Rite Rug owner's stunning collection goes to auction
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Late Rite Rug owner Michael Goldberg's incredible collection is up for auction. Images: Courtesy of Fleischer's Auctions
A Columbus carpet kingpin's memorabilia collection is up for auction, with a selection of dazzling showpieces set to fetch tens of thousands of dollars.
Why it matters: The collection belongs to Michael Goldberg, who owned Columbus-based Rite Rug and died in December.
- Founded in 1934 by Goldberg's father and uncle, the flooring company is a local fixture.
Driving the news: Goldberg's collection is up for auction through Columbus' own Fleischer's Auctions.
- The live auction begins Sept. 9, but values are rising fast in pre-bidding.
- "Taken as a whole, the catalog offers a revealing portrait of a man of broad interests and boundless curiosity," Fleischer's president Adam Fleischer writes in an introduction to the catalog.
What's inside: The auction includes more than 240 items, like historic military antiques, fine art, rare and unique sports memorabilia, film posters and a wide variety of items related to Jewish culture and history.
Highlights include:
- A Babe Ruth card valued at upward of $15,000.
- A Civil War sword and revolver belonging to a New York colonel.
- A "King Kong" movie poster from France that has fetched up to $30,000 before.
- A baseball signed by Jackie Robinson with a "get well soon" message.
- An original "I Want You for U.S. Army" recruitment poster from World War I.
Goldberg ran Rite Rug for more than 35 years after his father died in 1989.
- The company grew from its original downtown Columbus store to 60 locations across 20 states.
- He and his wife, Anita, gave frequently to causes at Ohio State and beyond, establishing endowment funds for cancer research and arts and giving a $5 million gift supporting leadership and women's programs.
- His son, Mickey, now owns the business.
Between the lines: Goldberg had varying, eclectic tastes, and his purchases weren't financially driven.
- Fleischer, who got to know the enthusiastic collector over the years, tells Axios that Goldberg was a "purebred collector."
- "There's no such thing as market value to somebody who wants it regardless of what the price might be. … Other people are looking at their collections like an investment portfolio, but he was not."
The bottom line: "If an object had a story to tell, he was interested in acquiring it," Fleischer says.
- Now, those stories — and Columbus' largest flooring company — are starting a new chapter.
