About Leila Dunbar Appraisals and Consulting

A large part of Leila Dunbar’s life has been spent in the driver’s seat, from go-karts and muscle cars to a Cessna 172 airplane and an 1928 Indian Scout motorcycle. This is not surprising as she spent much of her childhood in her father’s auto salvage yard, meeting folk with colorful nicknames like “Blonde Bobby”, “Joey One Arm” and “Little Anthony”.

In the early 1970’s, parents Howard and Martha were smitten by old samplers, stoneware and Mickey Mouse. Becoming collectors and then dealers, they handled antique American advertising, toys, folk art, automobiles, motorcycle memorabilia, and locally made Dedham Pottery. At nineteen, Leila ventured to Spain for a year, developing a fondness for flamenco, motor scooters, paella and vintage Feria festival posters. In 1983, she obtained degrees in Journalism and Spanish at the University of North Carolina.

Returning home, Leila ran the junkyard for several years before establishing Dunbar’s Gallery with her father Howard out of their former junkyard. At the gallery the Dunbars held numerous absentee auctions in automotive and motorcycle memorabilia, toys, advertising and Halloween memorabilia.

In 1996 Leila was one of the first appraisers chosen to participate in the television series “Antiques Roadshow,” which, in 2013 was featured in a profile on CBS Sunday Morning and averages 10 million viewers a week, PBS’s highest rated show. Since 1996, Leila has manned the Sports Memorabilia, Collectibles and Toys tables.

Three years later, in 1999, Sotheby’s recruited Leila to serve as SVP and Director of its Collectibles Department, selling more than $75 million in sports, entertainment memorabilia and collectibles in 9 years, including the estates of Casey Stengel, Pee Wee Reese, Wilt Chamberlain, Katharine Hepburn and Johnny Cash, as well as the collection of Cher.

In 2008 Leila left Sotheby’s to build a full time practice as an appraiser and still consults for Sotheby’s and other auction houses. She is one of the leading appraisers in the country in sports, entertainment and pop culture memorabilia, with numerous major public and private institutions, celebrities and athletes as clients.

Leila is a member of the Appraisers Association of America (AAA), certified in sports memorabilia, entertainment memorabilia and wine appraising. She is also a member of the International Society of Appraisers (ISA). From 2013 – 2021 she served as a Board of Trustees member for the Appraisal Foundation, including Chair in 2020.

Today Leila is on the road approximately a third of the time for appraisals, consulting, auctioneering and speaking to organizations such as the American Bar Association, Chubb Insurance, Wharton School of Business, International Sports And Heritage Society, Society Of Baseball Researchers (SABR), AAA, ASA, ISA, Golf Collectors’ Society and Women’s Leadership Circle; or discussing the market on her Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Linked In accounts and for press outlets such as ESPN, Wall Street Journal, Scripps News, The BBC, and the New York Times.