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.
Newton travels to New York
05 April 2017Making its third saleroom appearance in 30-odd years, the portrait in oils of Isaac Newton shown here is one of at least a dozen made in his lifetime.
Finding out if small is beautiful
05 April 2017Exceptional items star as Bonhams’ oak sales face the challenge of reduced space and lots
Seven bestsellers from significant Scottish and Welsh house contents sales
30 March 2017Just like buses, you wait a long time and then three significant house contents sales turn up at once. This week saw the auction of items from the Scottish families the Forbes of Pitsligo and the Earls and Marquesses of Lothian at Sotheby’s. This was followed the next day at Bonhams by the sale of the contents of Lord Harlech's Welsh family home Glyn Cywarch in Gwynedd. A selection of the highlights are pictured here:
Bonhams’ double 0 heaven
25 March 2017A crease that runs around the lower part of the dust jacket detracts somewhat from the appeal of a first impression copy of the first of Ian Fleming’s Bond books, Casino Royale of 1953, but it sold for £16,000 in a March 1 sale held by Bonhams (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).
Healthy appetite for right Victorians
25 March 2017Rare painting by 19th century American artist achieves record price at Bonhams
Shark’s Italian takeaway
25 March 2017Possibly the first printed reference to a ‘Great White’ shark attack is found in a four-page pamphlet, printed in Naples in 1721, from which the woodcut shown here is taken.
Bidder goes wild about Wilde
25 March 2017Elizabeth Barrett Browning lots fall flat... but annotated Dorian Gray leaves treble the estimate
Statue of modern golf grip inventor comes up for auction at Bonhams in Los Angeles
23 March 2017A cold-painted bronze of amateur golfing champion John Laidlay is among the pieces appearing at Bonhams' upcoming auction in Los Angeles next week.
Rare first-hand account of the American revolutionary war takes record bid at Bonhams
23 March 2017Privately printed and distributed in Exeter in 1787, probably in quite small numbers, a copy of John Grave Simcoe’s ‘Journal of the Operations of the Queen’s Rangers, from the End of the Year 1777, to the Conclusion of the Late American War’ drew strong interest at a Bonhams New York sale earlier this month.
Bonhams brings best under one roof
18 March 2017Bonhams will conduct the first of a new format flagship sale next month.
Bonhams: gold box by Hancock
18 March 2017The engraved inscription to this gold box reads: A Common Council holden in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the City of London on Thursday the 7th day of April 1864 resolved that the honorary freedom of this city be presented to General Giuseppe Garibaldi on the occasion of his visit to this country as a tribute of respect to the most generous, brave and disinterested of patriots.
Banned and then burned – two early English satires bloom again at Bonhams’ sale
17 March 2017Bound together some 200 years ago, rare copies of two Elizabethan satires that were first condemned and then burned will be among the books offered by Bonhams at the Glyn Cywarch sale later this month.
James Bond 'Dr No' film posters produce auction double 0 heaven
15 March 2017Latest auction results in the film poster market show that for the right designs with a licence to thrill the buyers will follow.
Barn find unmoved for 30 years emerges for Lord Harlech sale at Bonhams
11 March 2017A 1936 Lagonda Rapier barn find will be among the lots at the Bonhams sale of the new Lord Harlech’s family collection.
Former dealer Ben Walker joins Bonhams as head of design in US
20 February 2017Bonhams has announced the appointment of Ben Walker as head of modern and decorative art and design in the US.
Flights of fantasy – Bonhams to offer collection dedicated to airborne experiments
15 February 2017A French collection comprising 70-lots documenting historical attempts at achieving flight will be offered at Bonhams on March 1.
Example of the first book printed in Antarctica sells for £55,000
03 February 2017A rare copy of the first book printed in Antarctica has sold for £55,000 at Bonhams.
Lord Harlech's Kennedy letters and a painting by Queen Elizabeth I’s portraitist go to auction
01 February 2017Intimate letters from a recently widowed Jackie Kennedy and a painting by Queen Elizabeth I’s portraitist are among the lots being auctioned from Lord Harlech’s estate. After inheriting Glyn Cywarch, the family house and grounds in Talsarnau, Gwynedd in Wales on the death of his father in February, Jasset Ormsby Gore, now the seventh Lord Harlech, decided to put his film production career on hold to focus on the estate. To fund the upkeep of the Grade II-listed property he made the decision to auction off 400 lots at Bonhams on March 29.
Hendrix guitar leads Bonhams London memorabilia auction
04 January 2017Guitars owned by music legends Jimi Hendrix and Prince were the stars of Bonhams December 15 Entertainment Memorabilia auction in London.
Review of the Year 2016 - Picks of the Year
29 December 2016Here are five of ATG's ‘best of the best’ picks of the week from 2016 – all remarkable both for their price and the stories they tell.
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