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.


Singleton Painting Tipu Sultan Sons

Record price for Singleton as painting of the surrender of Seringapatam makes £1.7m

30 May 2025

A painting by Henry Singleton (1766-1839) depicting the surrender of Tipu Sultan’s two sons to Major General David Baird (1757-1829) made five times its estimate at Bonhams.

Speedway

Artwork recovered after theft 30 years ago in Canada

28 May 2025

A 1930s linocut by British-Canadian artist Sybil Andrews has been recovered after being stolen more than 30 years ago.

Laura Warrilow

The latest Movers & Shakers including the return of head of watches at Fellows

23 May 2025

The latest jobs moves and appointments across the world of art and antiques

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Treasures from a ‘miniature V&A’ family home crammed full with art and antiques

12 May 2025

Graham Slater’s collection that packed a Cambridge house provided 670 lots over two auctions

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Oscar winners: how Wilde's works have become highly sought after by collectors

12 May 2025

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about,” Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray - a prescient observation that has proven remarkably true.

V2 rocket launch

Photograph of first V2 space rocket shoots past estimate in NASA photograph sale

01 May 2025

A collection of early NASA photographs from the collection of space historian Victor Martin-Malburet appeared at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris in an online sale running from April 14-28.

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Arms and armour specialist David Williams joins Olympia Auctions

28 April 2025

Veteran antique arms and armour specialist David Williams is joining the Olympia Auctions team as senior consultant.

John Frederick Lewis watercolour

‘Jewel-like’ Harem scene by John Frederick Lewis adds allure to Bonhams sale

25 April 2025

A market-fresh Orientalist scene by John Frederick Lewis (1804-76), unseen in public for a generation, led the latest sale of 19th Century and British Impressionist Art at Bonhams.

Japanese Art Bonhams 2690NE

Bonhams’ Japanese art sales moved out of London

21 April 2025

In a loss to the sector, Bonhams has shelved its sales of Japanese works of art in London. Specialist Suzannah Yip, who had led Bonhams’ department for 18 years, has left the company after a decision was taken to move operations to Paris.

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Nature abhors a vacuum but Nollet’s audiences loved them

21 April 2025

Among the more extraordinary forms of French furniture is the ‘machine pneumatique’ – a device used in the Age of Enlightenment to demonstrate the mysterious properties of the vacuum or ‘the energy of the nothingness’.

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Ithell Colquhoun firmly in the market spotlight

21 April 2025

Seven works by Ithell Colquhoun (1906-88) lead Bonhams’ inaugural British Surrealism sale running until May 1.

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Bible from a remarkable charity consignment leads an eclectic selection

21 April 2025

Oxfam discoveries from a pile of donations include Chinese religious rarity, Communist manifesto and Dickens

Jackie Kennedy sketch

Jackie Kennedy sketch flies over estimate at Bonhams

16 April 2025

An original artwork by Jackie Kennedy (1929-1994) created just one month before the assassination of her husband, US President John F Kennedy, drew strong demand at a recent Bonhams sale.

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English delft features in Slater collection sale

07 April 2025

Graham Slater (1927-2024) was fascinated by relics of Stuart and Georgian Britain. His wife Rosemary shared his passions, including his love of mudlarking, exploring the banks of the Thames for fragments washed up by each new tide.

First Chinese version of the bible

First Chinese version of bible makes over 60 times estimate at Bonhams

25 March 2025

The book was consigned by Oxfam in a timed sale at the London auction house

Embroidered gauntlet gloves

A gift of the king: Civil War gauntlet gloves quadruple estimate at Bonhams

20 March 2025

The timed online sale of Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams Knightsbridge that closed on March 20 included a pair of 17th century embroidered gauntlet gloves that reference one of the most famous – and most romanticised – moments of the Civil War.

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Martin Brothers group set for sale in Sydney

17 March 2025

The Cheong family collection of Martin Brothers comes for sale at Bonhams in Sydney on March 27.

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Julia Margaret Cameron’s Tennyson connections

17 March 2025

Julia Margaret Cameron was a neighbour and close friend of Alfred Tennyson on the Isle of Wight.

British government dispatch box

Dispatch box involved in end of British Empire appears at Bonhams

14 March 2025

A British government red leather dispatch case belonging to the minister of state for colonial affairs achieved an above estimate price at a recent Bonhams’ timed sale.

Bonhams Great Bustard

Picture of bird extinct in Britain hammers down at Bonhams

14 March 2025

In a rare double sighting of the great bustard – a bird extinct in Britain – a picture and taxidermy are offered at auction

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