Bonhams New Bond Street headquarters.
Bonhams’ buying spree began when it purchased Scandinavian firm Bukowskis in January, followed by US auction house Skinner and Danish saleroom Bruun Rasmussen in March. The firm then acquired French outfit Cornette de Saint Cyr in June.
The full year results are the total sales figures for Bonhams and its network across art, collectables, luxury items and cars. It represents a 27% year-on-year increase from the $816m posted the previous year.
Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips reported results in December. Christie’s announced sales of $8.4bn for fine art and luxury items; Sotheby’s reported total sales of $8bn including cars, real estate, art and luxury items; while Phillips total sales were $1.3bn.
Global presence
Bonhams now has 14 salerooms around the world, with 34 offices and more than 60 departments.
During the year it held a total of 710 auctions with 385 of these online-only. It said 91% of lots sold through online channels, accounting for 44% of the value of total lots sold.
North America and Continental Europe had the highest turnover during the year, both accounting for 33% each of the total, while the UK stood at 19% and Asia-Pacific at 16%.
Among Bonhams’ stand-out sales of 2022 was this Yangcai painted ‘Imperial poems and landscapes’ incised celadon-ground lobed oval vase. It sold for a premium-inclusive HK$32.25m (£3.5m) at the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale in Hong Kong on May 29.
The auction house said new buyer registrations were up by 57% during the year, almost four times the pre-pandemic level. In 2022, 52% of buyers at Bonhams bought from the auction house for the first time.
Among the top lots of the year for Bonhams was this La femme en rouge au fond bleu by Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943) which sold for a premium-inclusive £1.8m at its Expressionism: Germany, Austria and Beyond sale in London on November 16, 2022.
It sold a total of 33 lots above the $1m mark (when including premium) during the year and three of its top 10 lots were cars.
Bruno Vinciguerra, global CEO for Bonhams, said: “This has been an extraordinary year. It is the largest turnover Bonhams has achieved in its history. We saw particular growth in our digital activity.”
Also among Bonhams stand out sales of 2022 was this Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) Bodhisattva which sold for a premium-inclusive €3.3m (£2.9m) at The Robert and Jean-Pierre Rousset Collection of Asian Art sale at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris on October 25, 2022.
