Duane Hill
On his first trip away from his hometown Wallace, ID, the Hill family were traveling by car south to Mexico. Duane, quite vividly, defines this trip, at the age of three, as the exact moment he was consciously aware of his lifelong passion for antiques. His mother asked him to count windmills flowing past the windows in the vast expanse of Midwestern America. The pure design of these pastoral giants kneeling in the farmlands, spoke to young Duane in a vocational sense. Ever since, he has nurtured and developed this relationship with travel and family, managing to create a career from it.
His father, a logger in Idaho’s famous Northern industrial district, would return home with silver dollars from after work beer change. Despite the general routine of banking these dollars, Duane would consistently keep and collect those that fascinated him the most. By the age of nine, Duane had collected enough unique silver dollars to join the Coeur D’Alene Coin Club. As Northern ID was also a hub for mines, young Duane found his way to the old mining dumps, sorting through the discarded treasures beside the abandoned shafts. Setting up his dirty table of bottles and old cigarette tins at the Coin Club, his peers were in disbelief at how successful his section was. Working in the mines and saw mills himself throughout his teens, Duane knew that if he didn’t pursue his passion for antiques before the end of school, his family would want him to continue a career within the mill or mine industry. So, at eighteen, Duane put on his first auction, with an admittance fee to keep out overly supportive family members. Needless to say, that first auction was a milestone for Duane’s Auction Company; and, after traveling the world, all over Europe and other adventures, Duane rekindled an old family tie with Alaska, and has set up shop here at the Auction House ever since.
Alaska Auction company is the largest auction company in Alaska, with two auctions every two weeks. Duane is a registered and licensed ISA member that can appraise all fine art and any antique good. It is because of Duane’s distinct and vast experience with Alaskan Native art, that he also offers a unique platform for Alaskan Native art dealing. If you have antiques you consider valuable or collectible, come in to Duane’s Antique Market on 76th Ave and speak to the man yourself.
For more information regarding hours and availability please visit our auction page.
