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107-511: Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought together two of the four surviving Georgian auction houses in London, Bonhams having been founded in 1793, and Phillips in 1796 by Harry Phillips, formerly

214-458: A family home being sold by the heirs). However, more recently, selling at auction has become an alternative to a normal property sale, due to the speedy nature of the entire process. In China, land auctions are under the sole control of local government officials. Because some developers may use bribes to please government officials to obtain the right to purchase the land, the central government requires that future land auctions be conducted using

321-510: A footrace , were used instead of the expiration of a candle. This type of auction was first mentioned in 1641 in the records of the House of Lords. The practice rapidly became popular, and in 1660 Samuel Pepys ' diary recorded two occasions when the Admiralty sold surplus ships "by an inch of candle". Pepys also relates a hint from a highly successful bidder who had observed that, just before expiring,

428-406: A spectrum auction in order to prevent the spread of corruption. Although this method cannot completely solve the problem of corruption, it is still a significant contribution to the auction. A government auction is simply an auction held on behalf of a government body generally at a general sale. Items for sale are often surplus needed to be liquidated. Auctions ordered by estate executors enter

535-599: A 16,000 ft two-storey penthouse in One Hyde Park sold for £140 million. Land in Knightsbridge is for the most part identified by City of Westminster (and by the RBKC , where former Brompton parts are included) as strengthened planning law -governed Conservation Areas : 'Albert Gate', 'Belgravia', 'Knightsbridge' and 'Knightsbridge Green'. Properties must be offered here by developers as refurbished flats or houses meeting

642-576: A 94-year lease. Fourteen of Britain's two hundred most expensive streets are in the neighbourhood, as defined by The Times . In February 2007, the world's most expensive apartment at One Hyde Park , sold off plan for £100 million, bought by a Qatari prince, and another apartment at the same place in February 2009, at almost the same price, was bought by a Qatari prince. Apartments of this secure, optimum specification, address equate to in excess of £4,000 per square foot (£43,000 per square metre). In 2014,

749-484: A bidder can specify that they will pay for items A and B, but only if they get both . In combinatorial auctions, determining the winning bidder(s) can be a complex process where even the bidder with the highest individual bid is not guaranteed to win. For example, in an auction with four items (W, X, Y and Z), if Bidder A offers $ 50 for items W & Y, Bidder B offers $ 30 for items W & X, Bidder C offers $ 5 for items X & Z and Bidder D offers $ 30 for items Y & Z,

856-416: A bidding sheet often left on a table near the item. At charity auctions, bid sheets usually have a fixed starting amount, predetermined bid increments, and a "guaranteed bid" amount which works the same as a "buy now" amount. Other variations of this type of auction may include sealed bids. The highest bidder pays the price they submitted. In private value auctions , every bidder has their own valuation of

963-553: A brief civil war. Didius was beheaded two months later when Septimius Severus conquered Rome. From the end of the Roman Empire to the 18th century, auctions lost favor in Europe, while they had never been widespread in Asia. In China, the personal belongings of deceased Buddhist monks were sold at auction as early as the seventh century AD. The first mention of "auction", according to

1070-491: A candle-wick always flares up slightly: on seeing this, he would shout his final – and winning – bid. The London Gazette began reporting on the auctioning of artwork in the coffeehouses and taverns of London in the late 17th century. The first known auction house in the world was the Stockholm Auction House , Sweden ( Stockholms Auktionsverk ), founded by Baron Claes Rålamb in 1674. Sotheby's , currently

1177-530: A day in New South Wales . In timber auctions, companies purchase licenses to log on government land. In timber allocation auctions, companies purchase timber directly from the government. In electricity auctions , large-scale generators and distributors of electricity bid on generating contracts. Produce auctions link growers to localized wholesale buyers (buyers who are interested in acquiring large quantities of locally grown produce). Online auctions are

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1284-465: A descending English auction. Fattigauktion is a similar Swedish practice involving poor people being auctioned to church organizations. Trade of wives by auctions was also a common practice throughout history. For instance, in the old English custom of wife selling , a wife was divorced by selling her in a public auction for the highest bid. ISIS conducted slave auctions to sell up to 7,000 Yazidi women as reported in 2020. A virginity auction

1391-762: A form of E-commerce that relies on the advantages of a digital platform's ability to overcome geographical constraints, provide real-time information and reduce transaction costs, bringing greater convenience to people and allowing more people to participate as bidders, as well as being able to view a greater selection of auctions. Websites like eBay provide a potential market of millions of bidders to sellers. Established auction houses, as well as specialist internet auctions, sell many things online, from antiques and collectibles to holidays, air travel, brand new computers, and household equipment. Private electronic markets use combinatorial auction techniques to continuously sell commodities (coal, iron ore, grain, water, etc.) online to

