{"id":13402,"date":"2025-09-17T11:04:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T15:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13402"},"modified":"2025-09-23T11:21:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:21:29","slug":"the-art-and-the-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13402","title":{"rendered":"The art and the deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Things are quiet but busy on a Wednesday summer afternoon inside the vast warehouse of Rago Art and Auctions in Lambertville, New Jersey. Objects of significant value sit on tables and in glass cases, while a half-dozen employees assess and log each one. There\u2019s a collection of highly coveted George Ohr ceramics \u2014 pottery obtained from a private collection that\u2019s expected to fetch $40,000 to $50,000 apiece. Spread out on a table are some Tiffany lamps, ready to be auctioned. Just a few years ago, Rago Auctions sold a Tiffany Dandelion lamp for a world-record $3.7 million. A pop-culture expert on Rago\u2019s staff sits at a small desk, carefully appraising a collection of comic books, knowing a trove of comics at Rago recently sold for $1.7 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the head of the operation is David Rago \u201916, the company\u2019s founder and namesake. Rago is neither an artist nor a collector. Instead, his special skill is finding art, building excitement around that art, and providing the forum for buyers and sellers to settle on a fair price. <\/span>\u201cWhen someone has something to sell, you want them to think of you,\u201d he says. Thus, Rago has his finger on the pulse of what buyers are looking for and where to find it as he routinely <\/span>deals in a world of tangible things with intangible value.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rago\u2019s auction house, the largest in New Jersey, does more than $120 million in annual sales, selling more than 25,000 lots of American fine art, modern furniture, and jewelry every <\/span>year. Rago himself is well known to viewers of PBS\u2019 Antiques Roadshow, where he has appeared as an appraiser for 30 seasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rago’s path to the art world was somewhat untraditional. As a teenager from Hamilton, New Jersey, he worked odd jobs to make money and especially liked buying and selling things. One of his early enterprises was to scour flea markets for pottery and ceramics to resell. His first sale <\/span>was in 1972, when he accompanied his girlfriend\u2019s father to the Golden Nugget Flea Market in Lambertville to sell goods from the trunk of a car. He made $50.<\/span><\/p>\n

