From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bonhams[1] is a privately owned British auction house and one of the world’s oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The Bonhams name is recognised worldwide throughout all sectors of the fine art, antiques and collectors’ market, with several of its departments established world leaders within their specialist category.

History

One of the few surviving Georgian auction houses in London, Bonhams was set up in 1793 when Thomas Dodd, a renowned antique print dealer, joined forces with the book specialist Walter Bonham.

The company expanded and by the 1850s was handling all categories of antiques including jewellery, porcelain, furniture, arms and armour and fine wines.

In the early 1950s the Bonham family purchased some land in Knightsbridge and erected a saleroom on Montpelier Street.

In 2000 Bonhams became Bonhams & Brooks when it was acquired by Brooks auction house. Brooks had been founded in 1989 by the former Head of Cars at Christie's, Robert Brooks who specialized in the sale of classic and vintage motorcars. Brooks continued a major acquisition programme aimed at creating a new international fine art auction house.

In 2001 Bonhams & Brooks merged with Phillips Son & Neale to form a new UK company trading as Bonhams. Phillips Son & Neale had been based in 101 New Bond Street, which subsequently became the new headquarters of Bonhams. The building consisted of seven different freeholds and had been described as “a Dickensian rabbit warren”. The first of the sites to be acquired was Blenstock House, a striking Art Deco building at the junction of Blenheim Street and Woodstock Street. Phillips took over the ground and lower ground floors in July 1939, gradually claiming more floors until the whole building was acquired in 1974. In the 1980s, 101 New Bond Street was added. An extensive renovation programme directed by Clare Agnew was undertaken when Bonhams moved into the premises.

Acquisition activity continued, and in 2002 Bonhams purchased Butterfields, a leading auction house on the West Coast founded in 1865. Bonhams changed Butterfields’ name to Bonhams & Butterfields, and Malcolm Barber, formerly of Brooks, became the chief executive officer of the American subsidiary. Bonhams remained the company’s brand name outside of the United States.

By the end of 2003 Bonhams was conducting more than 700 annual sales, had over 600 employees, and revenues of $304 million. The company’s worldwide network of sales included two major London venues, nine additional UK locations, and salerooms in Switzerland, Monaco, Germany, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sydney. Bonhams & Butterfields conducted its first East Coast sale in 2003 with an auction of Edwin C. Jameson’s collection of classic cars and antiques in Massachusetts.

During 2005, Bonhams continued to expand its presence in the USA and acquired a new saleroom on Madison Avenue in New York. The company also expanded further in Europe with the opening of the Paris office in June 2005.

In October 2005, Bonhams gained full independence after buying back a 49.9% stake held by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH.

In 2007 Bonhams opened an office in Dubai as part of a joint venture with the family of former Ambassador to the UK Mohammed Madhi Al Tajir. The first sale held in Dubai on 3rd March 2008 was of Modern & Contemporary Arab, Iranian, Indian & Pakistani Art, and achieved total sales of over US$13million – almost three times the expected amount.

Bonhams opened a new office in Hong Kong in 2007, to further support its expansion into the Asian market. The business in Hong Kong works with clients in mainland China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore.

In March 2008, Bonhams New York moved to new salerooms on the corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue - formerly the home of the respected Dahesh Museum of Art. The inaugural sale featured 20th century furniture and decorative arts.

By 2007 Bonhams sales totalled US $600million.

In 2009 Bonhams announced that it has taken market leadership in ten key areas of the UK art market for the first time. The company now dominates the following specialist areas in the UK: Antiquities, Arms & Armour, Design Prior to 1945, Ceramics, Clocks, Glass, Jewellery, Japanese Art, Miniatures and Watches. During 2009 these departments all sold more by value in the UK than any competing auction house.

With Christie’s, Bonhams is a shareholder in the London-based Art Loss Register, a privately-owned database used by law enforcement services worldwide to trace and recover stolen art.

Locations

Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries. Two major salerooms in London – New Bond Street and Knightsbridge, as well as a further four throughout the UK in Chester, Knowle, Edinburgh and Oxford, and nineteen regional offices. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston in the USA; and Switzerland, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Dubai.

Notable Auctions

• On 11th August 1836 Phillips, now owned by Bonhams, auctioned a large collection of furniture from Buckingham Palace including a magnificent glass dome, gothic lanterns and bergier chairs.
• A George Stubbs painting entitled ‘A dark bay thoroughbred in a landscape’ sold for £1,931,650 in Bonhams New Bond Street, London on 9 July 2003.
• Bonhams held a very successful British Airways Concorde sale on 1st December 2003 at which world record prices were achieved for fittings and fixtures from Concorde.
• On 14th July 2004 Bonhams sold a Roman glass cage cup which had formerly been in the British Rail Pension Fund for £2.6million.
• At the Goodwood Revival on 3 September 2004 Bonhams sold a 1929 Mercedes Benz Two-Seat Sports Tourer 36045 for £4,181,500.
• On 17th November 2004 Bonhams sold a magnificent 18 inch Ming dish from the Hongwu Period and set the American record for the sale of a piece of Ming Porcelain at auction.
• The bust of the Indian Prince and Sikh hero, Maharaja Duleep Singh, fashioned by British sculptor John Gibson almost 150 years ago, was sold for £1.7m at Bonhams on 19th April 2007.
• In May 2007 Bonhams launched a twice yearly South African Sale, becoming the first international auction house to hold a sale of South African art outside of the country.
• Bonhams held a special sale offering selected items from the renowned London store, Fortnum & Mason, on 26th September 2007. The sale raised funds to be reinvested in new acquisitions for the refurbished Fortnum & Mason premises in time for its 300th anniversary.
• In December 2007 Bonhams held an auction of selected contents from The Savoy Hotel, London. Three thousand items of furniture from the hotel were sold just days after the hotel closed for a £100 million refurbishment.
• Bonhams Dubai broke 33 world records with its inaugural Middle East Auction in March 2008. The sale witnessed the first Middle East artist to achieve an auction sale of over US$1 million with Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri’s stunning Swarovski crystals and glitter on canvas ‘Eshgh’ (Love) achieving US$1,048,000. Breaking the world record for an auctioned Pakistani work of art, Gulgee's 'Polo Player' sold for US$336,000 – more than four times the reserve.
• A dagger that once belonged to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal sold for £1,700,000 at Bonhams Indian and Islamic sale in London on 10th April 2008.
• An exceptional oil painting, The Sailboat, by the world’s most expensive female artist, Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962) sold for £1.7m at the Bonhams Russian Sale on 9 June 2008.
• Pianos belonging to Sir Elton John were auctioned in the Entertainment sale at Bonhams, Knightsbridge on Wednesday 18 June 2008.
• The contents Of Oscar Wilde’s favourite haunt - the iconic Café Royal – were sold on 20th January 2009 in a sale which achieved a total of £220,000.
• Bonhams sold a two-seater Vickers-Supermarine MkIX Spitfire aircraft for £1,739,500 on 20th April 2009 at the RAF Museum, Hendon, London.

Fact Box

Founded: 1793
Founders: Thomas Dodd and Walter Bonham
Headquarters: 101 New Bond Street, London W1S 1SR
Industry: Auctioneering
Products: Fine Arts, Cars
Key People:
Chairman, Robert Brooks
Vice Chairman New Bond Street, Chairman Asia, Colin Sheaf
Vice Chairman New Bond Street, Chairman Knightsbridge and Europe, Matthew Girling
Group Managing Director, Malcolm Barber
Employees: 700
Website: www.bonhams.com

External links

• Bonhams official website
• Bonhams Australian official website
• Bonhams US official website
• Bonhams Hongkong official website