1498-433: A greater number of bidders due to the possibility of a bargain. If more bidders attend the auction, a higher price might ultimately be achieved because of heightened competition from bidders. This contrasts with a reserve auction , where the item for sale may not be sold if the final bid is not high enough to satisfy the seller. In practice, an auction advertised as "absolute" or "no-reserve" may nonetheless still not sell to

1605-478: A higher price. In 2008, the US National Auctioneers Association reported that the gross revenue of the auction industry for that year was approximately $ 268.4 billion, with the fastest growing sectors being agricultural, machinery, equipment, and residential real estate auctions. The auctions with the largest revenue for the government are often spectrum auctions (typical revenue

1712-453: A major acquisition programme aimed at creating a new international fine art auction house. In 2001 Bonhams & Brooks merged with Phillips Son & Neale to form a new UK company trading as Bonhams. Phillips Son & Neale had been based in 101 New Bond Street , which subsequently became the new headquarters of Bonhams. The building consisted of seven different freeholds and had been described as "a Dickensian rabbit warren". The first of

1819-565: A non-tabloid paper in 2008. The underlying landowners of the few streets making up, without any dispute, Knightsbridge are the Duke of Westminster , Lord Cadogan and the Wellcome Trust with a minority of the freeholds to houses in each street sold to others . Red-brick Queen Anne revival buildings form most of the Cadogan Estates , whereas white stucco-fronted houses are mostly found on

1926-405: A pre-qualified group of buyers (based on price and non-price factors). Furthermore, online auctions facilitate the process for prospective bidders to discover and evaluate items by enabling searches across numerous auctions and employing filters to refine their selections. Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London , south of Hyde Park . It

2033-480: A response to their bids. These traffic lights depend on the position of the last bid in the distribution of all bids. A buyout auction is an auction with an additional set price (the 'buyout' price) that any bidder can accept at any time during the auction, thereby immediately ending the auction and winning the item. This means that if an item offers its buyout price at the beginning, one participant can stop all other potential participants from bidding at all, or stop

2140-595: A robbery worth £60 million. In 2005, 22-year-old beautician Clare Bernal was gunned down by her ex -boyfriend Michal Pech on the shopfloor of Harvey Nichols in front of colleagues and shoppers before Pech fatally turned the gun on himself. The case attracted extensive coverage in the media, and Clare's mother Patricia has since led a campaign to address flaws in the system, which allowed her daughter's murder to happen. Many residential buildings are heavily covered by CCTV and are staffed by security guards, and railings or bars on lower floor windows are commonplace. To

2247-402: A running race. Bidding fee auction , a variation of all-pay auction, also known as a penny auction, often requires that each participant must pay a fixed price to place each bid, typically one penny (hence the name) higher than the current bid. When an auction's time period expires, the highest bidder wins the item and must pay a final bid price. Unlike in a conventional auction, the final price

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2354-417: A sealed bid. The higher bidder wins, paying either the first or second price. Both finalists receive a premium: a proportion of the excess of the second price over the third price (at which English auction ended). An Anglo-Dutch auction starts as an English or Japanese auction and then continues as a Dutch auction with a reduced number of bidders. A French auction is a preliminary sealed-bid auction before

2461-476: A sealed-bid auction, bidders only get to know if their bid was the best. Best/not best auctions are sealed-bid auctions with multiple bids, where the bidders submit their prices like in English auction and get responses about the leadership of their bid. Rank auction is an extension of best/not best auction, where the bidders also see the rank of their bids. Traffic-light auction shows traffic lights to bidders as

2568-755: A senior clerk to James Christie . Today, the amalgamated business handles art and antiques auctions. Bonhams operates two salerooms in London —the former Phillips saleroom at 101 New Bond Street , and the old Bonham's saleroom at the Montpelier Galleries in Montpelier Street, Knightsbridge —with a saleroom in Edinburgh . Sales are also held around the world in New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Paris, Boston, San Francisco, and Sydney. Bonhams holds more than 450 sales

2675-475: A spear into the ground around which the spoils of war were left, to be auctioned off. Slaves, often captured as the "spoils of war", were auctioned in the Forum under the sign of the spear, with the proceeds of sale going toward the war effort. The Romans also used auctions to liquidate the assets of debtors whose property had been confiscated. For example, Marcus Aurelius sold household furniture to pay off debts,

2782-537: A vehicle for hosting auctions themselves. As already mentioned in the history section, auctions have been used to trade commodified people from the very first. Auctions have been used in slave markets throughout history until modern times in the post-Gaddafi era Libya . The word for slave auction in the Atlantic slave trade was scramble . A child auction is a Swedish and Finnish historical practice of selling children into slavery-like conditions by authorities using

2889-422: A winner partially based on randomness. The final price for the selected winner is not always conducted according to their final bid. In the case of the second-price ruling as in a Vickrey auction , the final price for the winner is based on the second bidder's price. A Proxy bid is a special case of second-price ruling used by eBay , where a predefined increment is added to the second highest bid in response to

