Kaminski’s Anthony’s Pier 4 Auction & Wine Collection ONSITE
October 23rd & 24th:
Beginning at 10AM EST
at 44 Garden St, Danvers MA 01923
www.kaminskiauctions.com

DANVERS, MASS. — Kaminski Auctions will present the collection of restaurateur Anthony Athanas of Anthony’s Pier 4 fame, Saturday and Sunday, October 23-24, at the Athanas restaurants warehouse in Danvers. The auction will include furniture, furnishings and the extensive wine collection from his four restaurants.

A self-made millionaire and philanthropist, Athanas, emigrated from Albania to the United States with his mother in 1915 to join his father and brothers. They settled in Lynn, Mass. At the age of 13, he left school and started working in restaurants to learn the business. In the 1950s he opened his first restaurant, Anthony’s Hawthorne Café, in his hometown. Not long after, it became the largest-volume restaurant in Massachusetts, grossing more than $1 million a year.

He later opened his iconic restaurant Anthony’s Pier 4 on an abandoned landfill on Boston’s waterfront. In the 1960s and 1970s Anthony’s Pier 4 was the place to be seen in Boston. The powerful from all walks of life in Boston dined at Anthony’s Pier 4, and it was the go-to restaurant for out-of-town celebrities, athletes and film stars visiting the city. The iconic restaurant’s foyer walls were lined with photographs of Anthony greeting celebrities and the who’s who of Boston business, politics and athletics.

With sales of close to $12 million annually and serving more than 700,000 meals per year, Anthony’s Pier 4 restaurant became one of the highest-grossing restaurants in the United States. Anthony’s empire eventually included four restaurants with Hawthorne by the Sea Tavern in Swampscott and Anthony’s Cummaquid Inn in Yarmouth Port, Cape Cod.
Athanas was a visionary, recognizing long before others that Boston’s waterfront would be an attractive location. He was one of the first to offer complimentary popovers, for which the restaurant became famous, and an extensive selection of fine wines. His hard work and attention to detail permeated every aspect of running his restaurants, including decorating each one with unique original furniture and nautical antiques.
In May 1970, Athanas attended the auction conducted by the David Weisz Company, which auctioned off the furniture and furnishings from the Metro Goldwyn Mayer film sets in Hollywood, Calif. Many of the furnishings original to his four restaurants came from this historic sale, including original English oak cabinets and French Louis XV and XVI furniture from the Marie Antoinette film set.

Of particular interest is a Nineteenth Century French mahogany partner’s desk with a leather top and ormolu trim from the movie set of Dinner at Eight starring Jean Harlow and a Louis XVI-style giltwood suite of two armchairs, chairs and settee from the movie set of Marie Antoinette. A pair of continental upholstered throne chairs are also from the movie set of Marie Antoinette.

There are several English cupboards on offer, including a Gothic eight-door oak cupboard with mirrored upper doors, an English Gothic two-door oak cupboard with carved panels of a man and woman, possibly a marriage piece, and an antique English oak coffer with hand-painted panels and a family crest initialed J.H. and dated illegibly.

An eclectic selection of furniture includes a Biedermeier cabinet from the movie How The West Was Won and a Belter rosewood sofa from the movie Meet Me In St Louis.
Among the other items are the mirrors, marine paintings and architectural decorations that graced the walls of the iconic restaurant. Of particular interest are a pair of Nineteenth Century French bronze architectural brackets, vintage gold and silver gilt-framed mirrors and several Eighteenth Century portraits of English naval officers and noblemen.
Decorative items continue with a vintage heirloom illuminated globe by Replogle, a period Georgian flame mahogany rolling wine cellarette and a vintage French tin figural horse head display from a butcher’s shop. Many of the original signs that hung in Anthony’s Pier 4 are on offer, including the vintage painted wood English bakery sign advertising “Fresh Popovers” and the carved and gilt sign announcing “Fresh Seafood.”

The collection of antique ship models from the restaurants is also on offer in the auction. The highlights include a circa 1900 cased wooden ship model by Robert Langly, with a plaque “Circa 1850 Top Sail,” another cased wooden ship model with a plaque “HMS Speedwell-Launched 1752- 8 Gun Ketch Rigged Sloop: Maker H.W. Shoulder 1875.” There is also a cased wooden ship model of The Swift flying the American flag, an oak cased British wooden ship model of the Hazard, 1744, and a cased wooden ship model of The Cumberland, 1842.

Silver from the restaurants includes a Nineteenth Century English Sheffield plate highly embossed four-piece tea service, with figural falcon spouts and floral finials, a Nineteenth Century English Sheffield plate hot water urn with figural dolphin spout, a pair of Nineteenth Century English Sheffield plate wine coolers with fruited vine motif, and engraved family crest and a Nineteenth Century English silverplate roll-top warmer with inner pierced tray, marked “H. B. & H. S.”

The warehouse is at 44 Garden Street. Preview days are Wednesday-Friday, October 20-22, 10 am to 5 pm. The days of the sale preview begins at 8 am, and the preview is open while the auction is live. For more information, www.kaminskiauctions.com, 978-927-2223 or 508-367-4311.

Kaminski Auctions presents the Anthony Athanas Pier 4 Collection, October 23rd and 24th. The auction will be held onsite at their company warehouse in Danvers, Massachusetts. A longtime Swampscott resident, Anthony Athanas was of the premier restaurateurs in the United States with Anthony’s Pier 4, Hawthorne-By-The-Sea, The General Glover House restaurant, and Anthony’s Cummaquid Inn on the Cape. This exciting auction will include decorative antiques and furniture purchased by Anthony from the Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Auction held on May 3, 1970, in California for his restaurants. Sunday’s auction features the exceptional wine collection from all four restaurants.
Preview is open Wednesday-Friday, October 20th-October 22nd, 10AM-5PM. Day of sales beginning at 8AM. Preview open all day while auction is live. Wine collection preview by appointment at The General Glover Vinnin Square, Swampscott. Week of Auction call
978-927-2223 or 508-328-5967. 20% BP for in-person, absentee, & phone bids; 25% BP for internet bids.
MA LIC #171
www.kaminskiauctions.com
consignments@kaminskiauctions.com
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