He tried a stint at The College of New Jersey, but dropped out. \u201cMy interests were elsewhere at the time,\u201d he says. Instead, he focused on his fledgling business of selling flea market finds. He hustled other work on the night shift at a supermarket and wrote articles for small art and design <\/span>magazines in exchange for free advertising for his startup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early on, much of his business centered on decorative ceramic bowls and vases, which were abundant and prized possessions in the areas around Trenton, where he grew up. \u201cIf you <\/span>were in a middle-class family around here, you knew you\u2019d better not be breaking the piece of porcelain your parents had on the trophy shelf,\u201d Rago says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Within his own family, art was something that was always present \u2014 his father was a professional draftsman and an amateur painter, and Rago recalls \u201cthe smell of oil <\/span>paints wafting through our house.\u201d For Rago himself, it was a piece of low-end pottery his parents bought from the Roseville Pottery Company in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1973 that <\/span>sparked his interest in art \u2014 specifically 20th-century design. \u201cI still can see that moment in my <\/span>head,\u201d he says of the day his parents brought it home to their collection. <\/span>\u201cIt was love at first sight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What resonated with him? It was the realization that the beauty of the piece came from the simplicity of the material. He explains, \u201cWhen you think of pottery, it\u2019s mud.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time, there was a growing enthusiasm for decorative arts among scholars and collectors who followed the American Arts and Crafts movement, which encouraged artists <\/span>to create objects with everyday materials (such as mud). Rago became a self-taught expert and developed an eye for knowing which pieces could have value. He adopted a dictum from <\/span>Arts and Crafts designer William Morris that he has carried into his own business philosophy and that he has displayed on his desk even today: \u201cHave nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By the early 1980s, Rago was well known in art circles as a specialist in 19th- and early 20th-century arts, and he worked in various galleries in New York. He founded his auction company in 1984 and now runs it with his wife, Suzanne Perrault. It started as a small operation, with Rago loading up at his warehouse in New Jersey and heading into New York solo\u00a0 to participate in auctions. In 1996, Rago bought the warehouse in Lambertville and began <\/span>hosting auctions there. They expanded in 2016, and Rago Auctions now employs 135 people. In all, Rago Auctions holds 175 auctions each year, some in partnership with five other independent auction houses around the country. Still, Rago is quick to point out that they are relatively small <\/span>in a world of auction houses like Christie\u2019s or Sotheby\u2019s. \u201cWe did $121 million last year,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s one painting at Christie\u2019s.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Running an auction is an art form in and of itself. Rago and his team classify each auction into a theme based on artist, type of art, or special collection: say, for example, 20th-century ceramics or post-war design. Then the items to be sold are catalogued and carefully arranged in <\/span>an order for bidding that would hopefully establish a rhythm for the overall sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Rago, an auction is as much about the storytelling as it is the actual art. He considers the bidders who will be there and which works are more likely to be sold and at what price point. \u201cThe ordering \u2014 like editing together strips of film for a movie \u2014 is very intentional,\u201d he says. \u201cPacing is like an oscillating line, starting with high points and then introducing less expensive work and then up again, to create the ebb and flow of the energy of an auction session.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"George
George Ohr pottery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rago\u2019s skill as an auctioneer also contributes to the unfolding of the story of any given auction. \u201cI try to be in the moment,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I use the pace of my language to build interest \u2014<\/span>sometimes not saying anything at all, or modulating my volume, or making <\/span>comments about the objects.\u201d He adds: \u201cUnderstanding the material and the intended market is an essential part of this process. I\u2019m learning new things every time I\u2019m up there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Building relationships is also essential. Rago says he spends most of his time \u201cschmoozing.\u201d Instead of acquiring his own art and selling it, he acts as a middleman between the consignors (those with collections to sell) and the buyers. That means Rago always has to be aware of coveted objects, who owns them, and whether they are interested in selling. He also has to be aware of trends and know what buyers want. Rago takes a percentage from both after the bidding <\/span>process ends, so he needs to be trusted from both sides. \u201cIt\u2019s a small world. Your word is your bond,\u201d Rago says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being such an enthusiastic, trusted art handler is what landed Rago on Antiques Roadshow as a regular expert on pottery and porcelain. \u201cDavid\u2019s connection to the pottery world is so deep,\u201d says Sam Farrell, supervising producer of the long-running PBS show. \u201cIt\u2019s totally apparent when David is excited about something in his area of expertise. He\u2019s a passionate observer and player in that world. And he talks fast, but he doesn\u2019t miss a beat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He also doesn\u2019t leave things unfinished. Rago\u2019s continual drive to learn led him to come full circle and back to TCNJ as a 50-something college student in 2009. \u201cI didn\u2019t need the degree, but I wanted a sense of completion,\u201d he says. \u201cMy first class was on pre-Islamic Iranian culture, <\/span>and I was in a class with a bunch of 20-year-olds. It was fantastic, and I got to really apply myself.\u201d For the next few years, he took a class every semester, eventually earning his <\/span>English degree in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

The art auction business has shifted a great deal in Rago\u2019s 40 years in the industry. \u201cThe big change has been the internet,\u201d he says.\u201cPeople aren\u2019t coming in person <\/span>anymore.\u201d Inside his Lambertville building, Rago points to the empty podium and to a few assembled chairs, where people once crowded into the auction space. \u201cThis room, at one point, would be standing room only,\u201d he says. \u201cBefore COVID, when we had jewelry sales, there would be 100-plus people in the room. Now, if there\u2019s 10 people in the room, five of them are <\/span>consignors who want to see how their stuff does.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tastes, and what collectors want, are always changing, too. Rago\u2019s beloved pottery has been waning in popularity over the past several years. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to collect what <\/span>their parents collected,\u201d he says. But lack of interest is only part of the <\/span>picture, according to Rago. \u201cMuch of the finer pieces have already been absorbed into museum collections,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd, relatively little was made in the first place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The generational shift is why he invested in a pop-culture department, acquiring Landry Pop Auctions, run by Antiques Roadshow castmate Travis Landry. \u201cTech bros are buying Pok\u00e9mon cards,\u201d says Rago. \u201cAnd singer Post Malone privately bought a \u2018Magic: The Gathering\u2019 card for <\/span>$2 million.\u201d Rago recently held an auction for Atomic Age Japanese toys and sold an Astro Boy toy for a record price of $120,000. A Pok\u00e9mon auction this summer yielded $1.8 million. \u201cThe <\/span>younger generation of collectors wants experiences and collectibles like that,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I only sold what I loved, I\u2019d be out of business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Rago insists that dealing in fine art and furniture is still relevant. \u201cThat\u2019s the beautiful thing,\u201d he says. \u201cAuction houses want pop-culture departments bringing in younger people with money who are eventually going to settle down and nest. They\u2019re going to need a dining room table at <\/span>some point.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Michelle Gustafson<\/em><\/p>\n

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