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Thursday, January 07, 2010 7:51:46 AM
At Tavern Auction Preview, a Hunt for Antiques and Nostalgia
By GLENN COLLINS
January 7, 2010
Dozens of potential bidders got a first look on Wednesday at the 25,000 treasures that were orphaned when Tavern on the Green in Central Park closed. The items, including the stained-glass ceiling fixtures, will be sold at an auction starting Jan. 13.
The three-day auction will include 1,000 lots of items that have been valued at $100 to $1.2 million (a chandelier). Decorative pieces from both inside the restaurant and from its gardens will go on the block.
They kicked the tires. Grandly.
For the first time, dozens of potential bidders for 25,000 orphaned treasures from Tavern on the Green were admitted to the shuttered and bankrupt landmark restaurant in Central Park on Wednesday. They previewed next week’s three-day auction of 1,000 lots of items that have been valued at $100 to $1.2 million.
“I’d like to buy something if I can afford it,” Arthur Ashendorff, a retired engineer from Manhattan, said as he made a flyby of offerings in the restaurant’s Chestnut Room. “Possibly something — ” he searched for a word — “small.”
He was in the advance guard of visitors, touring the large assemblage of candelabras, samovars, weather vanes, sculptures, murals, prints, lighting fixtures, silver and china place settings and other eccentric assets of the sprawling restaurant, which was padlocked early on New Year’s Day.
“Everything must go,” said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey’s auction house, which is mounting the sale. He hosted the sprawling walk-through in the company of his inquisitive dog, Rascal, a mixed-breed rescue pup. Previews will be from noon to 8 p.m. every day through Tuesday. Then the three-day sale — in the Crystal Room of Tavern — is to begin with sessions at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on the following day.
Many visitors had a visceral connection to the restaurant. Elizabeth and Larry Becker — who arrived with their 24-year-old daughter, Beth — recalled their 1983 wedding reception in the Crystal Room and were hunting for a token that would remind them of the Tavern of yore. “We came here every Mother’s Day,” said Mr. Becker, a financial consultant.
Mr. Ettinger said he was optimistic about auction attendance, since some 20 million patrons visited Tavern during the 33 years it was operated by the family of Warner LeRoy — who, as its operator, reinvented the restaurant in 1976.
“It’s all here, and it’s all authentic,” said Michael Desiderio, Tavern’s chief operating officer, who admitted that “I’d like some of these things myself — but I can’t afford them.”
The preview of the sale — called a nonreserve auction because there was no presale estimate of the prices of individual objects — is expected to attract more than 1,000 visitors and, ultimately, many hundreds of bidders.
Although Mr. Ettinger declined to put a specific value on the offerings, a Sotheby’s appraisal of a portion of the LeRoy inventory a few years ago estimated the value at $8.17 million, including $1.2 million for the leaded-glass ceiling of Maxwell’s Plum that was eventually moved to the Russian Tea Room (both restaurants were owned by Mr. LeRoy) and $300,000 for the antique green-crystal chandelier that is the centerpiece of the Crystal Room.
Although many dealers critically gauged the preview merchandise hoping to resell it, Joanna Figlia, who lives in Manhattan, had a more personal connection: she and her husband, Peter, were married in Tavern on Oct. 18, 1998. “But I see some pieces that would be possible,” she said, for the shelves of her antique store in Huntington, W.Va., Hattie and Nan’s.
Of course, nostalgia was not foremost on the auction agenda. The sale could help placate a disquieted herd of more than 450 unsecured creditors — including butchers, bakers, balloon artists and a host of purveyors — who are trying to keep alive their hopes for repayment.
The assets of Tavern, a victim of the economic meltdown and changing tastes, are being contested in two federal courts. In dispute is even the ownership of the restaurant’s name, which was bestowed on the property by its landlord, New York City, in 1934.
But it was trademarked in 1981 by Mr. LeRoy, who died at the age of 65 in 2001, and now the city has given the 20-year operating license for Tavern, starting this year, to Dean J. Poll, operator of the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park.
Even the ownership of some of the items at the sale — including the rare chestnut paneling in the room of the same name — are being contested by the LeRoys and the city. A federal bankruptcy judge has suggested that the items be auctioned and their proceeds put in escrow until the disputes are resolved.
During the eight-hour preview, which began at noon, visitors meandered though a cornucopia of Tavern memorabilia. There was a fair amount of ooh-ing and ahh-ing. The artifacts “are a snapshot of a unique era,” said Dr. Gail Petrosky, a dentist in Manalapan, N.J. “I don’t think the workmanship in these pieces will be replicated.”
Closely examined were the restaurant’s animal-shaped topiaries and dozens of new or slightly used Japanese lanterns for the illumination of the summer courtyard. “I’d like to put the King Kong topiary on my terrace, but the cost is $50,000 and the co-op board might not approve,” said Jeffrey Levitas, a real estate broker at the Corcoran Group. “But I’m thinking these lanterns might work.”
On the restaurant tables, regiments of samovars stood at attention, along with nickle-silver chafing dishes, Champagne stands, candelabras and a silvery cake stand.
Also on view was Mr. LeRoy’s flamboyant wardrobe: racks full of his wildly patterned custom-made suits from Dunhill and from his tailor in Hong Kong — many worn but a few times.
