OUR COMMUNITY

W

hen the Allen family reached 
out to upscale consignment 
shop Le Shoppe Too with a 
handful of pictures of furniture pieces 
that were purchased in the 1950s, neither 
the Allens nor the partners of the Keego 
Harbor-based business knew the rarity of 
one particular item in their possession.
Sitting at the home of 98-year-old 
Franklin resident Nancy Allen was a 
first-edition Eames Storage Unit, which 
her late husband, Maurice, bought for 
$100 nearly 70 years ago. Still in near-per-
fect condition, the storage unit, created 
post-World War II by influential American 
designers Charles and Ray Eames, was one 
of only four or five left in existence.
Made of plastic-coated plywood, enam-
eled masonite and steel framing, these 
extraordinarily rare storage units were 
marketed by Herman Miller furniture 
company in 1950, just before then-newly-
weds Maurice and Nancy Allen discovered 
one while shopping for apartment furni-
ture.

“When we first saw the cabinet, it 
looked so new,” says Deborah Slobin, 
co-owner of Le Shoppe Too and the cor-
responding Le Shoppe Auction House, 
which she runs alongside fellow Jewish 
businesswomen Leslie Weisberg and Julie 
Sundberg. Together, they work with Terri 
Stearn of Detroit Fine Art Appraisals to 
appraise and sell iconic 20th-century fur-
niture, artwork and estates.
“It was so prestigious and in such great 
condition,” Slobin, 56, of Farmington Hills 
and a volunteer for the Shoah Foundation, 
explains of the cabinet. “For things that 
are that old, they usually have some wear-
and-tear, but this thing looked like it was 
right off of the showroom floor.”

A SURPRISING 
DISCOVERY
The Eames Storage Unit was a cherished 
family possession that the Allens took good 
care of over the years. Children weren’t 
allowed to touch it, and it was kept in excel-
lent shape since its 1950s purchase. “The 
family loved the piece,
” Slobin says.
Yet neither the Le Shoppe Too partners 
nor the Allen family knew how much the 
heirloom was actually worth. In doing 
research and reaching out to other experts in 
the field, Slobin determined the piece was, 

First-edition Eames 
Storage Unit, purchased 
for $100, sells for nearly 
$50,000 at auction.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

34 | NOVEMBER 25 • 2021 

hen the Allen family reached 

that were purchased in the 1950s, neither 
the Allens nor the partners of the Keego 
Harbor-based business knew the rarity of 

first-edition Eames Storage Unit, which 

“When we first saw the cabinet, it 

looked so new,” says Deborah Slobin, 
co-owner of Le Shoppe Too and the cor-
responding Le Shoppe Auction House, 

Storage Unit, purchased 
for $100, sells for nearly 

A Hidden 
Treasure

The Eames 
Storage Unit

LE SHOPPE TOO

