Our founder, Karen Augusta, passed away on October 26, 2019 after a  courageous battle with endometrial cancer. During her life, she had dedicated her knowledge and talents to increasing the appreciation of fashion and textiles as an overlooked art form. She purchased, sold and appraised antique clothing, rare laces and textiles over a five decade career. A link to her obituary can be found here.

Augusta Auctions was created in 2000 to assist the family of Sue Varner from The Suzi's, in Farmville, Virginia. Karen and Sue were colleagues from the early days of the vintage movement. Karen and her husband developed the company to market Sue's historic clothing collection upon her passing.  From this sale 25 years ago evolved America's premier company for auctioning vintage clothing and historic fashion.

Karen was a member of The Costume Society of America and The Textile Society of America. She served for thirteen seasons as the lead fashion and textile appraiser on the popular PBS series, Antiques Roadshow.

The guiding principles throughout her life were to treat everyone fairly and with compassion. She always went the extra mile to help others and make everyone feel comfortable. Her warmth, kindness and concern for people's needs were the qualities that made her special and became the guiding principles of Augusta Auctions.

Incredibly proud of her website and the information it contained, Karen constantly updated its contents as she learned more about any of the treasures offered. She viewed the site as a teaching tool and the best way to document the incredible pieces that crossed her path. Her past sale archives, photo galleries and the searchable database are maintained on our servers and made available for free to fashion students and researchers around the world.

The staff of Augusta Auctions continues to incorporate Karen's principles to guide the business as it expands into the future and serves a new generation of fashionistas.