The Robert C. Eldred Co. announced that Duncan Gray, formerly of the Sandwich Auction House, will join the firm in a full-time capacity as a senior appraiser.
Gray has worked in the antiques and estate auction business since his graduation from Colby College in 1991. He established Compass Rose Auctions in New Bedford in 1996, and brought several exceptional items to market, including an Arthur B. Frost oil painting of golfers, which fetched a record $143,000. He returned to Sandwich in 2003 and since then has helped liquidate the contents of hundreds of estates and set several auction records, notably the world-record $420,000 price for a Zedekiah Belknap painting.
Gray is excited to join the team at Eldred’s. “We have been friendly competitors on Cape Cod for years. I have a great respect for the fine work Eldred’s does for their consignors and look forward to this new chapter in my career with a company that is well-poised to thrive in the new world of antiques and estate liquidation.”
He said his new role will allow him to do what he loves about being an estate auctioneer but without the day-to-day burdens of being a business owner. “Working with antiques and learning the history they represent, and the people we help – that’s what energizes me,” Gray said.
While Gray winds down his operation at Sandwich, he will start working with Eldred’s as time permits throughout the fall, and then he will start full-time at beginning of 2021.
The Robert C. Eldred Co. is New England’s oldest established antiques and fine arts auction house, now in its third generation of ownership within the Eldred family.
