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. It has 700 employees.
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, it merged with specialist auctioneer Brooks.[1]
In 2001 Bonhams took over and rebranded the UK operations of auctioneer Phillips — the remains of that company now operates as Phillips de Pury & Company, mainly in the USA.
In 2002, Bonhams acquired the American auction house Butterfield & Butterfield, and now operates in the US under the name "Bonhams & Butterfields".
In October 2005, Bonhams gained full independence after buying back a 49.9% stake held by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. It is a privately owned company.
With Christie's, Bonhams is a shareholder in the London-based Art Loss Register, a privately-owned database used by law enforcement services worldwide to trace and recover stolen art.[2]