Terry Maurer has been in the antique appraisal business for years, and he’s never seen anything quite like the apothecary cabinet that’s up for auction in Richland – at least not firsthand.

It’s from Britain circa 1870, designed for compounding medicine in the field.

“When it’s closed, it looks like a wooden box. When it’s open, it looks like a miniature pharmacy. A doctor could put compounds together and make pills, weigh the ingredients, and the ingredients are in bottles. It’s quite unusual,” said Maurer, who runs Maurer Antique Appraisals with his wife, Kathy.

The apothecary cabinet is one of hundreds of unique pieces included in the auction, along with furniture, artwork, Persian rugs, porcelain and sterling, and other special and rare finds.

The items are part of a sizeable collection belonging to Dr. Louis and Jenepher Field.

Macon Brothers Auctioneers in Walla Walla is running the auction, which is open now at maconbrosauction.com. Bidding closes June 19.

An in-person preview of the auction items is available on June 16.

Louis Field was a well-known orthopedic surgeon in the Tri-Cities. He grew up on a farm in Kansas during the Depression and joined the Army after high school. Using the GI Bill, he attended the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

He met his wife, Jenepher, while in New Zealand for a research fellowship.

She was born in the South Pacific nation, to English parents. Her mother and father loved antiques, and many of the items in Louis and Jenepher’s collection came from them.

Along with the apothecary cabinet, other standout items include a Welsh oak dresser from 1800; English porcelain, including Rockingham and Mintons pieces; artwork by well-known New Zealand and Japanese artists; and British sterling silver items dating to 1801.

Maurer said it’s the quality, history and variety of the pieces that make the Field collection so special.

In a statement, Doug Macon of Macon Brothers Auctioneers described it as “the finest collection of 19th century British antiques we have had the pleasure of offering to the public in many, many years,” adding that, “pieces of this quality and provenance seldom appear at public auction in the Pacific Northwest.”

In all, the auction includes more than 500 “lots,” or groupings of pieces.

The Fields ended up in the Tri-Cities in the 1960s after stints in Texas and England for Louis’ surgery training and a surgical fellowship. Louis joined Dr. Richard Petty in forming Tri-Cities Orthopedics, and for a time they were the only orthopedic surgeons in town, helping to serve all three hospitals.

Louis Field made a particular impact at what’s now Kadlec Regional Medical Center; he was among the local physicians who raised money to move the hospital from Army barracks to its current home.

Jenepher, meanwhile, went back to school as the couple’s four children were entering their teen years, earning a degree in behavioral science and going on to work as a counselor at the Hanford site.

In retirement, the Fields opened Sagemoor Kennels in Pasco.

They were great parents, said Henry Field, their oldest son. “We were definitely blessed as far as they were concerned,” he said, describing them as devoted to their children and to family life.

Louis Field died in September 2022, leaving behind Jenepher, children Henry, Catherine, Elizabeth and Michael and their spouses, plus grandchildren and other relatives.

Family members have taken items from the collection that are personally meaningful to them, and it’s the right time to find homes for the other pieces through the auction, Henry Field said.

“Our number one goal is that these pieces find homes where people enjoy them and appreciate them and use them,” Henry Field said. “It’s about spreading the enjoyment and hoping that others appreciate them like my grandparents and parents and us kids have.”