Advantageous Auctions London: JON BADDELEY APPOINTED MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BONHAMS KNIGHTSBRIDGE SALEROOM
Bonhams is delighted to announce the appointment and promotion of Jon Baddeley to the position of Managing Director, Knightsbridge – the busiest of the company’s UK and international salerooms. He takes on this new role with immediate effect.
“Jon has an outstanding track record in the auction business. His career as both a dealer and auctioneer spans over 30 years,” says Matthew Girling, Chief Executive Officer, Bonhams UK & Europe. “His sound business acumen, specialist knowledge and proven ability to get the best from people make Jon the obvious person to run our Knightsbridge saleroom.”
Jon Baddeley, who continues to be responsible for collectors’ sales worldwide, says: “I am excited about the prospect of taking on the challenge of being Managing Director, Knightsbridge. My ambition is not only to substantially grow the core business of jewellery, silver, paintings, furniture & works of art, but also to make Knightsbridge the centre of excellence for our specialist sales of portrait miniatures, arms & armour, sporting guns, coins & medals, science & technology, toys & dolls, and entertainment memorabilia.”
Jon began his career at Sotheby’s Belgravia in the early 1970s. He joined as a porter, but quickly rose through the ranks to become Head of the Collectors’ department and auctioneer by the age of 25. Subsequently, he left the company to become an independent dealer in decorative arts for the next five years. However, missing the thrill of the auction world, he rejoined Sotheby’s in the early 1980s and remained there for the following 20 years, finally becoming Group Head and Board Director of Sotheby’s, London.
In 2003, Jon joined Bonhams as Global Director of Collectors’ sales and over the following seven years has been responsible for many landmark auctions and world record prices. Highlights include: the British Airways Concorde auction, the Admiral Nelson Bicentenary sale, John Lennon’ lyrics for Give Peace A Chance, Judy Garland’s dress that she wore as Dorothy in the film The Wizard of Oz, props from the BBC’s Dr Who television programme, a 14th century English astrolabe quadrant (now in the British Museum), the Michael Bennett-Levy Collection of Early Technology, Peter Golding Collection of Rock Art, and The Ward Collection of Musical Snuff Boxes.
An auctioneer, author and broadcaster, Jon is also known to millions of people as a specialist on the BBC’s long-running television programme The Antiques Roadshow, on which he has made regular appearances since it began in 1977.
BONHAMS
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com
