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French and Company Stock sheets and ledgers
840027
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Title: French & Company stock sheets and ledgers
Date (inclusive): 1909-1968
Number: 840027
Creator/Collector:
French &
Company (New York, N.Y.)
Physical Description:
45 Linear Feet
(108 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Stock sheets, stock books, ledgers, and
assorted papers document the objects, primarily decorative arts pieces, bought and sold by
the New York art dealer, French & Company, between 1909 and 1968.
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Language: Collection material is in
English
Organizational / Historical Note
American art dealership based in New York City, French & Company bought and sold
decorative arts, as well paintings and sculpture. Mitchell Samuels founded the firm in New
York in 1907. Under Mitchell Samuels'directorship French & Company clients included many
wealthy American collectors eager for decorative art objects and paintings of European
provenance. Among their clients were, J. Paul Getty and William Randolph Hearst. During this
period the firm also served as agents and decorators for the Huntingtons, Fricks, Mellons
and Astors, among others. Mitchell's son Spencer took over the firm in the 1950s. After his
father's death, Spencer sold the firm to City Investing in 1959. In 1968 City Investing sold
the firm to Martin Zimet. Much of the French & Company remaining stock of decorative
arts objects was sold at auction in 1968. The firm continued under the same name after the
1950s, but with a changing inventory and clientele.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Rights and Reproductions .
French & Company stock sheets and ledgers, 1909-1968, Research Library, The Getty
Research Institute, Accession no. 840027.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa840027
Acquired in 1971
The stock sheets and ledgers were acquired in 1971, along with the photographs and
negatives, which were transferred to the repository's Photo Study collection. Jocelyn Gibbs
with assistance from Onica Busuioceanu, organized this collection. The photographs from
French & Co. are integrated into the Decorative Arts section of the Photo Study
collection, with the exception of the photographs of tapestries, which are cataloged as the
Tapestries collection, accession no. 97.P.7. All the French and Co. negatives are filed
together under accession no. 71.P.1.
Scope and Content of Collection
The French & Company archive consists of more than 100,000 stock sheets, 12 bound
volumes of ledgers, stockbooks, and notebooks, plus assorted inventory sheets and cost
records. (The photographs and negatives from French & Co. now form part of the
repository's Photo Study collection.)
The stock sheets, some accompanied by slides and photographic contact prints, record in
detail the objects handled by the firm: object description, stock numbers (numbers were
sometimes changed), negative numbers which refer to the negatives and photographs from the
French & Company records, provenance and sales. The majority of stock sheets are filed
in one series and are numbered 1- ca. 81,483 (with some gaps). Another series of stock
numbers ranges from A103 through N120.
The ledgers, stockbooks and notebooks record stock numbers and related negative numbers,
and sometimes record object descriptions as well. Lists of photos, taken from old binders,
list French & Company photographs in stock number order. Inventory sheets (.5 linear
ft.) date from 1958 and list stock numbers and record transfers of inventory. Cost records
(ca. .5 linear ft.) list client names, stock numbers, object descriptions, sales dates and
prices, and date from 1957 -1968. One large pencil drawing is of a closet design for an
unidentified client, Park Mansions, Pittsburgh, and is dated 1946.
Arranged in 3 series:
Series I.
Stock sheets, 1909-1968;
Series II Stock and ledger books, ca. 1909-1968;
Series III Assorted papers, ca.
1920-1968.
French & Company (New
York, N.Y.)
Art -- Collectors and collecting
Decorative arts -- Collectors and collecting
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York
Sales records -- 20th century
French &
Company (New York, N.Y.)