Overview/History

Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. (formerly Cowan’s Historic Americana) is one of the nation’s leaders in the sale of Historic Americana, American & European Furniture, Decorative Arts, and American Indian Arts.

Cowan’s Auctions is owned and operated by Wes Cowan, an internationally recognized expert in historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History Detectives and is a featured appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. He writes an antiques column for the Cincinnati Enquirer and is a frequently requested speaker at antiques events around the country. Wes is licensed as an auctioneer in Ohio and holds a BA and MA in anthropology from the University of Kentucky, and a PhD in anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Cowan's holds semi-annual sales of Historic Americana including important 19th century photographs, manuscripts and autographs, flags and patriotic textiles, political campaign ephemera, Civil War memorabilia, and items relating to the opening of the American West. Each sale attracts bidders from throughout the United States, generating over $1 million in sales.

American Indian Art is highlighted in two annual auctions that attract the nation's top collectors and dealers. Paintings, Furniture and Decorative Arts are offered three times annually in special cataloged offerings. In recent years Cowan's has established record prices paid for Midwestern furniture and other decorative arts.

Through it's extensive mailing list of more than 10,000 collectors, dealers and institutional clients, each Cowan's Auction attracts bidders from throughout the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Japan. More than 1,000 bidders typically participate in each sale.

Our consignments come from a variety of sources including estates, private collections and items de-accessioned from public and private institutions including:

- The Amon Carter Museum
- The Henry Ford Museum
- The Western Reserve Historical Society
- The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
- The Indiana Historical Society
- The Boonschoft Museum of Discovery
- Western Michigan University
- Historical Madison, (Indiana) Inc.
- Henry County (Indiana) Historical Society
- Jefferson County (Indiana) Historical Society

To learn more about consigning an item, click here.

"Un Tournant de la Scarpe" by J.B.C. Corot

Oil on canvas, signed lower left. A lush landscape with a small stream...

click here to read more