2996-477: A year in more than 60 collecting areas, including Asian art, Pictures, Cars and Jewellery. Bonhams has more than 1,000 staff with some of the world's leading specialists in their fields. Bonhams was set up in 1793 when Thomas Dodd , an antique print dealer, joined with the book specialist Walter Bonham. The company expanded and by the 1850s was handling all categories of antiques including jewellery, porcelain, furniture, arms and armour, and wine. After returning from

3103-431: A yet higher bid. Auctions with more than one winner are called multi-winner auctions . Multiunit auction , Combinatorial auction , Generalized first-price auction and Generalized second-price auction are multi-winner auctions. Auctions can be cascaded, one after the other. For instance, an Amsterdam auction is a type of premium auction which begins as an English auction. Once only two bidders remain, each submits

3210-421: Is a common method for the sale of real estate . Auctions were traditionally used as an alternative to the private sale/treaty method to sell property that, due to their unique characteristics, were difficult to determine a price for. The law does not require a vendor to disclose their reserve price prior to the auction. During the 1990s and 2000s, auctions became the primary method for the sale of real estate in

3317-407: Is a double auction in which the auctioneer takes bids from both buyers and sellers in a market of multiple goods. The auctioneer progressively either raises or drops the current proposed price depending on the bids of both buyers and sellers, the auction concluding when supply and demand exactly balance. As a high price tends to dampen demand while a low price tends to increase demand, in theory there

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3424-455: Is a particular price somewhere in the middle where supply and demand will match. A Barter double auction is an auction where every participant has a demand and an offer consisting of multiple attributes and no money is involved. For the mathematical modelling of satisfaction level, Euclidean distance is used, where the offer and demand are treated as vectors. Auctions can be categorized into three types of procedures for auctions depending on

3531-407: Is a secret reserve price auction. However, potential bidders may be able to deduce an approximate reserve price, if one exists at all, from any estimate given in advance by the auction house. The reserve price may be fixed or discretionary . In the latter case, the decision to accept a bid is deferred to the auctioneer, who may accept a bid that is marginally below it. A reserve auction is safer for

3638-408: Is a variant of the English auction in which bids are written on a sheet of paper. At the predetermined end of the auction, the highest listed bidder wins the item. This auction is often used in charity events, with many items auctioned simultaneously and "closed" at a common finish time. The auction is "silent" in that there is no auctioneer selling individual items; the bidders write their bids on

3745-522: Is derived from auctus , the past participle of the Latin verb augeō , ("I increase"). Auctions have been recorded as early as 500 BC. According to Herodotus , in Babylon, auctions of women for marriage were held annually. The auctions began with the woman the auctioneer considered to be the most beautiful and progressed to the least beautiful. It was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside of

3852-461: Is derived from the Vickrey auction and means the final deal sealing for the number one bidder is based on the second bidder's price. A No-reserve auction (NR), also known as an absolute auction , is an auction in which the item for sale will be sold regardless of price. From the seller's perspective, advertising an auction as having no reserve price can be desirable because it potentially attracts

3959-400: Is east of Exhibition Road and west of Sloane Street . Brompton Road , Beauchamp Place and the western section of Pont Street serve roughly as its southern border together with their adjacent gardens and squares such as Ovington Square , Lennox Gardens and Cadogan Square . South of this area, the district fades into Chelsea while Belgravia lies to the east and South Kensington to

4066-453: Is estimated in billions of euros) and quota auctions. In 2019, Russia's crab quota was auctioned for €2 billion. Between 1999 and 2002, the British government auctioned off their gold reserves , raising approximately $ 3.5 billion. The most expensive item to ever be sold in an auction is Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi in 2017 ($ 450.3 million). In 2018, the yearly revenues of

4173-521: Is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End . Knightsbridge is also the name of the roadway which runs near the south side of Hyde Park from Hyde Park Corner . Knightsbridge is an affluent district in London with a rich history and high property prices. The name has Old English origins, meaning "bridge of the young men or retainers." The area

4280-653: Is located between Exhibition Road and Sloane Street, with its southern border along Brompton Road , Beauchamp Place, and the western section of Pont Street. The district has been a target for high-profile crimes throughout history, including the Spaghetti House siege, the Walton's Restaurant bombing, and the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery. It is served by the Knightsbridge station on the Piccadilly line and

4387-465: Is located in Knightsbridge. The district and the road itself, which is the only definitive place within it, is small, which assists its cachet: more than half of the zone closest to its tube station (and nearer to no others) is Knightsbridge Underground station . Knightsbridge had in its park side, east and west gold-coloured blocks of exceptional wealth in philanthropist Charles Booth 's late Victorian Poverty Map , formerly excluding Brompton Road to

