About Yvonne

Yvonne Hermina Biebel  caught the collecting bug over 35 years ago while traveling to flea markets across the country with her husband, a second-generation picker. What started as a shared passion quickly became a lifelong pursuit of preserving pieces of American history.

Her personal collections reflect the depth and breadth of her interests: extensive automobilia and petroliana, vintage cookie jars, Christmas and holiday decorations from the 1950s and 60s, early Americana textiles including fabric from one of the first Broadway shows, original paintings, and over 1,000 pieces of Black Forest wood carvings—crafted by artisans in the mountains of Germany and Italy in the years following World War II. Each holiday season, her home transforms into a miniature museum, filled with boxes upon boxes of vintage Santa Claus figures and seasonal treasures.

An avid history buff and lifelong car enthusiast, Yvonne has owned dozens of antique automobiles over the years and currently has six in her collection. Her oldest is a 1907 Success Automobile Model B—believed to be the only surviving example from the Success Automobile Company—which was originally part of the legendary Harrah's Automobile Collection.

While building her collections, Yvonne also co-founded J. Frederick Construction Inc., earning a nationwide reputation for designing and building themed interiors for restaurants, bars, and casinos. The company built the ornamental metal package at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut—including railings, chandeliers, and ornamentation—and constructed the themed gas station at the casino's entrance. 

They worked with clients including Hasbro and M&M's/Mars, created the themed sculpture in the center lobby of JetBlue's Terminal 5 at JFK, manufactured and installed over 8,000 bollards throughout New York City, and completed all stainless railings and bollards at the new Yankee Stadium. She also designed and built home theaters for world-renowned theater architect Theo Kalomirakis, including the award-winning Argenbright Theatre and the Chili Davis Theatre, which graced the cover of the October 2001 Robb Report.

A female and Hispanic minority-owned business pioneer, Yvonne retired in 2015 after her third bout with cancer—including surviving pancreatic cancer. Today, she stays healthy with Zumba and water aerobics, tends to her garden, and enjoys time with her two sons, her beloved Boston Terrier Scarlet, and of course, her collections. She continues to share her passion for Americana through Yvonne's Attic.

For Yvonne, collecting has never been about ownership. It's about guardianship. Every piece that passes through her hands—whether a rare porcelain sign pulled from a crumbling barn or a vintage neon rescued before demolition—carries decades of American history. Her job, as she sees it, is to protect that history and ensure it survives for future generations.

This sense of responsibility shapes everything about how Yvonne approaches the business. She's not looking to flip inventory—she's looking to place pieces where they'll be valued, protected, and loved. It's why collectors trust her, why museums call her, and why relationships built through Yvonne's Attic often span generations of families who share the same passion for Americana.

Just ask her husband, who every holiday season finds himself hauling endless crates of vintage Christmas decorations from the 1950s and 60s out of storage so Yvonne can transform their home into a seasonal wonderland. And then, of course, hauling them all back again. It's a labor of love—heavy on the labor, but he knows better than to argue with a woman on a mission to keep the magic of mid-century Christmas alive.