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Her bedeviled spirit might remain, but the earthly belongings of the late Marge Schott soon will leave her Indian Hill home in a three-part series that will launch with a crack of the gavel. On Dec. 9, almost two years after her death, the first of three auctions will be held to sell off thousands of pieces of Schott's collectibles, art and Reds memorabilia. Cowan's Auctions Inc., the local firm handling the project, expects her vast collection to fetch $2.5 million to $3 million. One painting alone, a Western scene by Charles Schreyvogel, is valued at as much as $1 million. All the proceeds, minus a commission, will go to the Schott Foundation, a roughly $115 million organization that over the years has donated to scores of causes. "It's kind of honoring what was Marge's legacy," said Tom Donnellon, one of the attorneys for the foundation and estate. "You have the Reds aspect of Marge, you have the philanthropic aspect of Marge, and you have this memorabilia personal aspects of Marge." But some items will have to wait before reaching the block. The fine art collection and Reds memorabilia won't sell until 2006. The first auction, projected to raise $100,000 to $200,000, will include just her furniture, antiques and knickknacks. But who knows? With Marge's following, the auction could raise much more than expected. "When it comes to a local celebrity, you don't know what's going to happen," said Wes Cowan, owner of Cowan's Auctions, an $8 million firm based in Linwood. "What's a stuffed Saint Bernard going to be worth?" It is a quiet and very methodical end to a woman whose tempestuous career, and opinions, cost her an early retirement from her much-beloved Reds, which she bought in 1984 and relinquished control of in 1999. Behind the noise, ire and admiration of the Marge Schott memory, a group of workers moves like a small machine, tagging and sorting her final belongings in the rambling, English-style mansion that for decades Schott inhabited alone. Her husband, Charles, died in 1968 and they had no children. Among the items to sell is a set of silver, appraised at several thousand dollars, a wooden chair carved into the shape of a bear, figured to bring maybe $2,000, and a cast-metal model of a red Jeepster, valued at $1,000. Cowan, Donnellon said, suggested breaking the estate into the three distinct groups. "It was very well thought through." A considerable number of estates are meted out to the public through the highly organized process of an auction. About $9.9 billion was raised in personal property auctions in 2004, a 5.3 percent increase from the year before, according to the National Auctioneers Association (NAA), a 50-year-old organization that counts 6,000 members. "We see that as a good, steady increase," said Steve Baska, communications director of the NAA. "Especially with the competition from eBay and other online auction sites." Likewise, Cowan's business has grown steadily over the years. His expected 2005 revenue of $8 million compared with $6 million in 2004 and $3.2 million in 2003. "My company is going to take a very small piece of the package," he said. "The auction business is a very, very competitive business, especially when you're dealing with an estate like the Schott estate." A trim, well-dressed man with an air of informality and wit, Cowan has found success in estates as well as on the tube. He stars in the PBS series "History Detectives" and is a guest appraiser on "Antiques Roadshow." From 1984 to 1995, he was curator of archaeology and the head of anthropology at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. The Dec. 9 auction of the Schott estate, to be held at the Starlite Ballroom on Kellogg Avenue, will feature "the everyday bric-a-brac" from her Indian Hill home: a complete set of Rookwood china; a 1930s cocktail shaker in the shape of an airplane; and her collection of giant stuffed Saint Bernards. The second auction, March 31 (timed to Opening Day), will offer all-Reds memorabilia. The final auction, a significant collection of paintings and Rookwood pottery, will take place in 2006 by catalog, meaning it will be posted online for international access, and is expected to draw as much as $2.5 million. Since the 1960s, the Schott Foundation has contributed millions to area charities, schools and organizations. It has helped build the gymnasium at St. Ursula Academy, an 18-acre lake for the Boy Scouts and the elephant exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. "She is one of the top five donors to the zoo," said Drausin Wulsin, director of major gifts at the zoo. "She loved children, she loved animals, she loved fun, and her spirit was very much with the zoo, as well as with the elephant program." While her spirit might remain throughout town, many of Marge Schott's very personal belongings, such as jewelry and clothes, already have been claimed by her family. So don't expect to bid on a Marge handbag or Reds windbreaker. This is cache, read story here
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