Bonhams

A COLLECTION of gold boxes that hadn’t seen the light of day for 200 years, a charming collection of novelty silver animals, a good quality spoon collection and plenty else in between all contributed to the highest total ever seen for a silver sale at Bonhams Bond Street on July 2.

THEY say everyone has a doppelganger. For Elvis Presley it seems his lookalike was an inhabitant of ancient Rome. This Roman marble acroterion – a 13in (33cm) high carved head from a sarcophagus corner dating from the 2nd century AD – does bear a remarkable likeness to the King in his Las Vegas period.

If Bonhams' July 2 sale of 20th century British art is anything to go by, demand for the humorous art of Beryl Cook (1926-2008) has strengthened since she died in May.

An entire day was devoted to glass by Bonhams earlier this month as they offered just shy of 500 lots of English and Continental glass in their Bond Street rooms.

AN influx of Russian buyers was in town last week to flex their wallets and work their way through a week-long series of Russian sales in four London rooms. On offer was a rich mix of paintings, Fabergé, arms and armour, porcelain, metalware and anything else the auction houses thought might tempt the Russian palate.

Building work is now underway at 22 Queen Street, Edinburgh, the site of Bonhams’ new Scottish headquarters. The first auction at the new premises will be The Scottish Sale – the annual themed event timed to coincide with the Edinburgh International Festival – on August 27-29.

ESTATE Agents Humberts’ withdrawal from the fine art and antique auctions market has led to new intiatives elsewhere.

BONHAMS have expanded their Australian operations by buying Melbourne auction house Leonard Joel.

All eyes were on this 3ft 3in (99cm) high Roman marble double bust of Bacchus and his lover Ariadne at Bonhams Antiquities sale on May 1.

READERS who watched the recent BBC drama Miss Austen Regrets will recall the scene in which a startled, bemused but not overly enthusiastic Jane is told by the Prince Regent’s librarian that his royal master is a great admirer and that she should feel quite at liberty to dedicate any new novel to the Prince.

London’s latest series of Islamic auctions, held from April 7-11, produced a series of record-breaking statistics. The result of the week came at Sotheby’s on April 9 when a 14 1/2in (37cm) long iron and copper key to the ka’ba, the holiest place in the Islamic world, sold for £8.2m, establishing a new auction high for any Islamic work of art.

Bonhams staged their first auction in France on February 9 with a sale of vintage automobiles at the Retromobile car fair in Paris.

Bonhams have announced the location of two major new salerooms – in Edinburgh and New York.

Having dramatically grown the auction market for Banksy at their mixed media Vision 21 sales, Bonhams are embarking on a new venture – a dedicated sale of Urban Art.

‘Best ever’ year with $600m global sales

The emergence of a significant new discovery is a guaranteed crowd-puller in any sector of the art and antiques market.

Bonhams are being sued in a case that could have a significant impact on contracts between vendors and auction houses.

THE British Museum were credited with uncovering the fraud that led to the jailing of serial faker Shaun Greenhalgh two weeks ago, while auction houses and the trade were criticised for selling his work.

It was a headline writer’s dream: an 80-year-old William Crawford & Sons biscuit tin still with its original contents intact sold at auction for a massive £13,000 (plus 20 per cent buyer’s premium). Crumbs! Cookie tin brings a lot of dough (Reuters) was just one of a number of groaning puns.

Bonhams have announced the appointment of a new managing director of Scotland and confirmed that new premises have been found in Edinburgh.