating this man was cool. Relationships are important to create better opportunity's.

 

 

 

This cool MCM lattice lamp is in perfect condition. That is one thing you learn fast. The flavor of the house your in will end up telling you a lot about what you will find. This man took care of his things and again he had great taste.

This piece is a diamond front John Breuner credenza. John Breuner co. went out of business in 74 but this Mid Century piece is cool.

Well this is my week so far but 2 days to go. Every body take care. Have fun hunting.

Paul

Welcome to my pickers blog. I have started this one to kind of detail the fun I have finding Mid century pieces in the space coast area. Some people call this gods waiting room but many nice folks live here and have in their possession some great Mid Century furniture and art.

I spend every week looking under every rock to find something that is not only cool but affordable. I mean the goal is to make a little change for my efforts but it is also a passion for an era that will never be again. Yes I know you can go to Ikea and buy a copy but who wants a 66 corvette kit car?

So from time to time I will post my better finds and once in a blue moon an antique might show up if its beautiful or different. Happy picking people.

Beachpicker53 out!