For some, an even bigger draw than the silver, furniture and artwork at Michael Corcoran’s auctions is the 96-year-old auctioneer himself. For some,

An Auctioneer as Rare as Any Antique

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2024-11-15 08:00:04

For some, an even bigger draw than the silver, furniture and artwork at Michael Corcoran’s auctions is the 96-year-old auctioneer himself.

Michael Corcoran, the nonagenarian force behind Gustave J.S. White Estate Auctioneers in Newport, R.I., may be the best known and connected auctioneer in that area. Credit... Cody O'Loughlin for The New York Times

Here’s how it goes, Michael R. Corcoran said on a recent morning, summarizing his take on the cycle of life: “It’s doctor, undertaker, lawyer, then me.”

Mr. Corcoran is an auctioneer. Born in 1928, just as Herbert Hoover was elected president, he is both the proprietor of and the force behind Gustave J.S. White Estate Auctioneers in Newport, R.I. If he is not, at 96, the oldest person still actively plying his trade in the area — although that seems likely — he may be the best known and connected.

Death, of course, is not the only event that feeds inventory in his business. There are also debt and divorce. Yet, regardless of the reason, when the time comes for the material evidence of a life to be dispersed, for a great mansion or a Colonial landmark or a Victorian pile or an old farmstead to be emptied out, Mr. Corcoran is often the first call.