Tommi Parzinger

Tommi Parzinger was born in Munich in 1903, He studied in Germany and started designing there.  He   designed, wallpaper, fabric, interiors, books, posters as well as porcelain for the German manufacturer, KPM.  He entered a poster contest for a German cruise ship company in 1935 and won.  Part of the prize was a trip to the U.S.  This was the beginning of his interest in the U.S.  After he returned to Germany he entered another poster contest sponsored by the state.  He won but was told that he would have to join the military the next day in order to collect his prize.  He immediately went to the American Embassy to get a visitor's visa and left the country leaving everything that he owned behind.

Custom man's wardrobe 1950by Parzinger

 Once in the states he started working designing pieces of furniture, crystal and china for for Rena Rosenthal for her shop on Madison Avenue. In 1939 he started his own business.  He located his showroom on East 57th Street, and was there for most of his career.  Tommi and his partner Donald Cameron's client list included  the Fords, Rockefellers, DuPonts, Mellons and Israeli ambassador, Abba Eban.

two drawer black lacquered bedside tables by Parzinger 1950

Tommi Parzinger designed furniture for Charak Modern, Willow & Reed, Hofstatter, and Salterini. He also designed wallpaper, perfume bottles, and even packaging. His pieces have maintained their popularity today, and they are highly sort after,

X back chairs by Parzinger

Auction Results and Antique Shop Pricing

Samuel Marx Coffee Table

In the State of Virginia, most Antique Shops go to auctions to buy a lot of their merchandise and then mark the pieces up to two to three times.  This is a easy way to find items to display in your shop.  The customer is not always getting anything more than the value they pay, but what are you actually offering the customer?.  Virginians, the older generation, are tied into the 18th century and the more traditional type of furniture and accessories for their homes.  Fortunately the young married and upward mobile young professionals are interested in the" new antiques."

Paola Buffa Console

We rarely find our merchandise at auctions, preferring to hunt up and down the east coast.  Venturing westward and even going overseas.  Lewis studies and checks auction records for our pieces and then prices our things either at or below auction records.  Usually items purchased in our shop not only hold their value but often will increase in value.

Gio Ponti Chairs

  Just recently we discovered at a Wright's auction this month that a pair of our chairs were by Gio Ponti and sold for $27,000.  Our price in the shop is well below the auction results.  We never know when an item that is by one of the furniture designers represented in our shop will bring top prices at auction.  Architect designed pieces of the early modernist period are an excellent investment.  They have continued to gain in value. Not too long ago, dealers came in and purchased about 18 chairs from us.  These were mostly by the Architect designer Paolo Buffa ( early modernist Italian architect).  They paid around $10,000 for the pieces.  They sent the chairs to Wright's auction, after reupholstering and refinishing them.  They sold all of them in several lots for around $64,000.  This was better profit than investing in a some what shaky stock market. Blue chip antiques often can sky rocket.  Interesting note is that the most expensive price that a  chair ever brought in  an auction was an early modernist, by Eileen Gray, not a Chippendale original signed piece. 

Set of four Dining Chairs by Buffa

Another Venue

Rethink, rethink, rethink that is what it takes to be smart in business.  Lewis Trimble has been a participant on an international website for about 2 1/2 years.  This has earned us recognition by designers all over the world.  We have sold items that have gone to such diverse places as London,  Paris, to South Korea, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. These have been large pieces of furniture, huge Murano chandeliers, brutalist lamps, and an Italian table that was air freighted to Todd's shoes in Hong Kong. 

We found that many delightful pieces were lost in our cases, among the larger pieces of furniture and art.  People who come into our shop were focusing on the larger more expensive items.  So after some rethinking we decided to join One Kings Lane, and give these hidden jewels a proper showcase. So look for us soon on One Kings Lanes sales.  These will be marked down from the original price.