Cowan collected early English furniture and works of art and Chinese ceramics spanning the Neolithic to the Qing dynasty.
He broadened his antique collecting interests from an initial enthusiasm for American colonial furniture to early English oak, purchasing on annual trips to the UK.
Pictured here is one of several oak chairs in the collection: a 17th century armchair of wooden pegged construction with a plank seat, dated 1648 below the carved crested back rail and with the initials HC and IC carved to the panel back.
The estimate is $2000-3000.