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4494-501: Is referenced in the Rolling Stones song " Play with Fire ", released in 1965. Knightsbridge is used as an indicator of a character's affluence, as opposed to the more working class Stepney . According to season 3 episode 'Happy New Year,' Knightsbridge is the setting of the television series " Absolutely Fabulous ." St. Columba's Church in Knightsbridge is the setting of a wedding in the 1996 episode 'The Last Shout.' Knightsbridge

4601-449: Is referenced in the story book Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman as a place the protagonists need to cross to go to the next floating market. "The Knightsbridge" is used as metaphor for the night and its dangers they need to pass through. In the 2017 film The Foreigner , Knightsbridge is the location of a detonated bomb that sets the plot in motion. On his 2017 mixtape Working on Dying Swedish rapper Bladee references Knightsbridge in

4708-478: Is the voluntary practice of individuals seeking to sell their own virginity to the highest bid. Cricket players are routinely put up for auction, whereby cricket teams can bid for their services. Indian Premier League (IPL) started annual public auctioning of cricket players in 2008 as an entertainment for mass consumption. Also, Bangladesh Premier League conducts cricket player auctions , starting in 2012. In some countries, such as Australia , auctioning

4815-404: Is traded in the international market. The wine auction business offers serious collectors an opportunity to gain access to rare bottles and mature vintages, which are not typically available through retail channels. In livestock auctions, sheep, cattle, pigs and other livestock are sold. Sometimes very large numbers of stock are auctioned, such as the regular sales of 50,000 or more sheep during

4922-424: Is typically much lower than the value of the item, but all bidders (not just the winner) will have paid for each bid placed; the winner will buy the item at a very low price (plus price of rights-to-bid used), all the losers will have paid, and the seller will typically receive significantly more than the value of the item. A senior auction is a variation on the all-pay auction, and has a defined loser in addition to

5029-423: Is usually sealed and the uniform price paid by the investors is typically the best non-winning bid. In most cases, investors can also place so-called non-competitive bids , which indicates interest to purchase the debt obligation at the resulting price, whatever it may be. Some states use courts to run such auctions . In spectrum auctions conducted by the government, companies purchase licenses to use portions of

5136-602: The A315 road . West of Rutland Gardens, the road becomes Kensington Road . It is served by Knightsbridge station on the Piccadilly line , and Sloane Square station on the District and Circle lines . Brompton Road station closed in 1934. Eric Coates uses Knightsbridge as the setting of a march for the 3rd movement of his London Suite (1933). It gained popularity through the radio show In Town Tonight (1933–1960). Knightsbridge

5243-620: The Danish auction house, Bruun Rasmussen for an undisclosed sum. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries. It has three salerooms in the UK; two major salerooms in London – New Bond Street and Knightsbridge, and a saleroom in Edinburgh. Regional offices around the UK offer valuation and consignment services. In Europe, sales are held in France, Monaco and Belgium. In

5350-458: The Grosvenor Estate , designed by architect Thomas Cubitt . The Brompton Oratory , a place of Catholic worship, marks one of the transitions into Kensington , but Belgravia and Brompton have competing mapped neighbourhood status in the east and south of the neighbourhood, and as they have no eponymously named tube stations or historic parish boundaries, their limits are arbitrary and

5457-512: The Oxford English Dictionary , appeared in 1595. In some parts of England during the 17th and 18th centuries, auctions by candle began to be used for the sale of goods and leaseholds. In a candle auction, the end of the auction was signaled by the expiration of a candle flame, which was intended to ensure that no one could know exactly when the auction would end and make a last-second bid. Sometimes, other unpredictable events, such as

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5564-639: The Walton's Restaurant bombing . In 1980, the Iranian Embassy siege took place, lasting several days. It ended when the Special Air Service stormed the building, which was on live television. In 1983, three Christmas shoppers and three Metropolitan Police officers were killed by an IRA car bomb outside Harrods . In 1987, the Knightsbridge Security Deposit centre was the target of

5671-429: The electromagnetic spectrum for communications (e.g., mobile phone networks). In certain jurisdictions, if a storage facility 's tenant fails to pay rent, the contents of their locker(s) may be sold at a public auction. Several television shows focus on such auctions, including Storage Wars and Auction Hunters . Auctions are used to trade commodities ; for example, fish wholesale auctions. In wool auctions, wool

5778-553: The opening of trade between Britain and the Far East , Humphreys' Hall in Knightsbridge hosted an exhibition of Japanese culture in a setting built to resemble a traditional Japanese village. The exhibition was very popular, with over 250,000 visitors during its early months. Japanese artisans illustrated "the manners, customs and art-industries of their country, attired in their national and picturesque costumes. Magnificently decorated and illuminated Buddhist temple. Five o'clock tea in

