Friday, March 2, 2012

Although I Shamelessly Pour Through C-list Ads And Often Snatch Up Good Stuff Within Hours Of Listing, This Arthur Umanoff Bar Sat Unbought For Days! Status: Trigger Pulled.

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It's funny how some really good stuff can sit on craigslist for days without being snatched.  I just had an e-mail conversation with a local reader about a pair of chairs that sat unbought for well over a week on the list.  He had apparently shot off an e-mail after the sellers had bumped up the ad and gotten no reply.  Miffed, he did the next logical thing: he shot me a note asking if I had snatched them up!

I assured him that I had not bought the set (one was an Adrian Pearsall, but both looked to me

to had been reupholstered in some unfortunate formal material) but had actually been in

somewhat limited contact with the seller as I did make a half hearted attempt to buy the set when

they first appeared.  I just wasn't that into them, so I never got around to making the buy...and

they sat there on c-list for another week and a half...with nobody striking that "hot iron", as it

were.

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Then there is the case of this really pretty cool Danish Modern / Scandinavian Style Dining Set

with Buffet for (an asking price of) $200
.  It's still on c-list and was still available as of 02/26.

The weird thing is that somebody sent me an e-mail with a couple of pictures of an armchair

that is exactly like the chairs in this ad, but they didn't send ANY text and there e-mail address

was kinda weird so I didn't (and won't, sorry...send me a normal e-mail!) respond to them.

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But then I thought that maybe the sellers of the dining set above were the people who e-mailed

me and just wanted to know if the dining set was valuable.  So I e-mailed the sellers via

craigslist to ask if they had tried to contact me via the blog and they had no idea what I was

talking about.  Weird.

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So anyway, there you go.  Two pretty cool items in excellent condition (from what I could gather

from the ads) that I did not in fact snatch up!  I may start an occasional feature of items that I feel

like are pretty good deals that might have gotten missed by local buyers that I'm passing on.

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Then there is this Arthur Umanoff (style?  I'm just making an educated assumption here) for

Raymor bar that was posted to craigslist last weekend.  I saw it right away but I was a little

down in the mouth about having to take Frank to the doctor for work (rear wheel bearing went

way, way bad) and new tires, alignment, oil change, ect. so I didn't really feel like spending any

MORE money, even on something as cool as this...all the while knowing I'd regret it later.

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When the ad was still up Wednesday evening and Frank was all better...well, I'm sure you can

guess.  A phone call was made and an arrangement was made to pick it up after work.   The

seller said there were a few other inquiries that same day but they couldn't come by late like me

or something, dunno.  The iron was hot and waiting to be struck...and my hammer was swift

and sure!  I'll be sure to post it again after I clean it up, paint the ironwork and fix the bar top.

It'll be beautiful, promise.

12 comments:

  1. That is a super nice set! Can't wait to see it cleaned up.

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    1. Hi Beccalina. I was HOPING to get the iron painted this weekend, along with the coral barstools and a slat bench but Mother Nature can't seem to make up her mind about ambient temps here in the StL. I might have to wait a while.

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  2. Hey Mr. M. Once again you have defended your title as "King of the CL Pick"! I can't believe you haven't snatched up that Chromcraft set for $6500!
    Jeff

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jeff. $6500? Chromecraft? Huh? Am I missing a punchline here?

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    2. Did you miss the Kagan-esque Chromecraft dining set that was on the STL CL? Very cool, and for that low, low price! Someone else must have snatched it right up.(I'm sarcastic, but the listing was for real!)

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    3. Dang, I guess I did! But I found it. I was misspelling Chromcraft. I'm glad you showed me this and got me looking around at the style. I was under the impression that the Chromcraft Sculpta set (what the seller has) was actually designed by V. Kagan. After seeing what an Actual V. Kagan Unicorn chair looks like it's obvious that the Chromcraft set was simply inspired by the Kagan items. That's a nutso asking price...but I'd love to have it!

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  3. I suspect that is going to be one nice looking bar after you spiffy it up! I would love to have one here in the store as we always have cutomers looking for bars.

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    1. Hi A Mod. I fell in love with this style of furniture down in New Orleans after seeing a mislabeled set of Umanoff barstools (labeled as McCobb) at a shop on Magazine Street called Neophobia (RIP). Then, much later on another trip I spotted a bar very similar to this one there as well. I just have a thing for the steel rod furniture.

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  4. most of the stuff i have at home are all such buys...the ones which somehow dint seem to have buyers until i emailed the sellers...Infact it used to so weird that hubby and I used to ask ourselves if we were doing the right thing by buying the piece..our first doubt being, how come we are lucky to get it lol...and then if the piece is in good shape..cos most of the pieces were from midtown or downtown :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sudha. I think that we are lucky to have a taste for furniture and things that the average person isn't that interested in. It means that a lot people selling this stuff will sell it for less since they don't think many people will even want it!

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  5. Hello. I have a set myself and have had it on craigslist for a week now too. No calls. I have it priced at 750.00 for the set. If anyone lives close to Elkhart, Indiana give me a call.

    574-343-2977
    Vanessa

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    Replies
    1. Hi Vanessa. Nice set...but maybe a little pricey for being 2 hours (and how many toll booths?) away from Chicago...where you are likely to find your buyer. Also, put some pictures in you ad. Load one good picture clearly showing the bar and stools to craigslist and then you can link the rest via HTML. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

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