Claudia is a compulsive refurbisher of objects and antiques.
Each of the 12 rooms is decorated in a different style, with unique objects and antiques collected by the couple during their travels around the country.
Neil K. Fitzgerald, an investment banker with 30 years' experience evaluating art objects and antiques, said he came to doubt the value assigned to Mr. Axelrod's Smithsonian gift while reviewing a business deal proposed by the expert who had appraised the violins.
The China 2000 gallery, at 5 East 57th Street, specializes in small scholar's objects (and the antique Chinese pieces of furniture on which they sit) from the 17th to the 19th century.
The 100-square-foot structure has a wide deck, "steeply pitched gables, multilevel decks and staircases," Houzz reported, and is filled with found objects, antiques, and repurposed objects.
The house's décor is a distinctive blend of found objects, Chinese antiques and bits and pieces collected on the family's travels around Asia. "Every single object in this house has a story," Ms. Elie said, "whether it was bought when we traveled, whether it was found in the garbage, or whether an old neighbor moved away and gave it to us".
Commercial objects made before 1976 and antiques can be exported, and domestic sales are essentially unregulated.
The uptown space is much smaller than the one in SoHo — only about 600 square feet — but it will have the same sophisticated mix of objects and jewelry (some antique, some designed by Mr. de Vera), tailored to the location and the customer.
But it isn't, though it is about relationships of other kinds: between feelings and words, objects and photographs of objects, antiques and very good copies, a woman's heritage and her physical features.
The space he created for a fictional pair of empty-nesters relocating from the Upper East Side is filled with tribal art objects and patterned textiles — all antiques, recycled materials or sustainable materials, he said.
At the last one, Cheese and Antiques, food-related objects like breadboards and cheese dishes were best sellers.
