Trusts & Estates
Sotheby's Trusts & Estates Department offers services to fiduciaries, executors and beneficiaries regarding the valuation and disposition of personal property assets. We provide confidential advice and assistance for valuations for a variety of purposes including estate tax, family division, insurance, and collateral loan purposes; advice including sale and marketing plans for auction and private sale recommendations; and consignment management.
Depending upon the location of the property, Sotheby's will offer an initial walk-through of the collection (or contents of a vault) or review listings and photographs (if available), in order to determine the scope of the collection and to identify the appropriate staff to work with you.
We are committed to providing full service to our clients for property offered for sale at Sotheby's as well as through secondary venues. Sotheby's Trusts & Estates representatives will act as your primary contact through every stage of the process, from the initial visit through the settlement of every last item.
For additional information about Sotheby's Valuation, click here
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Deborah Schmidt Robinson Deborah Robinson, Director of Sotheby's Trusts & Estates Department, serves as the primary contact for professional fiduciaries and beneficiaries for the valuation and sale of personal property. She began at Sotheby's in 1989 in the Valuations Department, supervising appraisals prepared for estate tax, charitable donation, insurance and collateral loan purposes. In the early 90's she moved to the firm's Chicago office where she oversaw Trusts & Estates in the Midwest before returning to the New York Trusts & Estates Department in 1996 as the Director of Business Development for the department. During her tenure, she has been involved in the sale of numerous significant collections and estates at Sotheby's, including the Guennol Lioness which sold for $57.1 million and set a record for any sculpture or antiquity at auction at the time, The Mottahedeh Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain, as well as property from the Estates of Bill Blass, Catherine Curran, Barbara Bingham Moore, John Pierpont Morgan II, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Watson, Jr. and an important sculpture by Tilman Riemenschneider from the Scherman Foundation. Mrs. Robinson is a graduate of Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Raised in Ohio and Long Island, she resides with her husband and son in Greenwich, Connecticut. |
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Bonnie Brennan Bonnie Brennan works with professional fiduciaries and private clients throughout the country, assisting with the valuation and disposition of tangible personal property. During her tenure in Trusts and Estates, she has been involved in the successful sales of numerous private collections, including property from the Collection of Gianni Versace, The Collection of Josephine and Walter Buhl Ford II, the Estate of George Fenimore Johnson and jewelry from the Estate of Rita K. Hillman. Prior to her present position, Ms. Brennan was Director of Sotheby's Proposals Department, where she played a key role in developing competitive sale and marketing strategies for potential consignments at the highest levels, including Property from the Greentree Foundation, which featured Picasso's Boy with a Pipe, the first painting to sell for more than $100 million at auction (May 2004). Ms. Brennan joined Sotheby's in 1997 and is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Ms. Brennan is a trained auctioneer, assisting several charities throughout the year, and speaks to various groups about the art market and collecting. |
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John A. Robbins II Working in the New York Trusts and Estates Department, John Robbins assists professional fiduciaries, both in the Tri-State area as well as throughout the United States, with the valuation and disposition of tangible personal property. Prior to joining the Trusts and Estates department in 2010, Mr. Robbins was an appraiser of European and American art and played a key role in building Sotheby’s mid-season sales of Old Masters and 19th Century European Art, as well as the annual major sales of 19th Century European Paintings and Sporting Art. Mr. Robbins played an integral role in the recent successes in the field of sporting art, including the sale of sporting paintings and sculpture from the Genesee Country Village and Museum, as well as the sporting art in such celebrated collections as those belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jeffords, Patricia Kluge and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Mr. Robbins’ background as an appraiser of fine arts provides him with extensive knowledge in a wide range of American and European works of art. He holds an M.A. from Christie’s (2003) and is a graduate of Rollins College. Mr. Robbins in a native of the Philadelphia area and has strong ties to the Philadelphia region as well as Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, where for many years he was the President of the Buck Hill Art Association. |
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Heather Gray Heather Gray joined Sotheby's in 2008 after spending nine years as a practicing attorney at Sidley Austin LLP in New York, where she focused on Art Law and Trusts & Estates. Ms. Gray works with professional fiduciaries and private clients on the West Coast, advising them on the valuation and disposition of tangible personal property. She has been involved in the successful sale of a number of private collections and estates, including Property from the Estate of Paul Manheim and the sale of a Jeff Koons J.B. Turner Train Engine. She is a graduate of Stetson University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts; Stetson University College of Law, where she received a Juris Doctor and was the Notes & Comments Editor of the Stetson Law Review, and New York University School of Law, where she received an LL.M. in Taxation. She is a member of the Art Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association and the Trusts & Estates Sections of the New York and California Bar Associations. Ms. Gray is a frequent lecturer on estate planning for art. |
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Cassie Spencer Cassie Spencer is the Director of Sotheby's Midwest Trusts & Estates Department. Based in Chicago, Ms. Spencer works with the Trusts and Estates community throughout the country assisting professional fiduciaries with the valuation and disposition of tangible personal property assets. Ms. Spencer has been with Sotheby's since March 1996, and has been involved with the supervision of numerous valuations conducted for sale, estate tax, charitable donation, insurance and family division purposes. She has been involved with the sale of property from numerous collections including works belonging to Edwin and Novella Lineberry and the Estate of Odette Valabregue Wurzburger. She has also been involved with the sale of Thomas Hart Benton's Little Brown Jug which set a record for a work by Thomas Hart Benton sold at auction. Prior to joining Sotheby's Ms. Spencer practiced law in Chicago. She is a graduate of The University of Michigan and Loyola University of Chicago School of Law. Ms. Spencer lectures frequently about collectibles and evaluation related topics addressing private groups, estate planning councils, and museum support groups. |
