The celebrated gallery owner Allan Stone (1932-2006), gave collecting a good name. He was early champion of artists like Joseph Cornell, Wayne Thiebaud, John Chamberlain, and Willem de Kooning, and bought and sold their work as their value soared.  But his acquisitive appetites extended far beyond the gallery walls into the tribal and folk art, Bugatti furniture, and even wooden cigar store Indians.

De Kooning's Man, 1967.  Est. $5-7 million

Thiebaud's Hot Dog With Mustard, 1964.  Est. $600-800,000

Franz Kline's Untitled, 1951, 2-3 million

Allan Stone's home before the work was taken to Christie's

More from Allan Stone's home

The wonderful scope of Stone's world is clear from the auction at Christie's on November 12, where masterworks from artists like Franz Kline sit side by side with Congolese fetish figures.  Stone never lost his discerning eye, a Gaudi wooden screen from the Casa Mila is the perfect meeting of form and function.

--David Coggins