A Scrimshaw Fossil Mammoth Ivory Plaque julius cohen depicting a clipper ship, mounted in a

Gerard L. Cafesjian had a passion for the arts that consumed his life for more than six decades. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1925 to Armenian immigrant parents, he served in the U.S. Navy and later studied under the benefits of the G.I. Bill, graduating from St. John’s University School of Law.

In 1952 he began a long career with West Publishing Company, the world’s largest publisher of legal information. As Vice President of Marketing and Sales and eventually as a member of the Board of Directors, he initiated a nationally recognized annual art exhibition called Art and the Law, for which he received the prestigious Business in the Arts Award. Upon his retirement he founded the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, Armenia.

Gerard met Cleo Thomas while she was a nursing student at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. The two married on July 4, 1947, and throughout their marriage she was his staunchest supporter. Cleo passed away on March 7, 2013 and Gerard followed almost exactly six months later, on September 15, 2013.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is honored to have already handled Gerard Cafesjian’s collections of fine jewelry and lapidary arts, and turns the same attention to his decorative arts. It is an intriguing collection that at first appears a disparate assortment of objects from all periods, but upon thoughtful review reveals a universal theme. Each item in the collection is imbued with Cafesjian’s enjoyment of color, form and whimsy, and points to an appreciation for avant-garde design from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century.