Known simply as Leslie Hindman, the firm opened their doors for business on June 30.
As a condition of selling her previous company, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, to Sotheby’s in 1997, Hindman was bound by a clause in the sale agreement that prohibited her from operating an auction business for five years.
Since that proviso took effect she has hosted two cable TV shows, launched and folded the an online antique evaluation website Eppraisals and most recently tried her hand at show promotion (Antiques Chicago, which debuted May 9-13), and jointly operated a Chicago art gallery that closed after eight months.
The auction scene in the Windy City has also changed radically since ’97. Sotheby’s have closed the saleroom they bought from Hindman, Butterfields bought and then closed another major auction house, Dunnings, while new rooms have been launched by Merle Klein, Sean Susanin and 20th century design specialist Richard Wright.
Hindman’s plan is to hold a minimum of six high-quality catalogued auctions a year, starting with a September 28-29 sale of paintings, furniture, jewellery and decorative art. Employees from Hindman’s art gallery business have been retained and brought into the new company, but the present staff of five is set to expand. “We’re looking for people right now,” she said.
Hindman returns with Chicago auction house
With a five-year non-compete clause behind her, Leslie Hindman has returned to the auction world with a new 12,000-square-foot auction room in Chicago’s West Loop.
