Nicholas D. Lowry

Nicholas D. Lowry, Nicho, to those who know him, was born into a family of antiquarian book dealers. He was raised and educated in New York City and attended schools in England and Germany. He is President and Principal Auctioneer of Swann Auction Galleries, the third generation in his family to hold that title. He is also the Director of Swann’s Vintage Posters Department. As one of the world’s foremost authorities on vintage posters, Lowry has spent nearly 30 years serving as poster appraiser on the PBS television show Antiques Roadshow, on which he appears regularly. 

 

After graduating from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s degree in history in 1990, Nicho settled in Prague for four years, where he worked as an English teacher, entrepreneur, radio presenter, journalist, and guidebook author. Upon his return to New York he joined Swann Galleries and was named President in 2001.

 

Not one to sit still, Nicholas wears many poster-related and art industry hats: auctioneer, specialist, cataloguer, lecturer, curator, historian, author, enthusiast, and collector. He sits on the Advisory Board of New York's Poster House museum and curated an exhibition for the museum in 2024 on the history of New York City travel posters, for which he also authored a book, "Wonder City of the World." He has appeared in two documentary films, The Booksellers (2019) and more recently in Identita (2024) a film about Czech graphic design. He is currently working on a book about vintage Czech travel posters.

Lowry is actively involved with many worthy causes, and presides over as many as 20 charity auctions all across America every year.