News-Record.com

The house, once jammed with art and artifacts from John Philip Couch's life-time of collecting, is now almost bare.

Crowds at an estate sale last Saturday and Sunday bought more than 300 paintings, thousands of classical and opera albums and CDs, hundreds of art-related books, pottery, china and a model railroad collection that also included train books and videos.

Couch, who died earlier this year at 78, used every inch of space int he house for his collections.

"We had a tremendous crowd,'' says Carla Butler, whose appraisal firm of Butler and Associates conducted the sale.

Butler estimates the items brought in more than $100,000. She says as best she can recall $4,000 was the highest price paid for a painting.

Couch, a retired French professor at UNCG, specified before his death earlier this year at 78 that proceeds from an estate sale go to charities and institutions.

Friday night, the house was opened to Couch's family to review the items.

As the family was leaving, members encountered two people in lawn chairs out front. They spent the night there to be among the first 45 admitted when the door opened at 9 a.m. to the house at 628 S. Mendenhall St.

Butler says the stream of buyers was without let up all day Saturday and for the four hours the sale was held Sunday.

Couch loved art and trains and had independent wealth to buy what he wanted. He favored local artists and those who had studied artat UNCG, such as the renowned Maud Gatewood. Two her works were available at the sale.

When Couch, a Chapel Hill native, came to Greensboro in 1958 to teach, he bought a house at the end of Joyner Street next to the railroad. He later moved behind the Joyner Street house to an older and larger Queen Ann house on South Mendenhall. In both places, he wanted to live near the railroad tracks.

Those who visited him - he often entertained with gourmet meals he cooked - said the challenge was finding a place to sit. Practically all open space contained art or artifacts.

Everything inside the house was for sale Saturday and Sunday. So was Couch's faded, old Chevy Cavalier outside. Butler says it went for $300 to $400.

The only item not included in the estate sale was the house. However, it is for sale through Century 21 Realtors. The price is $275,000.