Auction Houses - Auction Web

Major auction houses include Christie's, Sotheby's, Lyon & Turnbull, and Bonhams. The Stockholms Auktionsverk, the world's oldest auction house, was established in 1674 in Sweden:

Stockholms Auktionsverk

Stockholms Auktionsverk is the world's oldest auction house. It was established in 1674 in Sweden. Stockholms Auktionsverk has over 75 auction days a year with more than 60,000 lots to choose from. As a buyer you can find what you are seeking among the furniture, rugs, carpets, glass, porcelain, jewelry, painting, graphics and many other items that are on view. The company has been active since 1674 and is today the world's oldest auction house. The art forms that are called Baroque, Rococo and Gustavian were all sold here during their own time.

If you are a seller you should know that your items are being sold at Sweden's largest marketplace for art and antiques. Circa 30,000 visitors is coming to each of their exhibitions. The odds for a good hammer price on your object is very high. Their sales and purchase conditions have been the standard in the whole auction business and their client services are well know nationally and internationally to always be on the side of the bidders and no one else's. These business ethics lend their clients security.

Christie's

Christie's is a leading art business and a fine arts auction house. There is speculation as to when Christie's was founded. The official company literature states that Christie's was founded in London, England on 5 December 1766 by James Christie, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766. However, other sources note that James Christie rented auction rooms from 1762, and newspaper advertisements of Christie's sales dating from 1759 have also been traced.

Sotheby's

Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) is the world's oldest international auction house in continuous operation. Its predecessor, Baker's, was founded in London, England on 11 March 1744 when Samuel Baker presided over the disposal of "several hundred scarce and valuable" books from the library of a certain Rt. Hon. Sir John Stanley. This disposal however was not by means of auction and as Frank Herrmann and Brian Learmount observe, the business did not seek to auction fine arts in general until much later, their first major success in this field being the sale of a Frans Hals painting for 9 thousand guineas as late as 1913.

Lyon & Turnbull

Lyon & Turnbull is a privately owned international auction house based in Scotland. Founded in 1826, it is Scotland's oldest auction house; the largest independent auction house in the United Kingdom outside of London and the fastest growing auction house in the UK. The firm has its salerooms in Edinburgh and offices in London Pall Mall, and Glasgow.

Bonhams

Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year. The firm has London salerooms in New Bond Street and Knightsbridge. It operates in the USA as Bonhams & Butterfields and in Australia as Bonhams & Goodmans. In 1999, as Bonhams did not have a motor car department, they merged with specialist auctioneer Brooks.

Phillips de Pury & Company

Phillips, de Pury & Company is an auction house and art dealership, with offices in New York, London, Geneva, Berlin, Brussels, Los Angeles, Milan, Munich and Paris. Phillips conducts auctions in New York, London and Geneva in the areas of Contemporary Art, Photography, 20-21st Century Design, Art and jewelry. Phillips also handles private treaty sales and art advisory services including building private collections.

Butterfield & Butterfield

Butterfield and Butterfield was a large American auction house, founded in 1865 by William Butterfield in San Francisco. It was purchased in 1999 by online auctioneer eBay for $260 million. In 2002 it was acquired from eBay by British auctioneer Bonhams and now operates under the name Bonhams and Butterfields.