Auctioneer C.P. ”Terry” Dunning stands before an oil painting depicting a bucolic scene of cattle grazing in a field. ”It`s a nice little picture that we found in a basement in Lake Forest,” says Dunning nonchalantly as he starts the bidding at $10,000.
The sound of the crowd gathered on a Sunday afternoon for the sale of fine artwork at Dunning`s Auction Service in Elgin grows from a barely audible murmur to a noisy, electric pitch as the bids for the painting surpass the $20,000 mark in a matter of minutes.
In a rapid, singsong voice, Dunning accepts the bids, pointing with a wave of his hand at several hopeful buyers. Gradually, the bidders in the audience reluctantly drop out as the price easily surpasses $30,000. The competition to own the painting turns into a tense duel between two absentee phone bidders.
All eyes are turned to two of Dunning`s assistants who man the phones, consulting in whispered tones with the prospective buyers. They shout ”yes” as the price soars in increments until suddenly there is a brief lull and the audience waits with bated breath.
One bidder has apparently caved in, deciding that the price is too steep for the 100-year-old painting by a German artist.
”Fifty-eight thousand dollars. Sold to number 46,” pronounces Dunning in a jubiliant voice.
Dunning is the patriarch of this family-run auction business established in 1896. For him, there is nothing quite like the flurry, sense of expectation and excitement of putting on a sale.
”People scurry around to see things and they ask a thousand questions. You can tell just by the hum of the crowd what kind of sale it`s going to be,” explains Dunning with a gleam in his eye.
”It`s like putting on a show or a rock concert,” adds Dunning`s daughter Shawn, who is one of six family members working in the business full time.
Dunning`s is housed in a low-standing building in a part of Elgin where remnants of the area`s rural past, a cornfield and a dilapidated barn, still stand.
In fact, it`s thanks to a farmer and to long, cold Midwestern winters that the business got its start at the turn of the century.
The man who founded the business was Terry Dunning`s great uncle. He decided that auctioning livestock could help get him through the dreary, winter months when his fertile fields lay fallow.
Today the farm is gone, but Dunning`s auction house is thriving. Instead of selling four-footed farm animals, Dunning`s deals in fine antiques, artwork, collectibles, jewelry and real estate.
The business has sales 80 to 90 days a year, which attract buyers from around the world. It holds a Chicago-area record for the highest price ever received for real estate auctioned on behalf of one owner. That $10.1 million sale of a block of apartment buildings in Westchester was conducted in 1987.
Until recently, when a Van Gogh painting was sold in Chicago, Dunning`s also held the record for the highest priced antique ever auctioned in the Midwest. The item was an 18th Century, cherrywood secretary-bookcase that brought a price of $504,000 in 1989.
Dunning recalled that he found the pricey secretary in the estate of a Winnetka doctor who had inherited it 40 years earlier from a patient.
Discovering such extrodinary pieces in sometimes ordinary places is part of what makes the auction business so thrilling. ”We`ve had some nice finds over the years,” Dunning said modestly.
An oil painting by acclaimed contemporary artist William Robinson Leigh, who depicted images of the American West, was discovered by Dunning in ”the home of a man of average means.” The owner, who had died, had collected western memorabilia for many years.
”His house probably wasn`t worth $5,000. I walked in and I saw this painting and at first, I thought it was just a print,” Dunning said.
Inspecting more closely, he realized the artwork had value. ”I called the bank officer and I said, `I`ve got a painting hanging on the wall here that`s worth more than a few bucks.` ” After Dunning convinced him that its value was at least $25,000 to $30,000, the banker exclaimed, ”Take it and get it out of there. Keep it safe!”
The painting later sold for $60,000.
Several months ago, Dunning was contacted by a representative of a women`s club in Kenosha, Wis. The group was in need of money and asked the auctioneer to appraise a wall hanging that had been left to the group by one of its members. It had hung inconspicuously in the organization`s heaquarters for many years.
It turned out to be a fine 17th Century Flemish wool tapestry. Estimated to bring $15,000 to $20,000, the piece actually garnered $41,000.
When Dunning conveyed the happy news to the the club`s representative, she was dumbfounded.
”I said, `We got $41,000 for the tapestry.” She said, `What? Forty-one hundred dollars?` We went back and forth. She was just beside herself,”
Dunning said.
Dunning joined the business in 1957. He worked with his father, Albert, who had taken it over in the 1920s from his uncle, Frank Dunning. The business, which had been founded in West Dundee, moved to Elgin in the 1940s. After World War II, the auction house began to switch its focus from farm and livestock sales to household and estate sales. The emphasis on real estate sales had been initiated in the business` early days, and it continues today. The focus on antiques and other such fine merchandise, however, was fostered by the current president.
Dunning was not the coddled heir apparent, though, when he joined the auction house. In fact, the Northwestern University graduate said with a laugh, ”I graduated and I thought I would work for my father as a stopgap until I found a better job.”
