Los Angeles Modern Auctions has handled works by world-renowned artists Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, but the Van Nuys business also specializes in mid-century modern memorabilia – namely, retro-style furniture, advertising signs and household items from the 1950s. The auction house is owned and operated by married couple Peter and Shannon Loughrey, who last month held their 67th auction and grossed more than $2 million. The pair holds three to four auctions a year with annual sales in the $12-million range. “The pieces find us now,” said Peter Loughrey. “We get offered thousands of pieces for each auction and select the material we think will do best.” Peter Loughrey is regularly featured on the hit television series “Antiques Roadshow,” where he uses his knowledge and expertise to appraise rare finds from the post-World War II era. He said the show has added credibility to his business by validating the mid-20th century as a formal area of collecting. That’s important because until recently, artifacts from that time period were more often considered junk than art. Circular history Founded in 1992, Modern Auctions was owned by Peter’s brother, Joe Loughrey, who was one of the first dealers specializing in mid-century modern memorabilia, which includes such objects as Coca-Cola vending machines and neon signage. Joe opened a small gallery off of La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles called Bedrock, an homage to the “Flintstones” TV cartoon series. The store sold vintage clothing, furniture and appliances from the show’s time period, cultivating a small group of collectors from the baby boomer generation. However, as the store gained traction, so did the entire genre of mid-century retro art and collectables. “When we started selling things to museums in the early ’90s, that’s when we saw there was a real cultural importance to what we were selling,” said Peter Loughrey. “Historians and curators were starting to write about this material and how it was an extension of important American furniture. That attracted a whole new group of interested buyers and collectors.” But soon after the market started taking off, Joe became terminally ill, and Peter bought the business. He held Los Angeles Modern Auctions’ first auction to liquidate the inventory. Ironically, the auction itself was a surprise success. Peter sold about 110 items, making more than $87,000. He closed the business when his brother passed away but didn’t forget the strong demand the two of them had created. A few years later, Peter moved back to L.A. with his new bride Shannon to revive Modern Auctions and his brother’s vision. By 1996, the market for mid-century modern art increased, as aging and now-wealthy baby boomers collected memorabilia from their youth. The couple decided to host a second auction, which was a bigger hit than the first. “When we had the second sale, we didn’t have a permanent home,” Peter said. “We basically would find buildings that would rent to us for a month at a time for our auction, and after (several), eventually realized we needed a permanent space.” In 2008, the couple found their current location at 16145 Hart St., the site of the late special-effects creator Stan Winston’s former studio where he worked on props and effects for movies such as “Jurassic Park” and “Iron Man.” Modern auction To put together an auction, the couple spends about four months finding an average of 300 to 400 items, developing marketing material and determining how to cohesively present the items. They typically host auctions in February, May and October, with this past February’s auction grossing a record $5.3 million. “One of the secrets to our success is Peter has an incredible eye and is great at curating,” said Shannon Loughrey. “He has really fine-tuned how to select those 400 items that appeal to a wide range of collectors.” The company often sells to museums and high-end collectors and directly competes with bigger auction houses like Christie’s Inc. and Sotheby’s in New York. “Smaller auction houses have an intimate knowledge of who the buyers are for a specific discipline of art, so we can target collectors and better serve our clients from both sides,” said Jonathan Greenstein, president and expert in charge at New York auction house J. Greenstein & Co. Inc. The couple said they aren’t aware of other small auction houses that curate and sell at the volume they do, but maintain that their size has allowed Modern Auctions to give each work of art the personal attention it deserves, which can oftentimes translate into higher buying prices. “Peter has reached extraordinary numbers and in doing so, still has the ability to deal with you one-on-one,” said Dennis Boses, owner of Off the Wall Antiques Inc. in West Hollywood and a longtime associate of the Loughreys. “That is a value that will always propel the company forward.”
Retro-Style Auctioneers
