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Vintage IKEA furnishings fetch £32,000 at auction in Stockholm

25 points by beardyw 3y ago

joshmarinacci 3y ago
Furniture from the 50's is fairly cheap (unless it's a specifically sought after brand or limited edition piece) and the construction is vastly better than what you can buy today.
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  What about the fireproof qualities?
  - toast0 3y ago
    Don't smoke and especially don't fall asleep while smoking and your furniture doesn't have much need for fireproofing. Also don't put fish bowls in your windows during winter if you're far from the equator. Make sure you have sufficient smoke alarms and that you ensure they remain powered and replace the detectors when they expire. There's some weaving techniques that can reduce fire risk, but most of the time it's just flame retardant chemicals whose health risks may not be a good tradeoff.
    - quickthrower2 3y ago
      That is good. Does it add danger though for fires of other origin, like an electrical fire? Allowing the fire to spread faster?
      - toast0 3y ago
        Electrical fires are likely to smolder and grow in the wall cavity first, by the time they get to furniture, the fire is likely to be big enough that it really doesn't matter. Certainly some electrical fires might be from frayed appliance wires or similar faults though. The regulation around flamability in upholstered materials[1] is centered around smoldering cigarettes and doesn't test any other conditions. And 3rd parties claim the retardants are ineffective for open flame. As a risk averse individual, it's simple to avoid the risks of smoldering cigarettes by never possessing cigarettes. And then I can avoid the risks of flame retardants because I don't need them to combat the risk of smoldering cigarettes. I can't easily eliminate the risk of electrical fires, but maybe checking cords for damage before use... And trying to ensure GFCI circuits to hopefully deenergize circuits with faults? [1] https://bhgs.dca.ca.gov/about_us/tb117_2013.pdf https://bhgs.dca.ca.gov/about_us/tb117_2013.pdf
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- speedgoose 3y ago
  Beware of the survivorship bias though.
throwup238 3y ago
> A selection of 122 secondhand Ikea furnishings fetched a total of £32,000 at an auction in Stockholm on Monday night, as some of the cheap and cheerful flatpack retailer’s more unusual designs are coming to be recognised as collectors’ items. That's an average of £262 an item. What's the story here? That someone paid £1,700 for a used red impala sofa? It looks like only the sofa and the leather chairs sold for over £1,000. That's really not a lot for a piece of furniture, even used. I bet once you do the math on inflation and the strength of the pound 50 years ago, it'll come out a total wash - not worth the cost of storage. Most of these are not collector items: IKEA makes lots of stuff out of solid wood and metal that should resell for hundreds of pounds without any kind of collectible value. My local Consignment Classics has tons of old IKEA stuff, they just don't organize auction events, you have to come find them on the floor.

25 points by beardyw 3y ago

Furniture from the 50's is fairly cheap (unless it's a specifically sought after brand or limited edition piece) and the construction is vastly better than what you can buy today.

quickthrower2 3y ago
What about the fireproof qualities?
- toast0 3y ago
  Don't smoke and especially don't fall asleep while smoking and your furniture doesn't have much need for fireproofing. Also don't put fish bowls in your windows during winter if you're far from the equator. Make sure you have sufficient smoke alarms and that you ensure they remain powered and replace the detectors when they expire. There's some weaving techniques that can reduce fire risk, but most of the time it's just flame retardant chemicals whose health risks may not be a good tradeoff.
  - quickthrower2 3y ago
    That is good. Does it add danger though for fires of other origin, like an electrical fire? Allowing the fire to spread faster?
    - toast0 3y ago
      Electrical fires are likely to smolder and grow in the wall cavity first, by the time they get to furniture, the fire is likely to be big enough that it really doesn't matter. Certainly some electrical fires might be from frayed appliance wires or similar faults though. The regulation around flamability in upholstered materials[1] is centered around smoldering cigarettes and doesn't test any other conditions. And 3rd parties claim the retardants are ineffective for open flame. As a risk averse individual, it's simple to avoid the risks of smoldering cigarettes by never possessing cigarettes. And then I can avoid the risks of flame retardants because I don't need them to combat the risk of smoldering cigarettes. I can't easily eliminate the risk of electrical fires, but maybe checking cords for damage before use... And trying to ensure GFCI circuits to hopefully deenergize circuits with faults? [1] https://bhgs.dca.ca.gov/about_us/tb117_2013.pdf https://bhgs.dca.ca.gov/about_us/tb117_2013.pdf
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
speedgoose 3y ago
Beware of the survivorship bias though.

throwup238 3y ago

> A selection of 122 secondhand Ikea furnishings fetched a total of £32,000 at an auction in Stockholm on Monday night, as some of the cheap and cheerful flatpack retailer’s more unusual designs are coming to be recognised as collectors’ items. That's an average of £262 an item. What's the story here? That someone paid £1,700 for a used red impala sofa? It looks like only the sofa and the leather chairs sold for over £1,000. That's really not a lot for a piece of furniture, even used. I bet once you do the math on inflation and the strength of the pound 50 years ago, it'll come out a total wash - not worth the cost of storage. Most of these are not collector items: IKEA makes lots of stuff out of solid wood and metal that should resell for hundreds of pounds without any kind of collectible value. My local Consignment Classics has tons of old IKEA stuff, they just don't organize auction events, you have to come find them on the floor.