5885-438: The top-up auction is primarily used for charity events. Losing bidders must pay the difference between their bid and the next lowest bid. The winning bidder pays the amount bid for the item, without top-up. In a Chinese auction , bidders make sealed bids in advance and their probability of winning grows with the relative size of their bids. In usual auctions like the English one, bids are prices. In Dutch and Japanese auctions,

5992-564: The Japanese tea-house. Japanese Musical and other Entertainments. Every-day Life as in Japan". W. S. Gilbert and his wife attended the exhibition, which is said to have inspired him to write The Mikado . When the Mikado requests of Ko-Ko the address of his son (Nanki-Poo) after Ko-Ko tells the Mikado that Nanki-Poo has "gone abroad", Ko-Ko replies that Nanki-Poo has gone to Knightsbridge. Knightsbridge

6099-639: The Sloane Square station on the District and Circle lines. Knightsbridge is an ancient name, spelt in a variety of ways in Saxon and Old English, such as Cnihtebricge (c. 1050); Knichtebrig (1235); Cnichtebrugge (13th century); and Knyghtesbrugg (1364). The meaning is "bridge of the young men or retainers," from the Old English cniht (genitive case plural –a) and brycg . Cniht , in pre-Norman days, did not have

6206-437: The U.S. carry the unofficial title of "colonel". Tobacco auctioneers in the southern United States in the late 19th century had a style that mixed traditions of 17th century England with chants of slaves from Africa. The development of the internet has led to a significant rise in the use of auctions, as auctioneers can solicit bids via the internet from a wide range of buyers in a much larger variety of commodities than

6313-667: The US, sales are held in New York, Los Angeles and Boston. In Asia-Pacific, sales take place in Bonhams saleroom in Pacific Place, Hong Kong, and in Sydney and Melbourne. In 2023, Bonhams achieved 14% growth with $ 1.14 billion in turnover. Auction The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction and has been used throughout history. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid being higher than

6420-411: The actual auction, whose reserve price it determines. A sequential auction is an auction where the bidders can participate in a sequence of auctions. A Calcutta auction is a subtype of sequential auction, where the ordering in the sequence is determined by random. A simultaneous ascending auction is an opposite of a sequential auction, where the auctions are run in parallel. The silent auction

6527-557: The area was renowned as the haunt of highwaymen , robbers and cutthroats targeting travellers on the western route out of London, but its fortunes were transformed in the 19th century. However, the area has been a target of several high-profile crimes. In September and October 1975, the Spaghetti House siege happened. In November 1975, two civilians were killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in

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6634-614: The assets of individuals who have perhaps died intestate (those who have died without leaving a will), or in debt. In legal contexts where forced auctions occur, as when one's farm or house is sold at auction on the courthouse steps. Property seized for non-payment of property taxes , or under foreclosure , is sold in this manner. Police auctions are generally held at general auctions, although some forces use online sites including eBay, to dispose of lost and found and seized goods. Debt auctions, in which governments issue and sell debt obligations , such as bonds , to investors. The auction

6741-559: The auction method. Attractive maidens were offered in a forward auction to determine the price to be paid by a swain, while unattractive maidens required a reverse auction to determine the price to be paid to a swain. Auctions took place in Ancient Greece , other Hellenistic societies, and also in Rome . During the Roman Empire , after a military victory, Roman soldiers would often drive

6848-472: The auctioned good. A common value auction is opposite, where the valuation of the auctioned good is identical among the bidders. The range of auctions' contexts is extremely wide and one can buy almost anything, from a house to an endowment policy and everything in between. Some of the recent developments have been the use of the Internet both as a means of disseminating information about various auctions and as

6955-419: The best price among interested buyers, reverse auctions and buyer-determined auctions give buyers a chance to find the lowest-price supplier. During a reverse auction, suppliers may submit multiple offers, usually as a response to competing suppliers' offers, bidding down the price of a good or service to the lowest price they are willing to receive. A reverse price auction is not necessarily 'descending-price' —

7062-441: The bidding process before the bid price has reached the buyout price. If no bidder chooses to utilize the buyout option before the end of bidding, the highest bidder wins and pays their bid. Buyout options can be either temporary or permanent . In a temporary-buyout auction the option to buy out the auction is not available after the first bid is placed. In a permanent-buyout auction the buyout option remains available throughout

7169-456: The bids are confirmations. In a version of the Brazilian auction , bids are numbers of units being traded. Structure elements of a bid are called attributes. If a bid is one number like price, it is a single-attribute auction . If bids consists of multiple-attributes, it is a multi-attribute auction . A Yankee auction is a single-attribute multiunit auction running like a Dutch auction, where

7276-450: The bids are the portions of a total amount of identical units. The amount of auctioned items is firm in a Yankee auction unlike a Brazilian auction. The portions of the total amount, bidders can bid, are limited to lower numbers than the total amount. Therefore, only a portion of the total amount will be traded for the best price and the rest to the suboptimal prices. In an English auction, all current bids are visible to all bidders and in

