How one woman found a Mid-Century Modern gem in a property listing
There’s an artwork in Sarah Jane Hammond’s home that’s waiting to be hung.
It’s a large scale textured wall hanging with a prominent, stylised antler-like motif on a light background of horizontal lines, prevalent during the Mid-Century Modern design movement.
It’s an interesting piece. Yet, what’s perhaps more fascinating is how Hammond acquired it.
The Perth healthcare worker first saw the work online. Not on a gallery website, artist page or auction site, but a less likely place – a property listing.
“I just love scrolling through retro houses. It’s a nice way, I guess, looking at different styles of houses that you wouldn’t normally get exposure to. It’s like a free magazine,” she told Domain.
“I own my own house so I’m looking at these places out of fun and passion.”
During a casual scroll, she paused at a property listing of a home in Marangaroo, about a 40 minute drive from her own place.
In one of the interior photos there was a shallow side table with framed family memories. Above the table was the wall hanging.
“One thing I do is when I look at houses out of curiosity, I star them as favourites and then of course you get notifications about how much they sold for and when they sold,” she said.
The home with the wall hanging was among her saved listings. After a recent scroll she noticed it was under offer. Her thoughts turned to the artwork.
“I’ve actually bought a lot of artwork from op shops that have eventually been quite valuable and I’ve been very lucky in those respects,” she said.
Despite never stepping foot onto the property at home openings, she took a gamble.
“I thought, ‘well, it looks like it’s a house that’s been lived in and the person’s probably downsizing’,” she said.
“I thought, ‘well, it’s not going to hurt to ask’ and I just emailed the agent and asked, ‘Sorry, this might be a really weird question, and I hope you don’t mind me asking, but the wall hanging in this picture, would you mind asking if the owner of the house or the seller of the house is open to maybe selling it to me?”
Hammond said the agent was receptive and passed her message on to the seller.
“He got back to me and said, ‘yep, they’re open to that’,” she said.
Hammond passed on her phone number and the seller’s daughter called with a price.
“I said, ‘yeah, sure, ok’ and we organised for me to come up and buy it from the mum who had moved into a retirement village,” Hammond said.
Hammond isn’t the first to take a chance when it comes to inquiring about an artwork or furniture from a home open or house sale, even when they weren’t buying the home.
Late last month, she started a robust discussion about this exact topic on a popular retro houses Facebook page.
One person said she had enquired about a sideboard in a home she had made an offer on. She had the piece of furniture included in the contract of sale.
A second person shared that they left a note in the letterbox with her number of a home asking about a couch. They called to say the couch wasn’t for sale.
A third person had luck when they saw items from an open house on Facebook Marketplace.
“The owner was moving into a nursing home and wanted her belongings to go to someone who’d appreciate them,” they wrote.
“They offered me a whole lavender kitschy bedroom set when all I wanted was a lamp, and I’ve regretted not finding a way to take the whole set ever since.”
Though, not everyone was keen on the idea, with one person labelling the act as rude.
Hammond stressed when enquiring about items, respect for the seller is key.
“It’s not to prey upon people moving out of homes and not respecting that these are their loved items that they’ve grown up with,” she said.
As for where the wall hanging will live in her home, it’s still to be determined.
“I plan on putting it in either my hallway or in my back room on the wall,” she said.
“I’ve just got to get my boyfriend to put it up for me.”
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