Phillips de Pury & Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Jewellery. Phillips also handles private treaty sales and art advisory services including building private collections.
The company originated as the London auction house of Phillips, founded in London by Harry Phillips, a young entrepreneur. In 1796 he opened his own auction house after resigning as the senior clerk to James Christie. During his first year of business, Phillips conducted 12 auctions. Success came quickly. Soon, the business was conducting sales for all the famous and distinguished people of the day including Marie Antoinette, Beau Brummel and Napoleon.
To win clients Phillips combined business acumen with a flair for showmanship, introducing new ways to promote his sales such as elaborate evening receptions before important auctions - an essential part of the auction business today. Phillips quickly gained the confidence of the British aristocracy, and remains the only auction house ever to have held a sale inside Buckingham Palace.
When he died in 1840, Harry Phillips passed on a strong and successful business to his son, William Augustus. In 1879, William changed the firm's name to "Messrs Phillips & Son." In 1882 this in turn became "Phillips, Son & Neale" when he brought his son-in-law, Frederick, into the business, and that name continued until the 1970s when the firm returned to "Phillips."
From 1999 to 2003 Phillips was owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. In 2001 Bonhams bought the UK operations of Phillips and rebranded them under the Bonhams name. Other branches of the firm were acquired by the international art experts, Simon de Pury and Daniella Luxembourg, and continued under the name Phillips de Pury & Company. In March 2004, the Chairman, Simon de Pury, acquired majority control of the firm.
In 2006 the company re-established its position as a London auctioneer with a contemporary art sale.
