Stop paying retail prices for marked up items. If you enjoy antiquing, why not pay 1/2 the price you would spend at a boutique storefront? The gorgeous rings I looked at could easily be sold at retail for $8k and above. Here they start at auction in the $1,500 - $2,000 range. Bonhams offers much more than old jewelry paintings and furniture. There are modern design sales, vintage toys, historical arms & armor, writing tools, rug sales and much much more. Every item listed for sale can be viewed in the print or online catalog, or examined during the preview hours at the warehouse. Usually a day or two before auction day. The department specialists are on hand to answer questions about value, condition and provenence. This is an easy, more cost effective way of buying what you truly desire, without going to the mall, craigslist or the antique store. read more

Bonhams Auctioneers & Appraisers - Circa 1930's Black Onyx, Emerald & Diamonds. Loved this one!! - Appraisal Services Near Me - San Francisco, California

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This is the last Co. I would ever work with! Really bad whatever you do!! I have worked with them, a few times and would never do it again really crooked Co. Gave me a appraisal for a piece of art @ 1,500.00 and on Ask Art the artist sold a peace half my size for $47,000 after they pick through your whole house and give you LOW BALL prices then they said " oh we don't take anything unless it's worth 5000 and over? My Item - exceeded over their $5000mark. Then they tell you they are under new ownership, HAHAHA.. Oh then took a piece if my art to auction show in New York and called me and "said oh we forgot to put your art in the catalogue so would you take the $2,500.00 that the bid would start at this piece would of sold way higher come to find out.!! Warning read more

Terrible company. They sometimes have nice items in their auctions but beware- they don't stand behind their sales. I bid on and won a native american bowl from them in December 2023. They sent me an invoice for the bowl, shipping and their description "all risk, door to door" insurance for the bowl. I paid it in full, It arrived in January 2024- in 20-30 broken pieces. I figured no problem- named company and their shipper and insuror. Boy was I wrong- their position- zero responsibility. We'll keep your approximately $5000 and you can keep the shards- and their guarantees and insurance don't apply. Why did they sell, and I take insurance ? They seem to prefer send the items off in commerce and if they happen to get there OK then fine, but if they don't they will just keep saying NO. Unless you can pick up locally in LA, NYC or London- don't do business with these scammers!! read more

Bonhams Auctioneers & Appraisers - Appraisal Services Near Me - San Francisco, California

The hot garbage of auction houses. You can sell anywhere and get better prices and better returns for your time and effort. These people have no true experts that cant be rivaled or excelled by any other auction house, and they keep 38% of the sales price? How is the input and effort from a bunch of clowns worth 38% (i.e 40%). I wish I had never used them a waste of 6 months of effort to be placed on a sad tuesday afternoon auction. Avoid at all costs. You can do better. read more

make sure when you talk to her and check the contact again on any changes. Dont take their word that they fixed the typo. I agreed upon selling my images at a reserve. The first time I talked to them. Called them up and reminded them upon $300 per image, she stated oh yeah that's right. OK I'll fix that in the contract. I didn't make sure that they said per image image. They put it don't, yet I didn't see per batch. When she said she was going to fix it. I just ignorantly trusted them. Falls on me. I know that. They sold them in batches for 300. Seller beware read more

Just an honest fair review below Many items submitted Very, very slow response.....weeks Response to one item so far has convinced me that reallly have no idea what they are appraising. I'm waiting and waiting for other items to be appraised and I will provide an update. So, I personally would not recommend. read more

I purchased a painting which had undisclosed condition problems in descriptions. After some back and forth, I was able to get an adjustment to my sales price to help offset repairs to artwork. Thank you. read more

Be careful of their descriptions. I've been buying antiques for more than 30 years from more than 100 auction houses across the US, Canada and Great Britain. In that time I've only had five instances of gross misrepresentation of an item and four of those five were with Bonhams. It's difficult if not impossible to get them to respond to complaints, so just be extra careful in bidding with them. read more

