Seller Story: Vicki McCaw – Aiken, SC
“My mom, Martha McCaw, who everyone knew as Vicki, grew up in Texas and was an heir to the founder of Texaco. Her father was an Austro-Hungarian émigré who came there in 1900. He was very entrepreneurial in the oil business, so as Texas was industrializing during the Depression he was actively involved.
My mom was painting her toenails one day, when she came up with an idea for a product. It was kind of the precursor to all the nail art nowadays. When she was working on this project, she had the idea that she wanted to create a signature series with the world’s most famous artist, who at the time was Salvador Dalí.
She got Dalí to make 10 paintings for her nail product. She designed it, produced it, and she sold it to Colgate Palmolive, who owned Helena Rubenstein at the time. She really had her eye on the prize.
We traveled a lot. My parents weren’t afraid of taking us out of school, and my mom really believed in us being right there as part of everything. That’s where a lot of the objects in the house come from — there are many pieces from her family, and then there is just this wonderful array of objects from all those years of traveling.
She also had a whimsical side to her, a really playful side. So on one hand you’d see this amazing aubusson carpet, and then you’d see a little cluster of stuffed animals, like three little E.T. dolls or something. There were always these funny, witty, quirky little things.
As a design lover, her home was her canvas. It was one of her ways of expressing herself. It was all about creating a home that was inviting, and then having interesting people come in and be a part of it. She was very vivacious.” – Tori Winn, daughter.
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Waterford Crystal Millennium Collection Champagne Bucket Featuring Five Wishes
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Stained Glass Window Panel With Floral Motif
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Douglas “Bumo” Johnpeer Landscape Oil Painting, 2024
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Offset Lithograph After Claude Monet "Le Bassin des Nympheas"
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Oil Painting of a Forest Stream, Circa 1900
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Coach Mini Crosby Crossbody Carryall In Silver/Blue Black Badlands Flora
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Derek Jeter Signed Rawlings Official Major League Baseball with Display
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Hollywood Regency Style Brass and Blue Velveteen Upholstered Stools
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Fulper Pottery Earthenware Amphora Vessel With Drip Glaze, Early 20th C.
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Atmospheric Skyscape Oil Painting
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Charriol Colvmbvs Diamond Wristwatch
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
14K 3.88 CTW Lab Grown Diamond Eternity Band
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Mark Whitmarsh Abstract Acrylic Painting "Divine Garden," 2019
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
6'11 x 11'1 Hand-Knotted Persian Kashan Area Rug
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Hickory Mfg. Co. French Provincial Style Oak Two-Drawer Bombé Low Chest
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
7'11 x 11'3 Machine Made Oriental Weavers "Nirvana Collection" Area Rug
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Vintage and Antique Glass Beaded Flapper Sautoir Necklaces
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Luc LeBon Abstract Expressionistic Style Acrylic Painting "Boundary Waters #1"
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Tricia Bass Oil Painting of Dog "Bella's Daisies"
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Replica Antique Style Telephones
What made you decide to sell through EBTH?
It’s been daunting to me to try to respect this whole history of collecting, trying to find the best way for it to go into the hands of people who will appreciate it. I live in London and my life is just not able to accommodate the volume of things — so many beautiful things — so this feels like a nice way to honor every object.
She was really into comfort, and really into quality. She always bought lovely things, but things that were comfortable, and inviting.
Any other treasures from her travels?
There’s a teak elephant that was one of the things that came from one of the trips that we took to Thailand. There’s some beautiful old kind of Thai dancer figurines. There’s a lot of really beautiful pieces. She loved animal objects, so there are a lot of creatures, from very beautiful brass herons, freestanding, to a wonderful collection of all kinds of things that are frog-related.