Bonhams

Bonhams is an auction house with headquarters in the UK. It operates two London salerooms as well as others in Edinburgh, New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. 

In 2000, Bonhams was merged with Brooks, a specialist Classic Car auctioneer, and Phillips Son & Neale not long after. US auctioneers Butterfields joined the group in 2002.

In September 2018, chairman Robert Brooks stepped down after selling the company to private equity group Epiris. In 2022, the firm went on a buying spree purchasing US auction house Skinner, Swedish saleroom Bukowskis, Danish saleroom Bruun Rasmussen and then French outfit Cornette de Saint Cyr.


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Market undulations for English delft and Staffordshire highlighted at Pelham Olive auction

25 February 2019

Pictured here are three pieces from the Pelham Olive collection sold by Bonhams on January 31. Two are early English delft and are prize examples because they are inscribed and dated. The third is an example of Staffordshire slipware.

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Vases dominate at Bonhams' single owner sale of Lalique glass

22 February 2019

An Alicante jade green vase was the top lot at a single-owner sale of René Lalique glass at Bonhams Knightsbridge. It sold for £35,000 (£43,750 inc 25% buyer’s premium).

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Hammer highlights: 11 coins and medals that struck gold in 2018

18 February 2019

ATG’s selection of 11 coins and medals lots that were among the highlights sold at UK auctions in 2018.

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Car badges and mascots: the world of automobilia at auction

13 February 2019

Every collecting field starts out with a broad umbrella title: classic cars, for instance. Easy. However, as you descend through the levels it not only drops into sub-sections, but veers off to the side, so you also get automobilia, the ephemera surrounding those cars.

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Pick of the week: Sledge from Shackleton's Antarctic expedition takes £115,000 at Bonhams

11 February 2019

A sledge from the first expedition to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton sold for £115,000 in Bonhams’ Travel and Exploration sale on February 6.

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Lalique love affair: Large glass collection first took off with a sparrow paperweight

11 February 2019

Group amassed over 20 years now going under the hammer at Bonhams is attracting worldwide interest from would-be bidders.

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Previews: £30,000 plus

11 February 2019

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

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Bonhams director of jewellery predicts continued growth in emerald prices

11 February 2019

Jean Ghika, global director of jewellery at Bonhams, closed out 2018 on a positive note.

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What lots caught bidders’ eyes in the last week? Five auction highlights including a Persian landscape and a mother-of-pearl casket

08 February 2019

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week also include a German Neo-Expressionist painting and a set of Victorian photogenic drawings.

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Five top pieces of Lalique glass at Bonhams’ auction of the John Nemeth collection

05 February 2019

Bonhams is offering a single-owner collection of René Lalique glass in its Knightsbridge rooms on February 20.

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English delftware tankard raises toast to the Pelham Olive collection at Bonhams

04 February 2019

Among the best performers at the Olive collection of early British ceramics, metalwork, furniture and treen sold at Bonhams on January 31 was this large English delftware tankard.

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Arms and armour: Prized pistols tempt collectors at auction

28 January 2019

Pistols remain one of the most popular of all categories among gun collectors and the winter sales in London proved a bumper season for handguns, from the earliest wheel-locks of the late 16th century to the semi-automatics which ushered in the modern age at the end of the 19th century.

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£30,000 plus

28 January 2019

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

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Excellent English examples of pistols trigger bidding

28 January 2019

The Thomas Del Mar (24% buyer’s premium) sale in London on December 5 included several excellent pairs of English pistols.

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Seven fabulous gadgets and machines to buy at auction

25 January 2019

Contraptions from the past can be fascinating, whether designed to save time or entertain.

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Bonhams focuses on contemporary and online with new hires

21 January 2019

Bonhams has made a trio of hires as contemporary art and digital growth become a focus for the auction house following the purchase by private equity group Epiris in September.

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Movers and shakers: the latest arts and antiques appointments including at Bonhams in London and at Christie’s France

15 January 2019

A trio of hires for Bonhams as contemporary art and digital growth become a focus for the auction house following the purchase by private equity group Epiris in September 2018.

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Ashendene Press book bound for WH Smith sells at Bonhams

14 January 2019

'A Book of Songs and Poems from the Old Testament and the Apocrypha', the Ashendene Press book of 1904 shown below, has in the past made as much as £2000 at auction.

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Antique dealer's son to auction extensive collection of oak furniture and delftware at Bonhams

09 January 2019

A fine collection of antique oak furniture, treen and delftware owned by Pelham Olive, the son of dealer and co-founder of the Regional Furniture Society Gabriel Olive, is to be sold at Bonhams.

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Eloise rescued from the garbage

07 January 2019

Painted as a birthday gift, a portrait of one of the more popular characters in the annals of American children’s literature, Eloise, sold for $80,000 (£62,675) at Bonhams New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on December 5.

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