| Freeman's-Hindman | |
| Hq Location City: | Chicago |
| Hq Location Country: | U.S. |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Revenue: | US$ 32 million (2023) |
Freeman's-Hindman (formerly known as Freeman's and Samuel T. Freeman & Co) is an American auction house founded in 1805 by Tristram B. Freeman, a British print seller, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.[1] The house operated under Freeman family ownership until 2016 when it was sold to a private partnership. In January 2024, Freeman's was merged with Chicago-based Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, and now operates under the name Freeman's-Hindman.[2] [3]
Freeman's auction business began when Tristram Bampfylde Freeman auctioned off bales of textiles at the Merchant’s Coffee House in Philadelphia. Freeman, who emigrated from London in 1795, had been a printer but was unsuccessful in that business. He auctioned off merchandise that came through the Philadelphia port and local real estate. In 1805 Pennsylvania Governor Thomas McKean, appointed him to the office of auctioneer in Philadelphia, and Freeman formally established his business. For 17 years he enjoyed a monopoly until the auction business was open to competition.[4]
In the 19th century Freeman's dealt in real estate and industrial items. The company would sell not only the contents of a schooner, but the ship itself. The company would move from the Merchant’s Coffee House, at Second and Chestnut Streets, then to two other locations before constructing its 1810 Chestnut Street headquarters in 1923. An early record was achieved in the 1880s for the sale of the Philadelphia Post Office building for $425,000, then a record for a piece of real estate at auction.[5]
Through the 1990s, Freeman's was driven by high volume. The house would sell 50,000 lots a year, at an average of $110 per lot, and make $5.5 million. This changed when the house held a single fine art sale, with only 160 lots, yet earned the same amount of money. From that point on the house shifted to the high-end art market. In 2016 Freeman's was sold to a partnership associated with Lyon & Turnbull. Samuel M “Beau” Freeman II, the sixth generation of the Freeman family to run the auction house, remained as chairman until his death June 2017.[6] In 2019 Freeman's moved their Philadelphia showroom to 2400 Market Street. Their former Chestnut street building was sold to a developer.[7]
Freeman's offers over 25 in-house auctions a year in sale categories including: American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts, English & Continental Furniture & Decorative Arts, Asian Arts, American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists, European Art & Old Masters, Modern and Contemporary Art, Books, Maps & Manuscripts, 20th Century Design, Jewelry & Watches, and Silver & Objets de Vertu.[8]
On September 10, 2011, Freeman's held an auction that brought $3.5 million for an Imperial white jade seal from the Qianlong period, triple the highest sale in the company's history.[9] Other notable auction records set at Freeman's include a sculpture by Wharton Esherick as part of their annual Pennsylvania Sale in November 2014.[10] In November 2017, a draped canvas painting by Sam Gilliam sold for $370,000. Both lots set auction records for the respective artist.
Freeman's set a company jewelry record in November 2017 when a rare, Belle Époque fancy vivid yellow diamond pendant by J.E. Caldwell and Co. sold for $760,000, making it the most expensive piece of jewelry the house had ever sold.
In the European Art and Old Masters Auction in February 2021, Carl Moll's "Weißes Interieur (White Interior)" sold for $4,756,000. This rediscovered masterpiece was Freeman's highest selling lot to date, surpassing the house's 2011 record of $3.1m achieved by the jade seal.[11] [12]
Freeman's has been entrusted with the sale of some major collections of fine art and antiques, including the Richard M. Scrushy Collection, The Lehman Brothers Collection, Property from the Reed & Barton Archives,[13] The Avon Collection of Photography[14] and The Collection of Historic USS Constitution Colors of H. Richard Dietrich, Jr. The March 2014 sale of The George D. Horst Collection of Fine Art resulted in 20 auction records for artists including Howard Russell Butler, Emil Carlsen, and Fred Wagner.
In April 2016, Freeman's handled the private Washington, D.C. collection of Jeffrey M. Kaplan. The 465-lot totaled over $1.2 million in sales. In December, it sold the Brewster Collection of paintings, furniture, and decorative items from Nancy and Andre Brewster. In May 2017, Freeman's sold paintings and prints from The Stanley Bard Collection, the late manager of the famed Chelsea Hotel. The auction included a painting by Tom Wesselmann, “Face #1,” which sold for $958,000 .