The hot garbage of auction houses. You can sell anywhere and get better prices and better returns for your time and effort. These people have no true experts that cant be rivaled or excelled by any other auction house, and they keep 38% of the sales price? How is the input and effort from a bunch of clowns worth 38% (i.e 40%). I wish I had never used them a waste of 6 months of effort to be placed on a sad tuesday afternoon auction. Avoid at all costs. You can do better. read more

I sold a ring in excellent condition through Bonham's. They told me they don't do reserves. It was a work of art by a deceased and very well known native carver from the Queen Charlotte Islands. They valued it at $400-$600, and then put it in a regular jewelry auction with things like blue topaz and pearls. It sold for $180. They charged me $30 and the buyer $50. So I netted $150 for a ring worth considerably more. Won't do business with them again. read more

I was saddened to see that one of the world's great auction houses--Skinner--has been acquired by Bonham's. Why is it that every good business in the world gets swallowed up by a much worse company that ruins everything? Bonham's is no Skinner, I can tell you that. For one thing, they treat clients with disdain. There is some kind of elitist attitude there. They try to require you to pay with bank transfers. It takes hours for me to get one of those and involves huge fees. It's like 1985 technology. They also have these absurd policies about providing government ID and try to say they are legally required to do it in order to pick up your item. Really? You are legally required? No ther auction house in the US is "legally" required to do this. Don't you think this is just your policy and not connected to an actual US law? How do you haughty, glorified used furniture dealers plan to keep this sensitive data safe? When this data is stolen (and it 100% will be stolen) how do you plan to make your clients whole? Like banks and companies everywhere, a great, well-run, long-established business is swallowed up by a dumpster fire that doesn't care about their customers. read more

Bonhams has been harassing me through email and phone calls for the past week regarding my sales tax documentation. They have been threatening me with non paying bidder reports, they have called me saying I am required to pay tax even though they have accepted my tax forms (two separate resale permits from two separate states; both valid.) and removed tax on the invoice and the invoice is already paid for. They have yelled at me on the phone, told me my business is closed (it isn't.) told my my license isn't valid (it is.) and when called out on their lies, they accept the license and payment. Until the next day; where they call and threaten me again and say I'm required to pay tax before they ship to me. I will never, ever shop at bonhams again in my life. This is the most disorganized bunch I've ever encountered in my life. I cannot wait until this firm closes their doors for good. read more

Very hard to work with after the purchase of an art piece. Took about a month to receive after many phone calls to less than helpful staff.

Giving Bonhams 3 stars if the seller does their homework ahead of time and for bargain hunters looking to buy. I used to work in this industry so take a minute to read this. Bonhams is not bad place if your local and have a very desirable item. But it is important to know that this is not Ebay, this means that when the auction house takes on each items their is a considerable expense associated so that it can be auctioned. The expense to auction an item will be the responsibility of the consignor that is unless they can amend their consignment agreement. When using any major auction house you need to know what percentage of lots tend to actually sell at auction (each group being bid on at a time is considered a lot). If you are selling a rug and similar rugs are only selling 50% of the time that means there is a 50% change you will walk away with any money and a 50% change you will owe the auction house for the attempt. To learn if your items sell, go to the auction web site and see how many lots were offered and compare that to how many actually sold. Note: a decent auction tends to sell 75%+ of the lots and that selling a lot does not mean that the seller made a great deal of money after fees are deducted. Also large numbers of lots are made up of items from galleries needing to move inventory and estates of the deceased. When you consign items you need to know what the fees will be and if needed have them noted as flat fees in your contract. Also be aware that if your lot does not sell you still need to pay the cost associated to offer your item. Auction house are though a great potential bargain for buyers. If an item has not sold in auction that you are interested in, then contact the auction house and present them with an offer. Since sellers still need to pay a fee for their unsold items they might be more then happy to take an offer post sale they would have rejected before the auction. So for Bonhams 3 stars for those that have taken the time to educate themselves a little bit. read more