7383-834: The chief executive officer of the American subsidiary. Bonhams remained the company's brand name outside of the United States. By the end of 2003 Bonhams was conducting more than 700 annual sales with revenues of $ 304 million. The company's worldwide network of sales included two major London venues, nine additional UK locations, and salerooms in Australia, Switzerland, Monaco, Germany and the US. Bonhams & Butterfields conducted its first East Coast sale in 2003 with an auction of Edwin C. Jameson's collection of classic cars and antiques in Massachusetts, US. During 2005, Bonhams expanded further with

7490-438: The corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue , formerly the home of the respected Dahesh Museum of Art . The inaugural sale featured 20th century furniture and decorative arts. In 2013, Bonhams opened its new headquarters at 101 New Bond Street , designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands ; and in 2015 it completed a seven-figure refurbishment of its Knightsbridge saleroom. In 2016, Bonhams held its first online-only auction;

7597-549: The emergence of the internet, online auctions have developed, with eBay being the most typical example. For example, if someone owns a rare item, they can display the item through an online auction platform. Interested parties may place bids, with the highest bidder winning the opportunity to purchase the item. Online auctions allow more people to participate and also make traditional auction theory more complex. By increasing visibility of an item and therefore demand , auctions can make an extremely rare item more likely to sell for

7704-449: The end of the 18th century, auctions of art works were commonly held in taverns and coffeehouses . These auctions were held daily, and auction catalogs were printed to announce available items. In some cases, these catalogs were elaborate works of art themselves, containing considerable detail about the items being auctioned. At the time, Christie's established a reputation as a leading auction house, taking advantage of London's status as

7811-501: The enhanced architectural demands in the local Conservation Areas policy of the Local Plan. Within each many buildings are covered by the similar but separate requirements of being listed . Growing demand has since 2000 persuaded the authority to revise its planning policies to permit roof terraces and basement extensions, for residential facilities from leisure suites to private nightclubs, a degree of economic liberalisation documented by

7918-399: The entire auction until the close of bidding. The buyout price can either remain the same throughout the entire auction, or vary throughout according to rules or simply as decided by the seller. The winner selection in most auctions selects the best bid. Unique bid auctions offer a special winner selection: the winner is the bidder with the lowest unique bid. The Chinese auction selects

8025-402: The following list. Auctions can differ in the number and type of participants. There are two types of participants: a buyer and a seller . A buyer pays to acquire a certain good or service, while a seller offers goods or services for money or barter exchange. There can be single or multiple buyers and single or multiple sellers in an auction. If just one seller and one buyer are participating,

8132-551: The four London buildings of Hill House School are located here at Cadogan Gardens and Hans Place . Knightsbridge takes its name from the road that runs along the south side of Hyde Park , west from Hyde Park Corner , spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . Up to Brompton Road , it is a part of the A4 arterial road , while the remainder is part of

8239-412: The highest bidder on the day, for example, if the seller withdraws the item from the auction or extends the auction period indefinitely, although these practices may be restricted by law in some jurisdictions or under the terms of sale available from the auctioneer. A reserve auction is an auction where the item for sale may not be sold if the final bid is not high enough to satisfy the seller; that is,

8346-672: The impressive Brompton Oratory (Catholic church, Brompton Road) and the CoE Holy Trinity Church behind it, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Exhibition Road, the Russian Orthodox Church in Ennismore Gardens, St Columba's Church of Scotland, Pont Street , and Deutsche Evangelische Christuskirche . The former St Saviour's church, designed by George Basevi , is now a private home. Notably, two of

8453-513: The later meaning of a warrior on horseback, but simply meant a youth. The allusion may be to a place where cnihtas congregated: bridges and wells seem always to have been favourite gathering places of young people, and the original bridge was where one of the old roads to the west crossed the River Westbourne . However, there is possibly a more specific reference to the important cnihtengild ('guild of cnihtas ‘) in 11th-century London and to

8560-509: The limits of its jurisdiction (certainly Knightsbridge was one of the limits of the commercial jurisdiction of the City of London in the 12th century). Knightsbridge was a hamlet located primarily in the parish of St Margaret (detached) and partly in St Martin in the Fields (the part that later became St George Hanover Square ). It also extended into the parishes of Kensington and Chelsea . It

8667-574: The major centre of the international art trade after the French Revolution . The Great Slave Auction took place in 1859 and is recorded as the second largest single sale of enslaved people in U.S. history — with 436 men, women and children being sold. During the American Civil War , goods seized by armies were sold at auction by the Colonel of the division. Thus, some of today's auctioneers in

