People are selling their old IKEA chairs for £15,000

30 May 2022, 11:46 | Updated: 30 May 2022, 12:01

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

People are selling their old Ikea furniture for thousands of pounds.

Last week, a new world record was set when a piece of Ikea furniture sold for a whopping £15,500.

The Cavelli armchair was designed by Bengt Ruda and only five were made, before being sold back in 1959 for £20.

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It was recently sold at Swedish auction house Bukowskis on 17 May for a huge profit, along with a handful of other chairs from the popular retailer.

The Åke armchair, which was manufactured in 1952–1956, originally cost just £8.

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But last month it was sold for an impressive £2,863 when it was auctioned off at Wright.

Meanwhile, the 'Impala' armchair - designed by Gillis Lundgren in 1972 - sold for £80 at the time, but it recently sold at an auction for £2,000.

Antiques expert and founder of Barnebys, Pontus Silfverstolpe, said the auction rates of vintage Ikea pieces 'continues to surprise the auction world'.

He explained: "It is especially designer furniture from the 1950s and 1980s from Ikea that costs more and more on the second-hand market.

"The furniture that is most attractive to collectors and design enthusiasts is that they are innovative designs for their time, made of good materials and in a limited edition or manufacturing period.

"Some of these famous Ikea designs by leading artists can be considered collector's items and have become a hard currency at auction. It would not surprise me if in time some of this furniture ends up in one of the world's major design museums."

Unfortunately, you can’t just auction off any old Ikea furniture for a huge profit, as there is a very specific style that attracts collectors.

He continued: "Ironically the most expensive Ikea auction items today are almost always Ikea's flops, which were quickly discontinued due to lack of sales figures or expensive production costs."