Now, this is something you don’t see everyday. Shagreen furnishings are relatively rare so I was surprised to see a number of examples last week at Toronto consignment store Of Things Past. Shagreen, is a fancy designer term meaning shark skin or more commonly, ray skin. The roughly textured skins—often dyed green, hence the name–are laminated over wooden forms, giving them a luxe, exotic look. Inexplicably, some of the pieces at Of Things Past were labeled as being covered in “sustainable” stingray skin. Tell that to the stingrays.
Sustainable or not, shagreen furnishings definitely skew towards the high-end of the design equation. The mirror above is $578 and the light green waterfall table is $2,082.50.
For the sake of comparison I tracked down the shagreen tables, above, at Paul Marra in Los Angeles, where they’re priced at $7,450 USD (left) and $7,600 USD for the pair, right. Those sky-high prices make the Of Things Past pieces look like bargains . . .
The shagreen and leather cube chair, above left and below left, is $945, and the consoles, above right are $2,082.50 for the waterfall style and $686 for the shaker style.
Whether or not these pieces are “worth it” depends entirely on whether you love them–certainly, they represent excellent value. The wooden club chair with the circular cutouts, below right, may not be shagreen but it’s definitely a steal at only $364.
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April 25th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Nothing is worth the prices most stores charge for important vintage items. For my money, and there is never enough of that I haunt all of the thrift stores and yard sales and flea markets. It is amazing what I have picked up from the side of the road. This is why I drive a pickup. The thrill for me is finding something significant for pennies relative to it’s actual value. My mother who frequents “Le Village” looks at the furniture and decor smalls that I have trained her to look out for. She found me a pair of Barcelona Chairs for $15 a piece. I buzzed on that for months.