So Bonhams has moved into a new location at 601 California st which should be good news. The old location near Potrero was overrun with tent camps. However I sent client over today and his experience was appalling. The new location is in a Financial District office building near the galleries, and the doors are right at the front for seeing what's on display, etc. but as my client was trying to get the attention of the receptionist, apparently two huge mall cop types fro 601 California started harassing him like he was not allowed to be there. He left immediately and was not pleased at all. Bomham's needs to be in a location where access is a pleasant experience. Maybe the desk clerks at 601 California need better training about how Bonhams operates and how to treat their clientele. read more

These guys set a new low in responsiveness. I called them in November, and based on that discussion, I e-mailed photos of the items I wanted them to look at. In January, I sent a follow-up e-mail. Never heard a peep. It's entirely possible that the items I wanted to sell were of no value to them, but the simple courtesy of a return e-mail response is not too much to ask. I'm sorry that I don't have alternatives, but if you're looking to sell something you believe has value, this is probably not the place. read more

Alas, if only I could give them zero stars. These vultures came out to my mother's house, took half a dozen paintings, auctioned them off and then gave her 12% of their sale price. They have all kinds of hidden "charges" -- storage, appraisal fees, etc. that they use to justify ripping people off. My mother is widowed, blind and on chemotherapy and I hope the good people at B&B live a long, full life before spending an eternity in Hell. read more

B&B Is in the business to make money, if your not walking in with a Degas or Rembrandt, forget it, I brought in an original Galle' vase in for an appraisal, the "expert" said he could not identify it and that it was just a 20th century piece of glass and suggested I use it for flowers, I had the piece appraised back in 1994 by Christie's and they told me it was a monumental piece and it was worth $7500.00, if B&B took the time to actually look at the piece, they would have seen it was signed and that I was holding the Christie's appraisal in my hand, I notice one person was carrying a rare Louis Icart, they told him it was fake, I told him to send a photo to a website called coincidentaldiscovery.com and they would verify it for a small fee, the gentleman called me a few months later and said they not only verified it was real but sold it for them within a month. Look for more local non auction houses for your appraisals they are honest and make their money for the appraisal fee, I know that coincidentaldiscovery.com will not even charge you if the item is not authentic. I use coincidentaldiscovery.com as an example, see what available in your own city, the people at B&B had no I dea what they were doing. read more

Sigh. This place used to be so much better before they merged with Bonhams. The previews and sales are boring and badly presented. I've been to several previews prior to the Bonham takeover - Elvis Presley, Liberace, Buffalo Bill Cody's gang, Armor and Firearms - you name it. At each of the previews, the salespeople were friendly and helpful without being pushy. If there's something in a case that you would like to see close-up, just ask. That's how my husband got to hold and page through General George Armstrong Custer's bible that was given to him by his mother and was retrieved from his uniform jacket after he died at the Battle of Big Horn. Never say you can't touch that! read more

Bonhams Auctioneers & Appraisers - LA - SF - UK I have had the ultimate BONHAMS experience. ATTENDING THE BONHAMS - LA auction/appraisal, Everyone should know that this is not a Bonhams problem, This is a 'People in general problem". Meaning, rarely will 2 people agree on identical value. Research worldwide for a mid-line value, then proceed. THE OTHER CAUTION is that Bonhams Buyers receive additional hidden fees like many other auction houses. There is always more to be questioned. read more

