Meet the Gallery 63 Crew

PAUL BROWN, OWNER OF GALLERY 63

Paul Brown grew up never wanting to be in the antiques business. In fact, he was pretty sure he'd be the youngest member of the Rolling Stones ... until the whole "no musical talent" thing sunk in. Instead, Paul went to work at a car wash, where his Renaissance-Man boss encouraged him to study literature. He did just that, earning a bachelor's in English and enrolling in grad school, well on his way to writing the Great American Novel or strolling across a campus quad.

After a while, though, his interest in the family business began to grow, and in 1989 Paul started working daily at Red Baron's Antiques, his dad's auction house. Immediately drawn to the academic component of the antiques business, Paul immersed himself in the catalogs of the famous New York auction houses, learning the parlance of the trade, before bringing Red Baron's auction catalogs up to their standards. After a year or two, he took over all advertising, promotional, research and catalog duties at the company, riding a wave of successes throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

But around 2005, a bored Paul grew interested in a new challenge and decided to take over Gallery 63, in Sandy Springs, Ga. Today, Gallery 63 is known for bizarre, high-end items — such as a snooker table custom-made for the Rolling Stones — and Paul has made a name for himself as the go-to guy for bidders looking for those one-of-a-kind pieces that can only be found inside his doors.

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CINDY SHOOK, THE MANAGER

Tough, caffeine-loving Cindy is the heart of Gallery 63. Responsible for handling all inventory, Cindy tags every piece of the 500 lots a week that the auction house takes in. She's also responsible for collecting money from winning bidders, so those who don't pay their bills had better watch out.

Cindy and Paul have worked together since the early 1990s, when she started at Red Baron's as a furniture cleaner ... and quickly progressed to the position of head of inventory. Then, years later, Cindy happened to be on personal leave from Red Baron when Paul was assembling his Gallery 63 team. He asked her to come work for him, and she agreed. And, according to Paul, "Thank God she did. It would be exceedingly difficult to function without my right arm. She is a fine person and among the most loyal I have ever met."

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JON HAMMOND, THE PICKER

Jon beat out a field of nearly 100 candidates when he answered a cryptic post on Craigslist for an assistant manager position. The fact that he was an English major in college earned him his first interview. From there, he consistently impressed the Gallery 63 crew, ultimately sealing his job by climbing a rope to the ceiling of the auction room, some 18 feet in the air.

Thus Jon was hired and then told, "Oh, by the way, you are also going to be on a television program this fall on Discovery Channel." He handled the news with characteristic aplomb, quickly adapting to the chaos of Gallery 63 under the tutelage of his tough-love mentor, Cindy. And slowly but surely, Jon is learning how to sift through people's junk and find the treasure.

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DELFINO RAMOS, THE HANDYMAN

Fix-it genius Delfino Ramos can take apart, tune up, assemble or rewire anything that comes in ... even things — such as a 90-year-old player piano — he knows nothing about.

An employee of Gallery 63 since it opened, Delfino came on as temporary help, but his infectious smile, perpetual good attitude and undeniable talent led Paul to hire him, despite not having an opening at the time. And Paul has never looked back. Always good-natured and calm, Delfino not only can fix anything, he can transform the antiques-strewn floor of Gallery 63 into a bidder-ready auction house in a matter of hours ... and be a pleasure to be around to boot.