Page 37 - Bonhams Art from the Scholar's Studio, September 16, 2013 NY

Property from the Collection of Alice, Maren and Fred Friedman

Mrs. Alice O. Friedman

Alice 0. Friedman (1906-1983) was born into a prosperous Jewish home in
late imperial Germany and made a comfortable life for her family until she
was widowed and in 1938, forced to flee Nazi persecution as a refugee with
her seven year old son. Arriving in New York as a nearly penniless single
mother, and speaking minimal English, she used her ingenuity to obtain a live-
in nursing position with a wealthy Park Avenue household. Her dramatically
reduced circumstances left her no choice but to send her son to a foster home
for the next four years, so Mrs. Friedman used her free moments to hand sew
a line of fine gloves which she sold through Saks 5th Avenue to save money
for reuniting her family. Despite her limited means, Mrs. Friedman’s business
acumen enabled her to pursue an education degree at Columbia, which she
utilized in establishing a successful Manhattan nursery school and a children’s
summer camp in the Catskills. Extremely frugal spending afforded her the funds
to explore an interest in Chinese snuff bottles, which became her passion and
sole indulgence. Mrs. Friedman became an active member of the International
Chinese Snuff Bottle Society and derived great pleasure from studying and
appreciating the bottles she purchased from Sotheby Parke Bernet, Gerd Lester
and others. Mrs. Friedman’s prudent acquisitions built the elegant snuff bottle
collection that Bonhams today has the honor of offering at auction and the
proceeds derived from the sale will fund the college studies of her great-grand
daughters, honoring her devotion to family and education.

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