It proved to be the best in recent years, according to Bonhams director Graham Lay, with buoyant prices and an ‘electric’ atmosphere.Four paintings of Venice by Antoine Buvard went respectively for £8,000, two for £10,000 and £11,000; a rare complete 48-piece canteen of Jersey fiddle pattern flatware cutlery by Charles William Quesnel was sold for £5,200, and an early 19th century painting by John Tobias Young, which features Mont Orgueil in the background, was sold for £6,000.The last-ever weekly Bonhams and Langlois sale will be held on Friday week, 26 September, after which the name will disappear.
The auction rooms will go to the lawyer firm of Ogier and Le Masurier for archive storage, although Bonhams will retain its office in the building as a sourcing centre for items destined for the company’s sales in London, Geneva and San Francisco.
