Frank and Nancy Boos, owners of the Frank Boos Gallery, the art, antique and personal property auction and appraisal firm in Bloomfield Hills, have announced that they are headed in a new direction.
After 42 years, they will no longer conduct regular auctions in their current premises, but will move to a new site where they will emphasize the appraisal and private sale aspects of their business.
They will conduct occasional auctions when large estates come to market, or when one-, two- or three-owner sales can be arranged. They have also established a relationship with another Midwest auction house, as well as a New York house.
Frank was originally associated with his former partner in the company known as Stalker and Boos located in Detroit and then Birmingham, which was dissolved in 1982. Thereafter, Frank continued – with his wife Nancy, his son Jonathan, and daughter Kristina – in the appraisal and auction business known as the Frank H. Boos Gallery. Jonathan left the firm in 1994 and has become a successful private art dealer. Kristina will remain as the corporation’s treasurer.
The gallery has been connected with the appraisal and/or dispersal of many of the famous collections in the area. Those include: Robert Hudson Tannahill, whose collection is housed at the Detroit Institute of Arts; Charles Gershenson, the real estate magnate whose collection set world records for Americana; the estate of the renowned naturalist Dr Walter Koelz, who was part of the MacMillan-Byrd Arctic Expedition of 1925; the collection of Walter Simmons II, curator at the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village; the collection of the deceased George and Florine Trumbull; and the collection of the late Minoru Yamasaki, the internationally renowned architect, who designed the World Trade Center in New York City.
Frank was the retained appraiser of all of the art and objets d’art belonging to the world famous Cranbrook Institutions, which was a five-year project of appraisal and documentation. Frank was also the first United States agent for Christie’s in conducting the Anna Thomson Dodge auction at her home, “Rose Terrace,” in Grosse Pointe Farms in 1970, which was Christie’s first sale in the Western Hemisphere.
Frank was the appraiser for the entire oeuvre of the internationally known sculptor Marshall Fredericks, also handling the sale of that portion of Fredericks’ estate that came to the public market after his death in 1998.
Boos has done numerous volunteer auctions and appraisals for more than organizations and museums, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity. He has participated in local and national seminars on the appraisal and auction processes.
The Boos family and staff appreciate all the fine clients with whom they have dealt over the years. Although the company is conducting business in a different format, appraisal and private sale needs can be met by contacting the firm at 248-332-1500 or artandauction@boosgallery. com.
Auctions of large estate and collections can also be arranged, Frank and his associate David McCarron will continue to appear on the Antiques Roadshow.
