Seller Story: Holliston, MA

“I’m the only collector in my family. When I was 15, I went to a yard sale and got one of those collecting books. I flipped through it and I thought it looked interesting—I always liked American history and history in general. I would go to other yard sales by myself near my parents’ house, and see things that were similar to the ones in the book, and then I’d research them to understand the differences.

I love investigating things and learning about them. When I studied architecture, it was always with a mind toward history, and when I was practicing, I always wanted to do more creative work. Architecture is very technical. I did some interiors for people, and I’d go to auctions to buy stuff for them, and everything came back to me about collecting, buying and selling. I fell in love with it all over again. Then I got into auctioneering because I wanted to start my own business once I had a family; make my own hours and do it on my own terms.

Each auction is like putting on a performance. You have to set it up like a curve. You start at a certain point, go up to the highlight item, then go back down because the audience is tapering off. I love putting it all together — the research, preparation, actually doing it, and then seeing the results. It’s such a rush.

I know what’s valuable when I look at it. Before I buy anything, I do my research. You make money when you buy, not when you sell, because you know what you’re going to sell it for. I trust the market.”

What are some highlights from the sale?

The massive stained glass doors. You can tell this is the real deal because when clear glass ages naturally, it turns this pale purple amethyst color. I love the Monrud Becker painting. That came from an older couple, and they told me that the artist was struggling with identity, and the painting shows different ages and expressions of himself. He was trying to find out who he was. The print of “The Illustrated Woman” is interesting because you usually see the male form. If you look closely, there’s a drawing inside of her body. The Breakfront cabinet is a nice old piece, very traditional, but you could fill it with modern dishes, and it would look great in a dining room today. A lot of the glassware came from a Rhode Island estate where the mother had collected a ton of glass. She loved amberina, Fenton, Hobnail, depression—every nook and cranny in that house had glass.

What you love to collect most?

I’m a generalist, but I’m most known for collecting toys and dolls. I also collect a lot of figures—heads and busts. And I’m a gadget freak—typewriters, film stuff, and I’m now into vintage video games. I love showing that stuff to my kids. I gave my eight-year-old twins a record and they had no clue what it was! Once I showed a Rolodex to my daughter, and she was like, ‘What IS that?!’

You’re constantly in other people’s houses for your job. What’s your own house like?

It’s a 1950s California ranch with an incredibly long center hallway. My kids ride their scooters up and down. We’re in the middle of renovating and we hope to pop the roof off. There’s one big room, 24 by 30, that has a flat ceiling, and my husband thinks a room like this has to have a vaulted ceiling. When it’s finished, it’s going to be very expressive and funky and different.

Who’s in charge of the renovations?

My husband and I met at RPI our freshman year, and he’s still an architect. We design together, and he makes sure it can be built. He’s really good with structure, and I’m better with the interior flow of spaces. We work well together.