8774-634: The north of the area, is the Hyde Park Barracks of the Household Cavalry , with a distinctive 33-storey tower by Sir Basil Spence . The Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department is based in Walton Street . The Embassy of Libya is located at 15 Knightsbridge, the Embassy of France at no 58 and the Embassy of Kuwait at 2 Albert Gate, just off Knightsbridge. On the religious side it contains

8881-551: The occurrence of a price development during an auction run and its causes. Multiunit auctions sell more than one identical item at a time, rather than having separate auctions for each. This type can be further classified as either a uniform price auction or a discriminatory price auction . An example for them is spectrum auctions . A combinatorial auction is any auction for the simultaneous sale of more than one item where bidders can place bids on an "all-or-nothing" basis on "packages" rather than just individual items. That is,

8988-791: The opening of the Paris office and a new saleroom in New York. In October 2005, Bonhams gained full independence after buying back a 49.9% stake held by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH . As part of a phased programme of international expansion, Bonhams opened an office in Hong Kong in 2007. Seven years later, in 2014, it established an East Asian HQ and saleroom in Hong Kong in One Pacific Place. Bonhams East Asian and Southeast Asian network includes offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Singapore. In March 2008, Bonhams New York moved to new salerooms on

9095-426: The previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, while bidders submit bids vocally or electronically. Auctions are applied for trade in diverse contexts . These contexts include antiques , paintings , rare collectibles , expensive wines , commodities , livestock , radio spectrum , used cars , real estate , online advertising , vacation packages, emission trading , and many more. The word "auction"

9202-403: The process is not considered to be an auction. The forward auction is the most common type of auction — a seller offers item(s) for sale and expects the highest price. A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the roles of the buyer and the seller are reversed, with the primary objective to drive purchase prices downward. While ordinary auctions provide suppliers the opportunity to find

9309-475: The reverse Dutch auction is an ascending-price auction because forward Dutch auctions are descending. By revealing the competing bids in real-time to every participating supplier, reverse auctions promote "information transparency". This, coupled with the dynamic bidding process, improves the chances of reaching the fair market value of the item. A double auction is a combination of both forward and reverse auctions. A Walrasian auction or Walrasian tâtonnement

9416-489: The rising prices, with a subsequantial sealed bid auction, in which bidders submit sealed package bids. The auctioneer uses the final bids to compute the best value allocation and the Vickrey payments. Generalized first-price auctions and Generalized second-price auctions offer slots for multiple bidders instead of making a single deal. The bidders get the slots according to the ranking of their bids. The second-price ruling

9523-573: The sale of watches from the collection of a European nobleman. In September 2018, Bonhams was acquired by the UK-based private equity company, Epiris. In January 2022, Bonhams acquired the Nordic auction house Bukowskis for an undisclosed sum. in March 2022, Bonhams acquired the US auction house Skinner Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The new company is called Bonhams Skinner. Also in March 2022, Bonhams acquired

9630-517: The sales lasting for months. One of the most significant historical auctions was in 193 AD, when the entire Roman Empire was put on the auction block by the Praetorian Guard . On 28 March 193, the Praetorian Guard first killed emperor Pertinax , then offered the empire to the highest bidder. Didius Julianus won the auction at the price of 6,250 drachmas per guard, an act that initiated

9737-407: The seller reserves the right to accept or reject the highest bid. In these cases, a set 'reserve' price known to the auctioneer, but not necessarily to the bidders, may have been set, below which the item may not be sold. If the seller announces to the bidders the reserve price, it is a public reserve price auction. In contrast, if the seller does not announce the reserve price before the sale, it

9844-472: The seller than a no-reserve auction as they are not required to accept a low bid, but this could result in a lower final price if less interest is generated in the sale. An all-pay auction is an auction in which all bidders must pay their bids regardless of whether they win. The highest bidder wins the item. All-pay auctions are primarily of academic interest, and may be used to model lobbying or bribery (bids are political contributions) or competitions such as

9951-482: The sites to be acquired was Blenstock House, an Art Deco building at the junction of Blenheim Street and Woodstock Street, eventually acquiring the complete building in 1974. Acquisition activity continued, and in 2002 Bonhams purchased Butterfields , a leading auction house on the West Coast founded in 1865. Bonhams changed Butterfields' name to Bonhams & Butterfields, and Malcolm Barber, formerly of Brooks, became

10058-592: The triangular salient of Brompton, administratively in Kensington, as part of South Kensington , once coloured mid-wealth by Charles Booth, is now blurred with 'Knightsbridge', into which it long projected. Brompton is only used when the postcode and/or Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is being emphasised, rather than the modern Central London 'district' definitions, which suggest Knightsbridge or South Kensington, either tube station , being at most 350 m away and thus can be easily found on all maps. For centuries,

