DuMochelle’s Auction House in Detroit, Michigan by Ruth Paget
While my friends attended classical music concerts at the Detroit Institute of the Arts on Saturday mornings, my mother and I would walk down Washington Boulevard from our apartment building to DuMochelle Auctioneers on the riverfront.
We had the DuMochelle auction bid sheet and item descriptions mailed to us to look over before the auction.
DuMochelle’s slogan was, “We have sold everything in Grosse Pointe four or five times.”
Grosse Point was an exclusive Detroit suburb full of wealthy European aristocrats, descendants of people who had come to the United States before World War II started. They had furnishings sent after them and bought while in the US. Inheritance taxes made heirs send items to DuMochelle’s for auction.
Detroiters and Canadians felt no compunction buying antique items at DuMochelle’s. When I would preview auction items on Friday after school, I would say to myself, “So, like where did you get this?” as I viewed floral silk screens from Versailles that went in front of unlit fireplaces.
I would joke with my mom and say, “Do you think we could mix and match this Biedermeier desk with the Chinese Chippendale furniture we have at home? They are all nice pieces.”
My mom would say, “I’m here for silver, crystal, jewelry, and Oriental carpets.” She really was and waited long enough to get deals on all of them. I loved learning about art.
Detroit’s Dutch population keeps a steady flow of Renaissance still life paintings on sale at DuMochelle’s. A salesman told me, “The still lifes of food remind you to keep food and meals in the house to fend off death.”
I remembered that as I ate the mustardy turkey and provolone sandwiches offered by DuMochelle’s to auction goers. I also added cream to the free coffee they offered with lunch. The auction crew had fun and free lunch.
I viewed DuMochelle’s as a potential employer one day. I had a science and arts curriculum at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. I studied industrial art as a minor with classes in the following areas as part of my high school degree:
-one year of art history for painting
-one year of art history for sculpture
-one semester pen and ink drawing
-one semester figure drawing
-four years of French language study
I did not work at DuMochelle’s, but I did work in France, so these studies were not wasted.
I also passed on my knowledge of art history to my daughter Florence Paget by having her study art and design and art history in high school as well and encouraging her to go through the educator pages for the Asian Art Museum website in San Francisco.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
