Skinner is an American

auction house An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

. It is one of the world's leading

auction houses An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exi ...

for

antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

and

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

. It is the only full-service auction house headquartered in New England.

History

Skinner was founded by dealer Robert W. Skinner, Jr. (1932-1984), who believed that New England, with its long history as an international arts center, was a fitting location for a world-class auction house. The company began operations in the 1960s and was incorporated in 1971 in

Bolton, Massachusetts Bolton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Bolton is in eastern Massachusetts, located 25 miles west-northwest of downtown Boston. The population was 5,665 at the 2020 census. History The town of Bolton was incorpora ...

. Skinner’s Boston gallery opened in 1978. The company has seen steady growth, and in 2009, Skinner moved its headquarters to nearby

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

. In March 2022, Skinner was acquired by

Bonhams 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 to ...

for an undisclosed sum. The new company will be called Bonhams Skinner.

Expert departments

Skinner’s appraisers regularly appear on the PBS-TV series, ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people (g ...

'', and other arts and culture programs. Representing 20 specialty collecting areas, the appraisers are expert in the areas of American furniture & decorative arts, American & European

paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

& prints, European furniture & decorative arts, fine

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, fine

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western ...

, 20th Century design, fine musical instruments, Asian Works of Art, Fine Judaica, Science, Technology & Clocks, Rare Books & Manuscripts, Fine Silver, Antique Motor Vehicles, American Indian &

Ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

Art, Fine Wines,

Oriental rugs An oriental rug is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in " Oriental countries" for home use, local sale, and export. Oriental carpets can be pile woven or flat woven without pile, using v ...

& carpets, Textiles & Couture, Toys, Dolls & Collectibles, and Discovery.

Notable auctions

Skinner conducts more than 60 auctions and events each year and has achieved world-record prices for many pieces sold at auction.

Fitz Henry Lane Fitz Henry Lane (born Nathaniel Rogers Lane, also known as Fitz Hugh Lane) (December 19, 1804 – August 14, 1865) was an American painter and printmaker of a style that would later be called Luminism, for its use of pervasive light. Biography ...

’s ''Manchester Harbor'', a 24x36 inch oil painting, sold for $5.5 million in November 2004, a world record for the artist and the highest price ever at auction in New England. * A rare and historically important previously undiscovered broadside copy of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...

sold in 2007 for $693,500. Another broadside copy printed in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1776 by Robert Luist Fowle sold for $380,000 on November 14, 2010.New Hampshire Gazette. * A molded copper touring car with driver

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

, made in Boston circa 1910, sold for $941,000 * 1958/63 Gibson Explorer Electric Guitar sold for $611,000 setting a world record price for a

Gibson Guitar Gibson Brands, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation) is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was former ...

. Kovel, Ralph and Terry
"Unlikely items worth big money to some"
''

The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...

'', January 21, 2007. Accessed July 16, 2008.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
American auction houses Companies based in Boston