Turner Auctions + Appraisals is pleased to present the Grace Garcia Estate, Part I, on Saturday, June 4, 2022. It features a wide array of paintings, religious items, and decorative arts from the personal collection of the late Grace Garcia, a passionate collector of beautiful things and avid world traveler. Known as Gracie by her many friends, acquaintances, and customers, she was owner of Gilroy Antiques in Gilroy, California, for over 30 years. Part II of her collection will be offered in early summer. This auction also includes jewelry, a silver water pitcher, and several other items from other California estates.
Items of fine art and decorative art in this sale from the trust of the Grace Garcia Estate are diverse and eclectic, mostly from the 18th to 20th centuries. They include paintings, marble sculptures and busts, glass and porcelain vases, ceramic wall plaques, needlepoint and crewel work, Gothic candlesticks, birdcage automatons, trinket boxes, French jewel caskets, painted miniatures, Staffordshire figures, Limoges boxes, Chinese ginger jars, sterling flatware and decorative items, Victorian wool work, an antique teaching skull, and much more. Among the religious lots are paintings, icons, monstrances, reliquaries, a ciborium, sacred hearts and plaques, carved statues and figures, crucifixes and crosses, Thai buddhas, Hindu deities, and Buddhist statues. Jewelry items for women and men include necklaces, bracelets, pendants, brooches, cufflinks, wrist and pocket watches. Many are in gold or silver set with gemstones. Designers include Tiffany, David Yurman, and Judith Ripka.
About Grace Garcia and Her Collection
Grace Garcia (1939-2022) was born in Campbell, California, to a family with roots in San Francisco. She graduated from Campbell High School, married in 1957, and had four children. As a young bride with a limited budget of $25 a week, Gracie could not afford to shop in stores with new furnishings. As a result, she began to pursue antiques and other beautiful old things that were less costly. While she is quoted as saying she “became a collector at birth,” Gracie began collecting in earnest in the early 1960s, shopping for beauty, not price. Over time, her collection grew dramatically, with items acquired from her travels, antique shows or stores, in advance of estate sales, or from people who knew she would appreciate their gifts.
Her job brought her further into the sphere of antiques. As manager of the Main Street Exchange in Los Gatos, California, Gracie worked until the store closed in 1989 due to the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake. Soon after, she decided to launch her own shop, Gilroy Antiques, and on her own terms: she was only open the first 20 days of each month, reserving the last 10+ days to travel the world or visit friends and family. In fact, for over 30 years, her store provided two sources of great pleasure – there she was surrounded by her antiques and met people who visited, making many friends and connections along the way.
In addition to her store and meeting people, travel was a vital part of Gracie’s life. From 1986 to 2019, she made 43 trips throughout the world. Of those, 35 were international trips – with visits to China, Russia, Mexico, myriad countries in Europe, and other places in Southeast Asia including India, which was a favorite. According to her children, David Garcia and Tika Burns, “she was fearless.” She often traveled on her own, with neither a cell phone nor a computer for assistance, and felt comfortable going anywhere, intentionally getting lost in cities to embrace the place and its culture. “She was not afraid of people or places or to buy things: if it was beautiful, she’d buy it.” In fact, Gracie would regularly travel with a big, empty suitcase filled with bubble wrap in anticipation of beautiful objects yet to come! Her newest passion, said Tika, was birdcages. Sadly, with Gracie’s passing, her planned trip in 2022 to Budapest was not to be.
A large part of Gracie’s personal collection has a religious flavor, perhaps inspired initially by the splendid works of art and adoration found in the Vatican. Although she was not religious in the traditional sense of the word, she was spiritual and embraced items from various religions around the world. She appreciated the art, dedication and craftmanship that went into the pieces. Gracie’s large house was filled with her collection, and then when it grew too large, it expanded into the apartment above her antique store. The many religious items were woven and displayed throughout her living spaces, and particularly her bedroom, where Gracie cheekily noted that she had had “more priests in her bedroom than anyone else.”
Grace Garcia was a down-to-earth, self-made woman: she paid off her house, raised a family, made countless friends, and ran a successful business. She lived for beauty, appreciated quality and value, and was an intrepid traveler. It was said her passion for antiques was surpassed only by her passion for life. Now, as her personal collection goes to auction, the acquisitions of Gracie’s life well-lived are sure to enhance the lives of others.
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