He unloaded boxes, cataloged household goods, drove a truck, made pickups, deliveries and began to find he enjoyed the business.
When his father suffered a mild heart attack, ”Suddenly, I wasn`t a lackey anymore. I had to go out and make a couple decisions. That was appealing to me.” One of those decisions was to alter the scope of the business.
”Basically, I decided I had no interest in being in the household consignment auction business or in the agricultural end of the business. We started to go to Europe to buy antiques and bring them back,” Dunning recalled.
Peddling antiques ”was a challenge because there wasn`t the avid interest in them that there is now,” Dunning said. ”I figured anybody could sell a refrigerator, but figuring out that this is a Chippendale desk rather than some Masonite thing, that was more interesting. And going to Europe to buy antiques, that was really interesting.”
Dunning is a past president of the National Auctioneers Association in Overland Park, Kan., and a member of its Hall of Fame. He is also a senior member of the American Society of Appraisers.
”Dunning`s is very well respected, and Terry has been very active and supportive of the industry,” said Joe Keefhaver, executive vice president of the National Auctioneers Association.
More than 30 years of experience has taught Dunning to recognize and identify valuable antiques. When in doubt, he often relies on experts in various areas to authenticate his finds.
In a business that is sometimes thought to be populated by shady characters, longtime customers praise Dunning`s honesty and good reputation.
A prominent Chicago antiques dealer, Kenneth Harris of Taskey`s Antiques, said, ”The Dunnings are very reliable, extremely nice people to do business with. I can`t say that about everyone in the business.”
Shirley McGill, owner of Shirley McGill Antiques in Geneva, noted,
”Their merchandise is as represented. If they feature a table in their catalog as an 18th Century table, than it is not going to be a table of a later period. The Dunnings take great pride in what they are doing.”
She added that the auctions ”are quick-paced, not long and drawn out. The buyer has a chance to bid, but the Dunnings do not haggle for the last nickel.”
Her assessment is echoed by another antiques dealer, Patricia Lacock of Patricia Lacock Antiques in Glen Ellyn: ”I`ve known Terry since he was kneehigh to a grasshopper. No more honest people have walked the earth.”
The auction house staff has grown from employing Terry and his father and mother to the current payroll of 32 employees. But it is still very much a family-run concern.
Dunning`s daugher, Shawn, 28, joined the business three years ago after a stint in the real estate business. Although she had decided at 18 that she wanted to be part of it, ”I basically told all the kids that they had to go out and do something else for a while first,” Dunning said.
”Yeah, Dad thinks we need something to fall back on just in case,”
Shawn explained grinning.
She now handles advertising and public relations. Her mother, Pat, does the accounting. A brother, Scott, is vice president of the real estate department. One sister, Bryn, keeps the mailing list updated, and another, Korrin, catalogs merchandise for auctions and handles phone bids. Korrin`s husband, Dan Helsdon, is Terry`s administrative assistant.
Dunning`s parents-in-law, Don and Marge Flora, also lend a hand from time to time. Only the youngest daughter, Julie, who is in college, has not formally cast her lot with the auction house.
Working in close proximity to loved ones is far more enjoyable than it is a hassle for the Dunnings. Shawn explains, however, that sharing office space with one`s brother is something one needs to get used to. For example, she tells how her brother, Scott, whose desk is beside hers, does not hesitate to correct her when she mispronounces a word in a phone conversation.
”Now, someone you just work with, who you`re not related to, wouldn`t do that. Would they?” she insists.
Listening to Shawn, Terry emits an exaggerated, noisy sigh. ”Oh, working with my family. I love it. I wouldn`t have it any other way,” he says.
Several aspects of the auction business lured Shawn back to it. ”I love antiques. Learning about them is a never-ending process.” She also likes providing service to clients, and, of course, auction days.
Predicting what items will be big sellers is sometimes an iffy business.
”You live with a piece for four or five weeks beforehand,” Shawn said.
”You may really love it and think it`s really wonderful, but then it doesn`t sell. Who can explain it?”
As a general rule, the rarer the piece, the better the price it will earn. For any first-time auction attendees, Dunning suggests that they know in their minds exactly what they are looking to buy. They should shop around to get a notion of prices and set an unmovable monetary limit that they vow not to exceed.
Dunning admits that in 1971 he relocated his business to Chicago. ”There was a time when I thought you had to be in Chicago to be in the antiques business.”
A year of commuting and parking hassles convinced him that his decision was unwise. He quickly returned to Elgin.
While international visitors do not even think twice when they see that the auction service is in an area that is still dotted with large expanses and fields, Dunning said people in downtown Chicago are mystified.
”They say, `What are you doing? Selling to farmers in Elgin?` ”
The Dunnings, it seems, are doing very well.
