New London — Edith "Fuzzy" Gipstein was an inveterate collector of artwork and antiquities from all over the world — so much so that her son used to joke that he never saw a wall until he went over to friends' houses.

"She had a great collection in her house that she curated," said son Todd Gipstein of Groton. "She was a natural curator."

But with her death at age 92 last year, it was inevitable that hundreds of items in the longtime New London resident's collection would be put up for auction. And that's what's happening from 3 to 6:15 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Winter Associates auction house in Plainville, with items including 18th- and 19th-century paintings, Asian decorative arts and pages from Middle Eastern manuscripts.

"She traveled all over the world," Gipstein said of his mom, often with her husband, Edward, at medical conventions. "She loved ruins. She was an archaeology major in college and collected painting and prints of ruins all over the world."

She loved it all — Japanese, Chinese, Peruvian, pre-Colombian, European, Egyptian, you name it — and when she brought items home to New London, she would create file cards for each telling the value and provenance of the work. At the end of her life, she had thousands of cards telling a story about all her finds, which often included clippings from The New York Times and other publications.

"It's hard to part with," he said. "We knew how much it meant to her."

Her home was so jam-packed with artwork that paintings would be arranged on the walls practically side by side, Gipstein said. His mom, who graduated from Wellesley College and received a master's degree in art from Connecticut College, often would share her collections with the Lyman Allyn Art Museum and loved to lecture on art.

According to her obituary, "Her love of art was infectious, and she had a remarkable ability to connect things across cultures, history, styles and religions. She was Google long before computers existed — a resource of information uncanny in its breadth."

Gipstein said the family saved a few of their favorite pieces, but the overwhelming number proved too much to preserve. He figures about 90 percent of her collection will be up for auction over several different sales. It took four different appraisers with various expertise to assess the value of each item.

Gipstein said the collection doesn't contain any "million-dollar babies" or finds whose value far exceeded expectation, but it does include many wonderful pieces and some that already have been donated to museums.

"She was generous and giving," Gipstein said of his mom. "I'm sure she should actually be very happy that it all finds a home."

l.howard@theday.com

If you go

What: Auction of items in the late Edith "Fuzzy" Gipstein's collection, as well as items from other local estates

Where: Winter Associates Inc., 21 Cooke St., Plainville, Conn.

When: Previews will be held 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11, and 3-6:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, or those who are interested may schedule an appointment by calling (860) 793-0288. The auction will take place at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12.

To view the catalog of items to be auctioned, visit www.AuctionsAppraisers.com.