Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2022 Issue

What Are They Building in There?: Bonhams in March

The field is changing

The field is changing

This March, within ten days of each other, Bonhams Auctioneers announced the acquisition of two auction houses, Skinner in the US (https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/34061/) and Bruun Rasmussen in Denmark (https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/34101/). These two acquisitions can be added to the January 2022 purchase of Bukowski, a leading Scandinavian auction house, and The Market, a leading digital marketplace for classic automobiles in April 2021.  So what might be transpiring here and what might be the intended outcomes?

 

In 2018 Epiris, a London based private-equity firm, bought Bonhams (https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonydemarco/2018/09/04/bonhams-sold-to-private-equity-firm/?sh=714037ab61f4). Last month’s movements by Bonhams may mark the entrance into the second half of Epiris’ 5-7 year venture capital strategy toward potentially taking Bonhams public. With the injection of capital provided by Epiris, Bonhams bought the four aforementioned auction houses, as it is cheaper to buy than build the infrastructure required. Coming into 2022, Bonhams, although global, was not diverse or dominate enough as a potential IPO candidate. These acquisitions change that picture considerably as they add adjacent market depth and breadth to the Company.

 

As there are an assortment of suitably sized regional, national, moderately international firms currently available, watch for this strategy by venture capital fuelled auction houses as we move further into 2022/23. One driver of this is intergenerational handover in which the second generation is not able or willing to keep going, hampered significantly by the pressure imposed by the Pandemic. In some cases, Houses, knowing they need a partner, opt for selling to a larger House controlled by an equity firm. This option can bring immediate cash and with it the bonus of liquidity when the acquirer goes public if a share for share exchange was executed as part of the acquisition.

 

In the case of Bonhams, Epiris appears to be executing a classic ‘Roll Up’ strategy providing the Seller (a regional/national house) with cash and likely stock that will become valuable and liquid when the “new and digitally improved” Bonhams is potentially taken public by Epiris in an exit event.

 

In the meantime, Bonhams gets to pick the best systems, people and infrastructure in the firms they buy to roll out their recently articulated vision statement of: "Creating a digitally enabled business occupying the leading global position and offering exciting prospects for further growth.”

 

Expect more from Epiris/Bonhams in the coming months and net new participants of a similar size engaging in similar tactics.

 

For more insight into the general trends that influence these transformations, visit my ongoing article series AUCTION INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: http://spencerwstuart.ca/aio/

 

 

About Spencer W Stuart: http://spencerwstuart.ca


Posted On: 2022-04-02 18:04
User Name: bjarnetokerud

Roll up, roll up for the Mystery Tour

The Bonhams Magical Mystery Auction House is waiting to take you away

(With thanks to Lennon/McCartney)

With new footholds in the land of Ingmar Bergman and Gustavus Adolphus, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and one of the hometowns of the Vikings, followed by a high profile presence near where the Boston Tea Party took place, this very market confident, well funded statement is more of an invitation to Bonham's customers to consign for maximum exposure or to bid with confidence in major city centers that promise treasures at many levels. Who cares if an IPO and a stock market symbol are outcomes? Why should antiquarian booksellers be fearful or even concerned? If that is the point… Bonhams is welcome to buy out my book business anytime! British Columbia stands for Bring Cash.


