One of the world’s oldest auction houses hailed an ‘extraordinary’ year as sales headed for £600million.
Bonhams (228 years) cashed in amid the boom demand for supercars and books as well as paintings, sculptures, and paintings.
In 2020, the number of auctioneers was 2.5 times greater than it was in 2020.
Masterpiece: Among the highlights of the year at Bonhams was the sale of Pablo Picasso’s 1937 portrait, Femme au Beret Mauve, which fetched £8m in New York in May
Among the highlights was the sale of Pablo Picasso’s 1937 portrait of his muse Marie-Therese, Femme au Beret Mauve, which fetched £8million in May.
The gun that killed Billy the Kid in August sold for £4.6million and a Chinese melon-shaped teapot for £2.1million.
And as crypto took off, Bonhams offered its first NFT – or non-fungible token.
In June it sold an abstract digital picture for £341,000, just months after artist Beeple sold a digital-only piece at rival Christie’s for £50million.
Bonhams’s Lucinda Bredin said: ‘What a year. Our business grew all around the globe. And let’s not forget NFTs: we sold Cristiano Ronaldo’s trading card and an NFT of Natalia Osipova’s legendary dance from Giselle.
‘This year will go down in history as the beginning of a new art form.’