Burns Auction & Appraisal is a full service-auction house specializing in marketing and selling quality items to buyers from throughout the region, across the US and around the globe. We have a staff of eight dedicated experts in marketing, photography, cataloguing, shipping, customer service and sale management. Your satisfaction is our priority and we will work hard to meet your specific needs.
About the owner:
Adrian Burns first began attending auctions as a small child in
upstate New York, accompanying his grandfather, a lifelong
wheeler-dealer and accumulator of old stuff. A surprise discovery of a
gold-plated pocket watch in a box of tools and junk planted a seed
that would lead to a lifelong interest in rare, unusual, surprising,
sentimental and valuable items. It wasn’t long before Adrian was
working as a ringer, runner and all-around gofer at the auction house
of a family friend. Adrian often brought home armfuls of items from
these auctions and from meetings with old-timers. Adrian’s growing
collection of tube radios, military items, bottles and other antiques
soon began to overflow the shelf space of his childhood bedroom.
The love for the auction, and the stuff, continued to grow as Adrian
went off to college, where he received bachelor’s degrees in history
and journalism. Following his arrival in Northeast Ohio to work as a
newspaper reporter, Adrian began selling many of the things he had
accumulated as a child – and for good money, too! Soon, Adrian
realized he could go out to Ohio’s many estate auctions, buy up the
sorts of things he had previously been given, and then sell them for a
profit to pay off student loans and generally support the thrill of
discovery that the antique trade can bring. Over time, that buying and
selling led to sending items to auction, selling at antique shows and,
later, earning an Ohio license as an auctioneer. Eventually, Adrian
left his full-time career as a journalist, and later as a business
consultant, to pursue his dream of running his own estate auction
company.
While the really cool stuff still gets Adrian going, today he’s
focused on providing a valuable service: helping administrators,
executors, those downsizing, collectors and everyday folks get top
dollar for the items that they are looking to part with.
Adrian is married to Gretchen Burns, who holds a degree in photography
from Ohio University. Gretchen keeps the home fires burning, takes
photos and helps with auctions. Cora Burns is our pride and joy, and
is very interested in our toy auctions, especially in the sale of
Barbie doll collections. She often accompanies Dad to weekend
meetings, which she says she enjoys, as long as we can go to the
trampoline park afterward.
Adrian continues to write frequently on the subject of estates, grief
and loss, and the meaning that material possessions play in all of our
lives. He also conducts appraisal events and speaks to groups about
downsizing, estates and managing through the difficult process of
letting go.
He even gets on TV once in a while, perhaps most notably on a Good
Morning America segment broadcast nationally.