Even his eyeglass collection was up for grabs — including a rainbow of sunglasses in exotic colors, not to mention a pair of spectacles embellished with little silver forks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/nyregion/07tavern.html?pagewanted=print
By GLENN COLLINS
January 7, 2010
Dozens of potential bidders got a first look on Wednesday at the 25,000 treasures that were orphaned when Tavern on the Green in Central Park closed. The items, including the stained-glass ceiling fixtures, will be sold at an auction starting Jan. 13.
The three-day auction will include 1,000 lots of items that have been valued at $100 to $1.2 million (a chandelier). Decorative pieces from both inside the restaurant and from its gardens will go on the block.
They kicked the tires. Grandly.
For the first time, dozens of potential bidders for 25,000 orphaned treasures from Tavern on the Green were admitted to the shuttered and bankrupt landmark restaurant in Central Park on Wednesday. They previewed next week’s three-day auction of 1,000 lots of items that have been valued at $100 to $1.2 million.
“I’d like to buy something if I can afford it,” Arthur Ashendorff, a retired engineer from Manhattan, said as he made a flyby of offerings in the restaurant’s Chestnut Room. “Possibly something — ” he searched for a word — “small.”
He was in the advance guard of visitors, touring the large assemblage of candelabras, samovars, weather vanes, sculptures, murals, prints, lighting fixtures, silver and china place settings and other eccentric assets of the sprawling restaurant, which was padlocked early on New Year’s Day.
“Everything must go,” said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey’s auction house, which is mounting the sale. He hosted the sprawling walk-through in the company of his inquisitive dog, Rascal, a mixed-breed rescue pup. Previews will be from noon to 8 p.m. every day through Tuesday. Then the three-day sale — in the Crystal Room of Tavern — is to begin with sessions at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on the following day.
Many visitors had a visceral connection to the restaurant. Elizabeth and Larry Becker — who arrived with their 24-year-old daughter, Beth — recalled their 1983 wedding reception in the Crystal Room and were hunting for a token that would remind them of the Tavern of yore. “We came here every Mother’s Day,” said Mr. Becker, a financial consultant.
Mr. Ettinger said he was optimistic about auction attendance, since some 20 million patrons visited Tavern during the 33 years it was operated by the family of Warner LeRoy — who, as its operator, reinvented the restaurant in 1976.
“It’s all here, and it’s all authentic,” said Michael Desiderio, Tavern’s chief operating officer, who admitted that “I’d like some of these things myself — but I can’t afford them.”
The preview of the sale — called a nonreserve auction because there was no presale estimate of the prices of individual objects — is expected to attract more than 1,000 visitors and, ultimately, many hundreds of bidders.
Although Mr. Ettinger declined to put a specific value on the offerings, a Sotheby’s appraisal of a portion of the LeRoy inventory a few years ago estimated the value at $8.17 million, including $1.2 million for the leaded-glass ceiling of Maxwell’s Plum that was eventually moved to the Russian Tea Room (both restaurants were owned by Mr. LeRoy) and $300,000 for the antique green-crystal chandelier that is the centerpiece of the Crystal Room.
Although many dealers critically gauged the preview merchandise hoping to resell it, Joanna Figlia, who lives in Manhattan, had a more personal connection: she and her husband, Peter, were married in Tavern on Oct. 18, 1998. “But I see some pieces that would be possible,” she said, for the shelves of her antique store in Huntington, W.Va., Hattie and Nan’s.
Of course, nostalgia was not foremost on the auction agenda. The sale could help placate a disquieted herd of more than 450 unsecured creditors — including butchers, bakers, balloon artists and a host of purveyors — who are trying to keep alive their hopes for repayment.
The assets of Tavern, a victim of the economic meltdown and changing tastes, are being contested in two federal courts. In dispute is even the ownership of the restaurant’s name, which was bestowed on the property by its landlord, New York City, in 1934.
But it was trademarked in 1981 by Mr. LeRoy, who died at the age of 65 in 2001, and now the city has given the 20-year operating license for Tavern, starting this year, to Dean J. Poll, operator of the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park.
Even the ownership of some of the items at the sale — including the rare chestnut paneling in the room of the same name — are being contested by the LeRoys and the city. A federal bankruptcy judge has suggested that the items be auctioned and their proceeds put in escrow until the disputes are resolved.
During the eight-hour preview, which began at noon, visitors meandered though a cornucopia of Tavern memorabilia. There was a fair amount of ooh-ing and ahh-ing. The artifacts “are a snapshot of a unique era,” said Dr. Gail Petrosky, a dentist in Manalapan, N.J. “I don’t think the workmanship in these pieces will be replicated.”
Closely examined were the restaurant’s animal-shaped topiaries and dozens of new or slightly used Japanese lanterns for the illumination of the summer courtyard. “I’d like to put the King Kong topiary on my terrace, but the cost is $50,000 and the co-op board might not approve,” said Jeffrey Levitas, a real estate broker at the Corcoran Group. “But I’m thinking these lanterns might work.”
On the restaurant tables, regiments of samovars stood at attention, along with nickle-silver chafing dishes, Champagne stands, candelabras and a silvery cake stand.
Also on view was Mr. LeRoy’s flamboyant wardrobe: racks full of his wildly patterned custom-made suits from Dunhill and from his tailor in Hong Kong — many worn but a few times.
Even his eyeglass collection was up for grabs — including a rainbow of sunglasses in exotic colors, not to mention a pair of spectacles embellished with little silver forks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/nyregion/07tavern.html?pagewanted=print
New Year's Day--Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. - Mark Twain
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