Arts & Culture
Bonhams A Fine Art
With the January sales in full swing we’re on the look out for a bargain. Tat’s why we’ve enlisted fine art auctioneers and valuers Bonhams
proved that there is still huge demand for art and antiques in spite of the recession. Julian Roup, press and marketing director at Bonhams, explains why… ‘Te auction world is not, of course, recession
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proof but the demand for high quality art and antiques has held up well over the past four years,’ says Roup. ‘Good quality works, fresh to the market and with excellent provenance will always attract interest from collectors who do not want to miss out on the chance to acquire something which may never be available again in their lifetimes.’ Tis was no more evident than in June where
Bonhams broke several world records at its Goodwood Festival of Speed sale. In addition to selling a ‘Birkin’ Bentley for £5 million, making it the most expensive British car ever sold at auction, a ‘Corgi’ Rolls-Royce also sold for a record £4.7 million.
ith another record-breaking year of sales, Bonhams, one of the world’s largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques, has
Roup says: ‘We have seen phenomenal prices paid not just in London but also in the USA and Hong Kong. Last year alone, for example, we sold a famille rose vase for £9 million in our Bond Street sale rooms and set a world record for a Chinese snuff bottle of more than HK$ 25 million in a sell out sale. ‘Tere is a discernible hunger in emerging
economies to repatriate important works of art that left the country in earlier times and this has certainly helped drive the Chinese phenomenon as it did in Russia 10 years ago.’ He adds: ‘Collectors are driven by passion so the most important thing is to find something that really interests you and then to buy the best you can afford. Do your homework. Read as much as you can about your chosen field. Talk to specialists and other collectors – most of them will be generous with their knowledge and be only too willing to help a genuine fellow enthusiast. Go to fairs and exhibitions and attend auctions even if you are not intending to buy so that you can get a feel for prices and how the process works. Above all do not buy
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simply to invest. Fashions come and go and so do values so buy with the heart.’ Tanks to the merger of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale in 2001 and the
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