If you are wondering if there will be a new younger crop of specialty auction houses look no further. There may not be many, but at least one new kid on the block has sprouted in Columbus, Ohio. Fleischer’s, founded by Adam Fleischer, is now in its sixth year as a premium house specializing in Americana, including books, documents, swords and other weapons, flags and 19th century photography with an emphasis on the Civil War. Later this year the company anticipates expanding into Judaica.
According to Fleischer, 33, a former dealer who founded the company in 2020, the firm is growing fast. “The pandemic didn’t slow us down, though it did help to put some of our competitors out of business.” Currently the company has 16 employees (including three licensed auctioneers) and about 20 part-timers and contract workers. It owns two climate controlled warehouses in Columbus and is on track to do $10 million in business this year.
Asked why Columbus?, he responded,“Columbus is where I live and where I am from. It’s a natural auction location, but the way auctions work today we could be located anywhere.”
Fleischer entered the trade in his late teens as a collector and advanced by having a good eye for merchandise and a high tolerance for risk. “It helps when you buy for $5,000 and can sell it for $125,000.” Formerly a dealer with a specialty in antique photos, he worked as a sole proprietor with an online presence in social media. He originally did business as American Heritage Antiques but changed it to Fleischer’s after the first year.
Both as a dealer and an auction house he has focused on authentic high quality inventory and cultivating relations with museums and institutions, as well as finding and selling to private clients. “I’d been thinking about it for a while,” he said about opening the auction house at the age of 27.“
“Business was good from the start,” he said, “and grew to over a million within the first year.” That momentum accelerated with the sale of the library, papers, swords and artefacts of Civil War Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in the Spring of 2024 which was widely noticed.
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Early-on Fleischer’s affiliated with online auction platforms such as Invaluable and Live Auctioneer, but acknowledged that while those sites were initially beneficial to spread the word, in terms of percentage and bid preference, “the best site for the buyer is the house site.” The Fleischer’s buyers’ premium is currently 25 percent added to the hammer price.
He said although the auction landscape is different than in prior years, Fleischer’s is not exclusively online and also presents live-in-person events (with bids also accepted online and by phone).
One notable auction hosted by the young company was the June 20th sale of the Rick Carlile Collection of Civil War photos. The sell-out event earned $345,000 for 241 lots including the buyers’ premium. A major reason for the good results was the quality of Carlile's widely admired holdings. He was a collector who exhibited widely and was known to Civil War buffs for many years. A Carlile provenance was a coveted attribution. An 1864 signed CDV of Maj. Ellis Spear “Stand Firm, Ye Boys From Maine” was the top lot selling for $9,525.
View Fleischer’s catalog for the Rick Carlile Collection of Civil War Photography at: https://bid.fleischersauctions.com/auctions/fleischers-auctions/rick-carlile-collection-of-civil-war-photography-22699/catalog#catalog
In line with the company’s interest in early photography, they will be exhibiting at the Daguerreian Society meeting in Washington, DC on October 15th and hosting their benefit fundraiser auction.
As for returns, Fleischer commented,”we’ll take it back if we’ve made a mistake, but that doesn’t happen very often.”
Kevin Canberg, 46, Director of American History at Fleischer’s also spoke with Rare Book Hub. Canberg is a former corporate attorney who took early retirement to focus on his long time interest in early photography, and his new role as partner at Fleischer’s. Though most of the auction house staff is Ohio based, Canberg operates from New Jersey.
His role is to talk to potential consigners, and provide in-house expertise. Canberg said he was already well known in collecting circles himself, especially for military photographic images. He is a senior editor at Military Images Magazine. https://militaryimagesmagazine.com/about/
Canberg wrote the catalog notes for the Carlile sale, which are notable for their detail and putting the images in an historical context. His remarks echoed Adam Fleischer’s, saying “This was a great collection, it was widely displayed and exhibited over the years. There were over 1,000 registered for the sale across three platforms. There are always the whales, but altogether it was quite diverse. He estimated "about 100 unique buyers.”
Canberg pointed out a lot of collecting kicked off during the Civil War centennial in the 1960s. “The people who got interested then were pretty much the vanguard.” Now many years later some are selling. He described Rick Carlile as a resident of Dayton, Ohio, who died in the fall of 2025. He was a collector who acquired much of his collection in the 1970s, and “within the field of Civil War photography became a legend for his eye and attention to detail.”
Turning his attention to the present day, he remarked, “Even though there are not as many people physically present at the shows as there used to be, this is the hottest market it’s ever been.”
Fleischer’s Auctions
7400 Skyline Drive East
Columbus, Ohio 43235
(614) 305-5120 EST
https://www.fleischersauctions.com/
kevin.canberg@fleischersauctions.com
(516) 455-6335 EST
The Daguerreian Society
PO Box #306
Cecil, PA 15321-0306
(421) 221-0306
https://daguerreiansociety.org/
Symposium Oct 15, 2026 in Washington DC includes an auction https://daguerreiansociety.org/event-6643006
