united kingdom 1793 founders thomas dodd and walter bonham headquarters 101 new bond street london united kingdom number of locations 66 locations worldwide as of 2012 key people robert brooks chairman malcolm barber group ceo matthew girling ceo uk liz collins cfo shahin virani coo products fine arts pictures collectables and motor cars number of employees 832 2012 divisions bonhams london bonhams paris bonhams new york bonhams san francisco bonhams los angeles bonhams hong kong bonhams sydney website bonhams.com bonhams is a privately owned british auction house and one of the world s oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques . it was formed by the merger in november 2001 of bonhams & brooks and phillips son & neale . this brought together two of the four surviving georgian auction houses in london bonhams having been founded in 1793 and phillips in 1796 by harry phillips formerly a senior clerk to james christie . today the amalgamated business handles art and antiques auctions . it operates two salerooms in london the former phillips sale room at 101 new bond street and the old bonham s sale room at the montpelier galleries in montpelier street knightsbridge with smaller regional sale rooms in edinburgh and oxford . sales are also held around the world in new york hong kong los angeles paris san francisco sydney and singapore . 1 contents 1 history 2 locations 3 notable auctions 4 further reading 5 references 6 external links history edit bonhams was set up in 1793 when thomas dodd an 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 wine . after returning from the war in the early 1950s leonard bonham purchased some land in knightsbridge and erected a saleroom on montpelier street . the first sale was held in june 1956 . 2 in 2000 bonhams became bonhams & brooks when it was acquired by brooks auction house . 3 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 . 4 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 . 5 the first of the sites to be acquired was blenstock house an art deco building at the junction of blenheim street and woodstock street eventually acquiring the complete building in 1974 . acquisition activity continued and in 2002 bonhams purchased butterfields a leading auction house on the west coast founded in 1865 . 6 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 . 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 until 2014 singapore . a new sale room launch in singapore was announced in april 2014 . 7 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. 8 the inaugural sale featured 20th century furniture and decorative arts . by 2007 bonhams sales totalled us 600 million . 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. 9 locations edit bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries . it has four sale rooms in the uk ; two major sales rooms in london new bond street and knightsbridge as well as two regional sale rooms located at edinburgh and oxford . there are nineteen regional offices around the uk that perform valuations and consignments . elsewhere in europe the paris office holds regular auctions within the city . in the usa sales are held in san francisco los angeles and new york . in asia pacific there are two sale rooms in hong kong and sydney ; and a sale room in singapore was announced in april 2014 . the 101 new bond street saleroom was redesigned by architects lifschutz davidson sandilands to create three new salerooms and offices for the organisation . notable auctions edit on 11 august 1836 phillips now owned by bonhams auctioned a large collection of furniture from buckingham palace . 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 british airways concorde sale on 1 december 2003 at which world record prices were achieved for fittings and fixtures from concorde . on 14 july 2004 bonhams sold a roman glass cage cup which had formerly been in the british rail pension fund for 2.6 million . at the goodwood revival on 3 september 2004 bonhams sold a 1929 mercedes benz two seat sports tourer 36045 for 4 181 500 . on 17 november 2004 bonhams sold an 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 was sold for 1.7 m at bonhams on 19 april 2007 . in december 2007 bonhams held an auction of selected contents from the savoy hotel london . 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 10 april 2008 . an oil painting the sailboat by the world s most expensive female artist natalia goncharova 1881 1962 sold for 1.7 m 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 18 june 2008 . bonhams sold a two seater vickers supermarine mkix spitfire aircraft for 1 739 500 on 20 april 2008 at the raf museum hendon london . the contents of oscar wilde s favourite haunt the iconic caf royal were sold on 20 january 2009 in a sale which achieved a total of 220 000 . an edvard munch 1863 1944 norwegian madonna a very rare hand coloured print sold at new bond st in july 2010 for 1.25 m a turquoise imperial chinese vase decorated with chrysanthemums sold in new bond street on 10th november 2011 for 9 001 250 . a previously unknown velazquez discovered by bonhams the 99th velazquez an oil of a middle aged man sold for 3m on december 7th 2011 . the portrait of fran ois henri d harcourt sold for 17 106 500 on december 5 2013 setting a world record price for the artist at auction . at the bonhams july 2013 goodwood festival of speed sale the car that took five time champion juan manuel fangio to the second of his formula 1 world titles achieved a record breaking figure of 19 601 500 us 29 650 095 22 701 864 . thursday 14 august 2014 the 1962 ferrari 250 gto berlinetta became the most valuable car in history to be sold at auction when it realised 38 115 000 22 843 633 or 28 528 626 at bonhams quail lodge auction in carmel california . on 16 december 2015 the 2 000 000th land rover defender s90 hue sold for 400 000 548 000 600 000 at a special auction on bond street . proceeds went to charity the born free foundation and the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies ifrc . further reading edit darwent charles bonhams breaks with tradition management today july 1997 p. 56 . meyers laura bonhams goes global art business news january 2004 p. 42 . moeran brian jousting at bonhams london ceramics monthly january 1990 p. 18 . stanbridge philip a hot london summer ceramics monthly october 1991 p. 28 . windsor john stop press art market says size does matter independent 8 may 1993 p. 34 . references edit shetty deepika . auction house bonhams opens singapore office . the straits times . retrieved 8 april 2014 . cooper jeremy 1977 . under the hammer the auctions and auctioneers of london . london constable and company limited . p. 135 . london auction houses join to become more competitive . daily mail . 13 september 2000 . menon jon 8 july 2001 . french tycoon proposes merger of two auction houses . sunday business . callanan neil . bonhams auction house gets approval for new london headquarters . bloomberg l.p. retrieved 9 april 2014 . kopytoff verne 1 august 2002 . ebay s offline plan fails butterfields sold . san francisco chronicle . shetty deepika . auction house bonhams opens singapore office . the straits times . retrieved 8 april 2014 . grant daniel . auction house expansions underscore art market rebound . artnews . retrieved 2010 09 21 . the art loss register . external links edit bonhams official website bonhams 101 new bond street bonhams hong kong authority control worldcat identities viaf 168584150 gnd 5568592 4 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bonhams & oldid 710023553 categories london auction housescompanies established in 1793auction houses based in new york city1793 establishments in englandhidden categories use dmy dates from june 2013pages using infobox company with unsupported parameterswikipedia articles with viaf identifierswikipedia articles with gnd identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged 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