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.


13-07-31-2101LS01A knibb clock.jpg

Early Knibb discovery puts Golden Age clocks at the top of the league

31 July 2013

While there were plenty of high-end clocks on offer in the London auction rooms and fairs over the summer season, Bonhams were the only house to offer dedicated clock sales.

13-07-01-2098NE02A Fred Williams Bonhams.jpg

Grundy collection sets Australian record for single-owner sale

01 July 2013

Fred Williams’ ‘You Yangs Landscape 1’ of 1963 made the highest price of the 89-lot sale of Australian art from the Reg Grundy and Joy Chambers-Grundy collection when it sold for Aus$1.9m (£1.2m).

13-06-25-2097NE05A Napoleon Bonhams.jpg

Cast of Napoleon’s death mask takes £140,000

25 June 2013

He may have conquered much of Europe, but time waits for no man, as Napoleon found out on May 5, 1821.

13-06-17-2096NE05A Mercedes-Benz fangio.jpg

Fangio racer leads Goodwood sale

17 June 2013

What must be one of the most iconic racing cars ever to come up for sale will be offered by Bonhams at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 12.

13-06-03-2094LS03A cameo plaque.jpg

Woodall plaque makes new high for English cameo glass

03 June 2013

This tour de force of the Victorian glass craftsman’s art was the highlight of Bonhams’ mixed-owner British and European glass sale.

13-05-31-2094NE04X lowry regatta.jpg

Regatta drawing sails to new high for Lowry work on paper

31 May 2013

A pencil drawing by LS Lowry (1887-1976) set an auction record for a work on paper by the artist this week, selling for £175,000.

13-05-07-2090NE07A English cameo glass.jpg

Ceramics and glass feast for London rooms

07 May 2013

Last week was a busy one for glass and ceramics in the London rooms with five auctions taking place over the space of 48 hours and some bullish prices for top pieces.

13-04-05-2086AM05A Nevinson print.jpg

Modern British prints take centre stage

05 April 2013

People sipping wine may be a slightly less familiar subject for Nevinson, but a copy of the print 'Sur La Terrasse, Parnasse' will appear at Bonhams sale of Grosvenor School and Avant Garde British Printmaking in New Bond Street on April 16.

Chinese Girl.jpg

Chinese Girl sale sets world record for Tretchikoff

21 March 2013

Chinese Girl – the iconic work from Vladimir Tretchikoff, the Russian émigré who settled in South Africa – was sold this week at Bonhams’ South African art sale in London for £840,000, to set a world record for the artist.

Bonhams hold firm on premium

11 March 2013

Bonhams have announced that they will not be following Christie’s and Sotheby’s in raising buyer’s premium thresholds.

A real case of cash in the attic

18 February 2013

It’s usually the stuff of fairy tales, but a collection of $20 gold coins and medals valued at around $1m for sale at Bonhams in Los Angeles in June is real enough.

Rare draft of Betjeman poem for sale

28 January 2013

The handwritten draft of one of John Betjeman’s best-known poems, ‘The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel’, is just one of the gems in the next tranche of the Roy Davids Collection to appear at Bonhams Bond Street.

2073AM03A-13-01-11.jpg

Burne-Jones at Bonhams

11 January 2013

Six pencil studies for The Days of Creation by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-98) carry an estimate of £150,000-250,000 at Bonhams’ 19th century art sale in New Bond Street on January 23.

2081LS01A-15-12-12.jpg

George Harrison’s jacket tops The Beatles lots at Bonhams

15 December 2012

When it comes to rock and pop memorabilia, and The Beatles in particular, if the provenance is not only right but of the first magnitude, prices can soar.

2069NE03A-12-12-03.jpg

Rarities reinforce Leica as the world's most sought-after camera

03 December 2012

Leica cameras proved one of the must-have auction prizes in recent sales with record prices at Westlicht in Vienna and Bonhams Hong Kong.

2069NE04A-12-11-30.jpg

Bullish spending at Russian art sales as Coachman delivers £3.9m

30 November 2012

With London now accustomed to high levels of spending by private Russian buyers, the latest auctions in this sector once again produced some eye-catching prices for particular lots.

2066PV01C-12-11-16.jpg

From the tavern to the saleroom: pewter in Chester

16 November 2012

Bonhams’ Chester rooms will offer the Michael Boorer Pewter Collection on November 22, providing an opportunity for pewter collectors to bid for items used in pubs 300 to 400 years ago.

2065NE03A-12-11-05.jpg

Hurricane returns to its spiritual home for sale

05 November 2012

Bonhams’ December 3 sale at Brooklands will bring a powerful symbol of the Battle of Britain back to its spiritual home.

2061PV02A-12-10-05.jpg

Carter tiles ready to be snapped up

05 October 2012

Recently rescued from Kent & Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, a selection of 13 Carter tiles attributed to Phyllis Butler are to be offered at Bonhams Knightsbridge on October 16.

2060LS02D-12-10-05.jpg

An ´ancient´ reappraisal as gems emerge at Bond Street sale

05 October 2012

A collection of 27 intaglios from the collection of Prince Stanislas Poniatowski (1754-1833), nephew of the last King of Poland, came to auction in London last month with a intriguing back-story.

News

Categories