Omro – John L. Freund, 94, of Omro, passed away peacefully with family by his side, on October 13, 2021 at Evergreen Retirement Community. He resided at Arborview Manor until recently. John was born on the family farm in Omro on January 19, 1927. He was the youngest child of John J. and Rose B. (Schrage) Freund.
John graduated from Omro High School in 1944 and Oshkosh State Teachers College in 1949. He married his high school sweetheart, Lucille J. Neary, on December 1, 1945, at St. Thomas Catholic Church in the town of Poygan. John and Lucille worked together, loaded up the family car and traveled together, and enjoyed activities and time spent with friends and their families. Lucille preceded him in death on September 17, 1992.
John was a life-long member of St. Mary Catholic Church in Omro, serving as a lector, usher, and parish council member.
John joined his eldest brother, Ernie, to begin his passionate lifetime career in real estate and auctioneering, which also later included insurance sales. Freund auctions were well known and were a weekend family event in the Omro/Oshkosh areas. The family always enjoyed closing out an auction with dinner, old fashioneds, and fun. John was a founding member of the Wisconsin Auctioneers Association. He served as its president in 1973 and 1974 and was named 1980 Outstanding Auctioneer of the Year.
John was an active community member. He served on the Omro Board of Education. He was a charter member of the Omro Kiwanis, actively serving that organization for over 50 years. John served as a Director of Winnebago County Bank for over 25 years. He was a member and past president of the local Board of Realtors and was Realtor of the Year in 1965. He was a member of the National Association of Farm and Land Brokers. John was also a member of the Omro Jaycees and Oshkosh Elks.
John enjoyed many years of bowling and golf leagues. He also enjoyed deer hunting and was a proud member of the Sawyer Swampers Hunt Club. John enjoyed many winters vacationing in Florida. He especially enjoyed fishing there with his Omro friends, fish fry’s, and socializing. It was never determined if it was John or his friend, Judd, who caught the biggest bass.
John is survived by his daughter, Janet Abalan, and son, Michael (Mona) Freund; grandchildren Kathryn Freund (Roger Baron) and Kristin (Andy) Duda, and their mother, Mary Morelli, Ryan (Kimberly) Abalan and John Abalan, Lauren Price and Andrew Freund; great-grandchildren Nicholas and Owen Duda, Lucy and Claire Abalan, and Lily and Trenton Price.
In addition to his wife and parents, John was preceded in death by his son Robert; siblings Ernest Freund, Naomi Ziebell, Adell Lesniak, Alyce Freund, Alvin Freund, and Frances Blount; and infant grandchild Meghan Abalan.
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History of Auctioneering
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A limited edition Swatch watch – one of only 140 made – designed in 1984 by French artist Christian Chapiron (known as Kiki Picasso) sold at auction at Sotheby’s, Milan, Italy in 1989 for $45,000 (£27,450).
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The earliest official online game auction site was Station Exchange. Launched by SOE in June 2005, it provided a legitimate means for players to buy and sell characters, items and money to other players, for real money, woth SOE making a cut from the profits. As well as raising revenue for the company, Station Exchange provides players with a safe way of performing transactions, without having to use third party websites.
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A Hong Kong based investor paid US$2.1 million (?1.3 million) on 28 June 2008 for a lunch date with Warren Buffett, the world’s richest man. Zhao Danyang (Hong Kong) enjoyed a meal for himself and seven friends accopmanied by Mr. Buffett at Smith & Wollensky’s steakhouse in New York.
All proceeds from the auction went to a charity which helps the poor and homeless in San Francisco.
Warren Buffett is an American investor and the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
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The most expensive music single sold at auction is a rare seven-inch copy of unreleased 1965 single Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson (USA). It sold for £25,742 ($39,294) to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous. Seller Kenny Burrell, a DJ and record collector stated that he was selling his copy in order to gain credibility as a record expert.
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Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), painted by British artist David Hockney (b. 9 July 1937) in 1972, sold for $90,312,500 (£69,547,900; €79,919,300) – including buyer’s premium – at Christie’s auction house in New York City, USA, on 15 November 2018. This makes the acrylic-on-canvas the most expensive painting by a living artist sold at auction to date.
The dimensions of the painting are 213.5 x 305 cm (84 x 120 in).
Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) takes this record from Jeff Koons’s Balloon Dog (Orange) – a 3.6-metre (12-foot-high, orange-tinted, stainless-steel sculpture resembling a dog made from balloons that sold at Christie’s in New York City, USA, on 12 November 2013 for $58.4 million (£36.49 million; €43.6 million).
Hockney first created a painting based on this composition in 1971, but unhappy with the results, he destroyed it. The current work was a second attempt, created in April 1972 in just a few weeks (working for up to 18 hours a day) for an exhibition at the André Emmerich Gallery in New York City, USA.
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The most expensive book illustration sold at auction is E.H. Shepard’s “Original Map of the Hundred Acre Wood”, which sold for £430,000 ($571,369; €485,860), including premium, auctioned by Sotheby’s in London, UK, on 10 July 2018.
Ernest Howard Shepard is a renowned English artist, best known for his illustrations in The Wind and the Willows and Winnie-the-Pooh.
The “Original Map of the Hundred Acre Wood” illustration was created for Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh woodland setting. The illustration is supposed to be the work of the character Christopher Robin and includes locations on the map purposely misspelled (“Big Stones and Rox” and “Nice For Piknicks”). The map is signed off by Christopher with “Drawn by me and Mr Shepard helpd”.
The illustration has remained in a private collection for the past five decades.
The record title was previously, held by E.H. Shepard’s illustration “For A Long Time They Looked At The River Beneath Them…”, a drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin playing Poohsticks, which sold for £314,500 ($492,727; €398,031).
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Mecum Auctions, Inc. is an American auction company specializing in collector cars and motorcycles. It was founded by Dana Mecum in 1988, and was originally based in Marengo, Illinois. Since 2011, it has been headquartered in Walworth, Wisconsin. The company hosts various auction events across the United States. Television coverage began in 2008, contributing to the popularity of the events.
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Mecum Auctions, Inc. is an American auction company specializing in collector cars and motorcycles. Since 2011, it has been headquartered in Walworth, Wisconsin. The company hosts various auction events across the United States. Television coverage began in 2008, contributing to the popularity of the events.
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Napoleon Bonaparte’s real tooth was auctioned off in 2011. It was taken out while he was in exile on St. Helena, turning it into a one-of-a-kind historical artifact. The tooth sold for an impressive £13,000, bought by a dentist eager to add a piece of the French emperor’s dental legacy to his collection.
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