Doyle’s auction business began in the late 1960s with its first sale in Montauk, but the company’s roots trace back to 1962 when founder William Doyle started an antique shop on the Upper East Side. Today, DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers has over 100 employees and operates in New York City and Long Island), Connecticut, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, Chicago and Beverly Hills, offering regional coverage in areas underserved by larger auction houses. Currently, it stands as the biggest woman-owned and family-owned auction house in the United States—two superlatives secured after Laura Doyle took the helm following her mother Kathleen Doyle’s transition to Chairman after her husband William’s death in the 1990s.
The youngest daughter of the Doyle family, Laura brings over twenty years of experience to the role, having grown up in the business, starting in client services before leading the jewelry department. When Observer met her in late September at DOYLE’s Upper East Side location, the galleries were bustling in preparation for upcoming sales. “I did my junior year at the Courtauld, and I started to work there a week after graduation,” she said, reflecting on her early career trajectory. “When I came back in, I was working on our website and creating Hayloft Auctions, a brand we have in the Bronx, and then I started running our regional offices and gradually took over more of a leadership position.”
On the day of Observer’s visit, Laura was holding a jewelry auction ahead of the house’s major Important Jewelry sale slated for October 30. Highlights of the upcoming auction include a platinum and Asscher-cut diamond ring weighing 21.37 cts., estimated at $350,000-550,000, and an additional platinum and diamond ring, one with a step-cut emerald of 9.83 ct. stone and two trillion-cut diamonds totaling 2.35 cts., with an estimate of $125,000-175,000.
“It never stops,” Laura Doyle said. “We are always in motion… constantly flipping, moving, changing. Logistics are incredibly complicated here.” Doyle is gearing up to host its Old Masters / Silver / Continental Furniture & Decorative Arts auction on October 16, featuring a special segment from the Collection of Eldo Netto, a respected name in New York’s decorator community. Also in the sale is a prized Old Master painting by Eugène Delacroix, Portrait of Charles-Etienne-Raymond Victor de Verninac (1803-1834) from the Estate of Stephen Mazoh, estimated $300,000 – 500,000.
Since becoming first Vice Chairman and now CEO, Laura has played a pivotal role in expanding Doyle’s regional presence and opening galleries in various locations to cultivate more personal, multigenerational connections with clients—a strategy that has fueled steady growth over the past few years. “We are looking to work with multi-generations… Our clients’ kids are now coming in,” she noted. Laura emphasizes the importance of making each gallery feel inviting to counter the often intimidating atmosphere associated with auction houses. “The parents will visit us in Charleston, but then they’ll say, ‘I visited my daughter in Boston, and we went to your gallery there.’ We’re seeing a lot of crossover between the different locations.” To deepen these connections, Doyle has been organizing more events, including art exhibitions with local artists, to activate their spaces and attract new visitors. The goal is to build a distinct community in each location.
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DOYLE’s personalized approach is a key factor in the company’s long-term success. That, and a strategy of offering a broad range of categories that are not exclusively focused on top-tier masterpieces—items increasingly difficult to source—but art and collectibles at a wide selection of price points that make auctions accessible to more buyers. “I think our buyers don’t feel intimidated… creating those relationships and having people feel they’re building their collections with us is the key, especially with jewelry and art,” Laura explained, adding that the auction house has worked hard to design a more tailored, collector-friendly experience.
When it comes to attracting new collectors, especially younger generations, DOYLE has invested in elevating its storytelling and refining the brand’s visual identity. The challenge was finding evergreen visuals that could effectively relay the breadth of what they do and the company’s history. They found the solution in the work of French designers, who created a series of bespoke illustrations depicting key moments in Doyle’s history, from the first shop sign on 81st Street to a significant early acquisition made by Laura’s father. This elegant, nostalgic packaging enhances the luxury experience for clients, echoing the sophisticated aesthetics of brands like Gucci or Hermès. “It feels authentic to us, and it’s so different,” Laura said.
While DOYLE is one of the longest-running family businesses in the art world, its continuing success has hinged on innovation. “At our core, we have an entrepreneurial spirit,” she explained. “Even though we’re a legacy business, we’re always innovating.” In 2016, Laura spearheaded the launch of DOYLE’s online-only Hayloft Auctions, a Bronx-based digital start-up focused on attracting first-time auction participants—a move that positioned DOYLE to embrace the potential of online auctions before competitors and thrive during the pandemic.
Still, personal relationships are the cornerstone of DOYLE’s long-term strategy. “What’s interesting is when we think about the brand and the experience in the context of these other locations, we have to think… what are the pieces that people hang on to, especially if they don’t know us or the auction business,” Laura said. As clients’ needs evolve over time, DOYLE strives to be a constant presence at every stage of the collecting journey.
Despite hosting major category-specific sales twice annually, Doyle maintains a steady schedule of smaller auctions throughout the year to ensure they’re always available for clients looking to buy or sell, in person or online. The key, according to Laura, is agility: “We have to know how online informs them in person. How can our sales travel to the different galleries? How do we tell the stories locally, nationally, and internationally? Our team is always evolving, and we’re learning from everything we do. We’re just doing it really fast.”
Recently, DOYLE hosted several prominent single-owner sales that drew buyers captivated by the owner’s story. According to Laura, the auction of lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim’s collection was less about the items and more about engaging people through memory and nostalgia: “So many people came to the room, and they were new auction buyers. They were so enthusiastic because they were music fans.” Surpassing all expectations, the sale achieved white-glove status in June, totaling over $1.5 million. Highlights included Sondheim’s Gold Records for West Side Story, with the 1961 film adaptation’s soundtrack record fetching an impressive $44,800, while the original 1957 Broadway cast recording realized $28,800. Several signed manuscripts and even simple stationery items inspired vigorous bidding. As Laura noted, “People are looking for experiences. A big part of our ethos now is that auction is fun; it should be fun.” Similar enthusiasm is anticipated for the upcoming Stage & Screen sale from the Collection of Jerry Herman on November 11.
The upcoming Impressionist & Modern / Post-War & Contemporary Paintings auction, scheduled for November 20, features notable works with compelling stories. Among them is The Devil and Doodazzle Dakins by Ernie Barnes (est. $300,000-500,000), an artist who has experienced a remarkable market resurgence in the past two years. This piece connects Barnes to a fascinating history involving Playboy, lawsuits and Space Jam. His current auction record was set in 2022 when The Sugar Shack, famously featured on Marvin Gaye’s I Want You album, fetched $15.3 million at Christie’s. The sale will also include two works by Christo: The Umbrellas (1985), estimated at $150,000-250,000, and Wrapped Reichstag (1983), estimated at $80,000-120,000, both from the collection of the daughter of Albert Maysles, the renowned filmmaker known for Grey Gardens.
When asked about the state of the auction market and whether it’s cooling, Laura emphasized the importance of maintaining strong relationships and having a diverse, multigenerational client base across a broad range of categories, both of which help to stabilize DOYLE’s position. “We have been lucky to have some great collections that have brought enthusiastic collectors and haven’t been on the market,” she said. “Our sweet spot is five, six or seven-figure items and collections… We’re in a place where people at higher levels feel comfortable, but we’re also accessible.” She went on to explain that this range allows Doyle to appeal to both high-end collectors and those newer to the market. “We’re in that lucky area of being able to stretch from the single-digit client to the triple-digit client and to think about how we evolve with them.”