Posted On: 2022-04-03 16:14
User Name: bjarnetokerud

I tried to read this article again but after the facts are done what is left is pseudo London School of Economics prattle. A far better article would have been to interview someone at the top of Bonhams for a perspective on the rare book market. Instead, we get crystal ball gazing as if the writer got his creds from working at a hedge fund, which apparently he has not. Investment charts, auction sell through rates, and so on are boring because they don’t tell us what collectors and libraries are buying, or selling, and why.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Rose City Book & Paper Fair
    June 14-15, 2025
    1000 NE Multnomah, Portland
    ROSECITYBOOKFAIR.COM
  • Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 748. Second volume of Blaeu's atlas featuring 89 maps of the Americas and Asia (1642) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 12. A world map with popular cartographic myths and unique embellishments (1788) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 30. One of the most sought-after charts from Cellarius' work (1708) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 38. Anti-Vietnam War persuasive cartography on a velvet poster (1971) Est. $350 - $425
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 43. Ortelius' influential map of the New World - second plate (1584) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 95. Scarce German map illustrating the French & Indian War (1755) Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 149. Bachmann's dramatic view of the Mid-Atlantic region (1864) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 373. De Jode's very rare map of Europe with costumed figures (1593) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 674. De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VII with all plates and map of Sri Lanka (1606) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 704. The first printed map devoted to the Pacific in full contemporary color (1589) Est. $7,500 - $9,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 734. Superb hand-colored image of the Tree of Jesse (1502) Est. $700 - $850
  • University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Best Image of Abraham Lincoln: "Closest… to ‘seeing' Lincoln… A National Treasure" Original Hesler/Ayres Interpositive. $800,000 to $1,000,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein, 3pp of Unified Field Theory Equations: “I want to try to show that a truly natural choice for field equations exists.” Formalizing His Final Approach, Association to Theory of Relativity. $80,000 to $120,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Marilyn Monroe's Best Personally Owned & Annotated Script for Unfinished Last Film, "Something's Got to Give" (1962). $75,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: David Ben-Gurion ALS: "The Jewish people have attained the epitome...the State of Israel is born," 1 Day After Signing Israeli Declaration of Independence, Best Ben-Gurion Ever! $80,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln ALS to Youth: "A young man, before the enemy has learned to watch him...votes... shall redeem the county" Evocative of Famous "Work" Letter. $70,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln Appointment for Cabinet Member With Largest, Boldest, Full Signature! Important Content: Detente with England. $10,000 to $15,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Abraham Lincoln Rare Signed Check To Law Partner W.H. Herndon, Perhaps Unique as Such! $20,000 to $25,000
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Tokyo War Crimes Files of Prosecuting Attorney For POW Camp Atrocities, 500+ Pages, Unpublished Court Documents, Photos and More. $25,000 to $35,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: 1698 South Carolina Slavery Archive Huguenot Planters Earliest Rare Plat Maps for Plantations 41 Docs 107 pp. Most Colonial. $25,000 to $35,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Adam Smith ALS While Revising “The Wealth of Nations” - A New Discovery Documenting Meeting with Influential Editor. $18,000 to $24,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Margaret Mitchell Rare ALS to Her Editor as Epic Film "Gone With the Wind" Gains Heat "Forgive this scrawl. I haven't written a letter in long hand in years and I've almost forgotten how it's done." $3,000 to $4,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein 1935 TLS, Hopes to Warn Non-Jews of "The true nature of the Hitler regime.” $8,500 to $10,000.
  • Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 124: Henri Courvoisier-Voisin, et alia, [Recueil de Vues de Paris et ses Environs], depicting precursors of the modern roller coaster, Paris, [1814-1819?]. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 148: Pablo Picasso & Fernando de Rojas, La Célestine, First Edition, Paris, 1971. $30,000 to $40,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 201: Omar Khayyam & Edward Fitzgerald, Rubaiyat, William Bell Scott's copy of the First Edition, London, 1859. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 223: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, First Edition, extra-illustrated with hand-colored plates by Palinthorpe, London, 1861. $7,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 248: L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, First Edition, inscribed by the illustrator, Chicago & New York, 1900. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 305: Tycho Brahe & Pierre Gassendi, Tychonis Brahei Vita, Paris, 1654. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 338: Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Almagestum Novum, two folio volumes, Bologna, 1651. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $10,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 350: Tobias Cohn, Ma'aseh Toviyyah, first edition, Venice, 1707-8. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 359: Alan Turing, Computing, Machinery, and Intelligence, first edition, Edinburgh, 1950. $3,000 to $5,000.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

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