I went to the open appraisal event yesterday with just a small Noritake tea set that I already knew was from 1918 (backstamp research) but couldn't find anywhere online. I was - and still am - just curious about its value. I swear I spent less than five minutes with the Japanese art expert who told me that the $10 I spent at a yard sale was about all it was worth. He looked at the pot, one cup, and one saucer out of six. He claimed that, because it was made by the time they started using molds to form the pieces, they made so much of it that it's so common and not worth much, and "there really isn't a market for it right now" because it's not popular. And that's why 100-year-old, hand-painted Noritake china doesn't sell easily on eBay, right? (eyeroll) I told him at least three times that I could not find it or anything similar online (if there are so many as he says, they must be invisible). I just want a realistic value in context, not a general "1918" guess. Ignoring me every time I said that, he said I could maybe sell it for $50-60 in a retail (consignment) setting if I were lucky. I've seen incomplete sets of more common patterns sell for that much... I guess I should price it myself. To top it off, I accidentally found out with a bit more research and eBay digging, that it's a chocolate set, not tea/coffee/espresso. Either he didn't know or care to correct my "tea" assumption. Maybe that was because I told him I knew when it was made (you should have seen his face when I said it, like I had hit him), and he could only begrudgingly agree "that looks right". So, apparently, because I was there out of curiosity without a huge auction-worthy item, I didn't matter. But It's not like I was keeping him from something important; when I arrived, he had been just standing around. And all I learned from him is how it was made. read more

You can stop in almost any weekend if you have some time to spare and look around at the art, furniture, knick knacks, jewelry, rugs, whatever is up for aucton at the time. The SOMA estate sales seem to be a mixed bag if you are a serious shopper, but the Asian art is always pretty interesting, as are the contemporary art and jewelry items. I especially like the modern and contemporary art, as those auctions usually consist of items that will always be in private collections, so you'll never seem them otherwise, yet some of them are noteworthy pieces by important or newish artists. It's free, local, and you never know what might inspire or entice you. Unpretentious. A couple blocks from the Potrero Center across the street from UPS. read more

My husband, his uncle, and I visited an auction recently. His uncle is an antiques dealer and frequents this auction, but it was my first time. I am not interested in anitiques and most fine art, but there are some contemporary items, so I decided to check it out anyway. I was surprised with how casual everything was: people wearing shorts and jeans, the ability to walk around a preview the items (including sitting on the furniture), and the friendly staff who offered to show items in the cases. Furniture, rugs, old books, paintings, art, sculpture, pottery, silver and more. There is a charge on top of the bid price that you pay the auction house, which is slightly lower if you pay in cash or check (I beleive is 22% rather than 25%). While only few items interested me, it was a fun and interesting way to spend the day. We will be back. read more

5 star service. Just a tip if its something they can't sell they wont spend a lot of time on it. Very professional staff though. read more

I bought a really grand chaise from them via telephone and then discovered the 20% premium that the buyer pays on top of the purchase price, plus 200 bucks to ship it from their Los Angeles storehouse, they neglected to say beforehand. Not much of a deal. Then when I received my solid-white upholstered chaise, they had handled it with black greasy hands. It had their fresh, dirty hand prints all over it. read more

Letter to Bonham's: I may have spoken with you personally over the phone...maybe not.... I'm writing to complain about the treatment I received. I dealt with "Butterfield & Butterfield" [previous name for Bonham's] several years ago and was very happy... I had sent away a package, with a note asking if the articles were worth their time to auction? I was very happy with the cheque I received later. I did the same thing for [now] Bonham's...I got a call from a lady who said they weren't interested....fine. I jad paid over $20.00 to send the box... Whomever sent it back was negligent in how they did it... meaning it looked like I had made a purchase from Bonhams. My govenment has decided I needed to be taxed ANOTHER $20.00 because the person returning my parcel failed to address it right.... Because of this oversight, my government thought the returned personal goods were BOUGHT by me from Bonhams.... I had to pay ANOTHER $20.00 to get my personal possessions back...Due to the negligence of your employee... I have decided to post this letter on the "Yelp" site...because nobody even tried to rectify this...or repay me... I'm just really glad the parcel wasn't worth a HUGE amount...tax on that would have been rediculous, to get my stuff back... