To better serve our clients in the greater Massachusetts area and from further west locations, we now have a satellite office located at the fabulous 1790 House at 827 Main St. Woburn, MA. The offices will be open Monday through Friday, Saturday by appointment (call ahead, an appointment is firmly advised). This new location will provide service to anyone wishing to visit this office and/or can serve as a drop off point for people who have made arrangements for consignments to Julia’s via our home office.

Director of Asian Arts

Julia’s has been fortunate in acquiring two well-seasoned, highly experienced antique specialists to man this special office. Mr. James Callahan who will serve as Julia’s Director of Asian Arts. Mr. Callahan is a long-time Boston-area antique dealer, appraiser and consultant. He became enthralled with Asian art at a very young age. By the time he was eleven years old, he was the youngest exhibiter at a Boston area antiques show. He has worked with auction houses since the 1970s and was director of Asian Arts at Skinner’s Auctioneers for 16 years and built the department from annual sales of $230,000 to $11 million annually at the time he left.

As an appraiser, Mr. Callahan’s greatest expertise is in the area of Asian art, culture and customs, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Khmer, Thai, Burmese, Ottoman Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, Persian and Indian. He also has great experience and knowledge as a generalist appraiser with expertise in arms and armor, 19th-century European and American furniture and decorative arts, jewelry, fine silver from the 18th to the 20th century and paintings and prints.

Mr. Callahan has appeared regularly on the PBS Antiques Roadshow since 1996 and will continue to do so under the name of James D. Julia Auctioneers. He is a frequent lecturer and consultant to museums, historical societies and independent art groups. He worked with the Brooklyn Museum of Art to bring to auction a large collection of over 200 pieces of Southeast Asian art that had originated from the collection of Samuel Eilenberg.

In addition, Mr. Callahan also serves a consultant to Enservio Select of Easthampton, MA, an antiques insurance adjustment firm, whose principal, Dan Farrell, is the founder of the PBS Antiques Roadshow and over the years has conducted innumerable appraisals of major collections and estates. Mr. Callahan, via his private consulting service, will continue to provide independent appraisals and consultations for clients throughout North America. As a specialty consultant for Julia’s he will also provide catalog descriptions for future Asian arts auctions.

Director of Decorative Arts for the Greater Boston Area

Also working out of our Woburn office will be Mr. Martin Willis, who will serve as Director of Decorative Arts for the Greater Boston Area. Formerly of New Hampshire, Mr. Willis comes from a family of auctioneers; his dad, Morgan Willis developed and ran the Seaboard Auction Gallery in Eliot, Maine for many years, which Martin eventually took over. Mr. Willis later worked for various auction companies in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Colorado and eventually worked at Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland, California for over six years where he served as senior appraiser. In this venue he consulted and did appraisals for various collectors and estates including the estate of TV mogul Merv Griffin and talk show host Tom Snyder. In 1989, his auction company conducted the famous Josiah Bartlett Auction in New Hampshire. Bartlett was a signer of The Declaration of Independence and the estate was a veritable time capsule of extraordinary antiquities, having descended from this famous family.

In 2009, Martin started the Antique Auction Forum, which is a biweekly informational podcast located on the web at antiqueauctionforum.com . This popular podcast has followers across North America and throughout the world. Over the years he has served on numerous boards and offered his services as benefit auctioneer for special events and organizations, and continues to lecture on antiques and auctions. He served as a columnist, writing for “What’s It Worth” in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle, Antique Trader and WorthPoint as well as a blog writer on articles pertaining to the antiques trade. Marty has over 40 years in the auction business and is certainly a familiar figure here in New England.

The “1790 House”, circa May 1936 (left). The restored “1790 House” today (right). It has also, over the years, been known as the “Joseph Bartlett House” or the “Bartlett-Wheeler House” having been originally built by Joseph Bartlett.

The 1790 House is also in the US National Registry of Historical Places and is referred to as the Joseph Bartlett House or the Bartlett-Wheeler House. (At this point in time we’re not sure, but it’s very possible that this Bartlett could have been related to the famous Josiah Bartlett, signor of the Declaration of Independence, the very famous estate from which Mr. Willis conducted back in 1989.) This house was built in 1790 on the banks of the Middlesex Canal for Woburn lawyer, Joseph Bartlett. The house was acquired by and partially restored to its present elegance by the current owner. The structure stands two stories tall with a hip roof seven bays wide and four bays deep. It features a two-tiered Doric porch, projecting from the front facade with single story Tuscan pillars supporting the porch and two-story Doric pillars at the corners. The upper level has a balustrade with Chinese railings. The facilities serve as an appropriate and elegant facility for the Julia auction company and its convenient location.

Just off of Exit 35 on Interstate 95 / Rt 128, should be a great convenience to customers from the greater Boston, Massachusetts area and all points west.

Prospective customers may contact our satellite office at (781).460.6800. You may also email Martin Willis at MWillis@jamesdjulia.com or James Callahan at jcallahan@jamesdjulia.com .