10165-518: The twenty-first century as house prices sky-rocketed . The rapidly rising housing market saw many homes, especially in Victoria and New South Wales, selling for significantly more than both the vendors' reserve price and the advertised price range. Subsequently, the auction systems' lack of transparency about the value of the property was brought into question, with estate agents and their vendor clients being accused of "under-quoting". Significant attention

10272-469: The two biggest auction houses were $ 5 billion ( Christie's ) and $ 4 billion ( Sotheby's ). Auctions come in a variety of types and categories, which are sometimes not mutually exclusive. Typification of auctions is considered to be a part of Auction theory . The economists Paul Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for the introduction of new auction types (or formats). Auction types share features, which can be summarized into

10379-430: The two largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney . This was largely due to the fact that in a private sale the vendor has disclosed the price that they want, and potential purchasers would attempt to low-ball the price, whereas in an auction purchasers do not know what the vendor wants, and thus need to keep lifting the price until the reserve price is reached. The method has been the subject of increased controversy during

10486-472: The war, in the early 1950s, Leonard Bonham purchased some land in Knightsbridge and erected a saleroom on Montpelier Street. The first sale was held in June 1956. In 2000, Bonhams became Bonhams & Brooks when it was acquired by Brooks auction house. Brooks had been founded in 1989 by the former Head of Cars at Christie's, Robert Brooks who specialized in the sale of classic and vintage motorcars. Brooks continued

10593-502: The west but extending well into Piccadilly, St James's to the east. Knightsbridge is home to many of the world's richest people and has some of the highest property prices in the world. In 2014 a terrace of 427m sold for £ 15,950,000, a home in Montpelier Square . The average asking price for all the properties in slightly wider SW7 was £4,348,911 (as at Autumn 2014). On-street parking spaces have sold for as much as £300,000 for

10700-557: The west. Knightsbridge is home to many expensive shops, including the department stores Harrods and Harvey Nichols , and flagship stores of many British and international fashion houses, including those of London-based shoe designers Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik , and two Prada stores. The district also has banks that cater to wealthy individuals. Some of London's most renowned restaurants are here, as well as many exclusive hair and beauty salons, antiques and antiquities dealers, and chic bars and clubs. One of Bonhams auction houses

10807-444: The winner. The top two bidders must pay their full final bid amounts, and only the highest wins the auction. The intent is to make the high bidders bid above their upper limits. In the final rounds of bidding, when the current losing party has hit their maximum bid, they are encouraged to bid over their maximum (seen as a small loss) to avoid losing their maximum bid with no return (a very large loss). Another variation of all-pay auction,

10914-431: The winners will be Bidders B & D while Bidder A misses out because the combined bids of Bidders B & D is higher ($ 60) than for Bidders A and C ($ 55). Deferred-acceptance auction is a special case of a combinatorial auction. Another special case of a combinatorial auction is the combinatorial clock auction (CCA), which combines a clock auction, during which bidders may provide their confirmations in response to

11021-744: The world's second-largest auction house, was founded in London on 11 March 1744, when Samuel Baker presided over the disposal of "several hundred scarce and valuable" books from the library of an acquaintance. Christie's , now the world's largest auction house, was founded by James Christie in 1766 in London and published its first auction catalog that year, although newspaper advertisements of Christie's sales dating from 1759 have been found. Other early auction houses that are still in operation include Göteborgs Auktionsverk (1681), Dorotheum (1707), Uppsala auktionskammare (1731), Mallams (1788), Bonhams (1793), Phillips de Pury & Company (1796), Freeman's (1805) and Lyon & Turnbull (1826). By

11128-493: Was given to the matter by the Australian media, with the government in Victoria eventually bowing to pressure and implementing changes to legislation in an effort to increase transparency. In the UK, historically, auction houses were perceived to sell properties which may have been repossessed —  where a home owner fails to make regular mortgage payments —  or were probate sales (  i.e. ,  

11235-436: Was initially divided between local authorities and has been home to several parishes. Knightsbridge has been associated with exclusive shops including Harrod’s and Harvey Nichols , banks catering to wealthy individuals, renowned restaurants, and high-end salons. Property prices in the district are among the highest in the world, with the most expensive apartment at One Hyde Park selling for £100 million in 2007. Knightsbridge

11342-516: Was previously practical. In the 1990s, the multi-attribute auction was invented to negotiate extensive conditions of construction and electricity contracts via auction. Also during this time, OnSale.com developed the Yankee auction as its trademark. In the early 2000s, the Brazilian auction was invented as a new type of auction to trade gas through electronic auctions for Linde plc in Brazil . With

11449-450: Was therefore divided between local authorities from a very early time. In the time of Edward I , the manor of Knightsbridge appertained to the abbey of Westminster. It was named after a crossing of the River Westbourne , which is now an underground river . It is recorded that the citizens of London met Matilda of England at the Knight's Bridge in 1141. From 1885 to 1887, as a result of

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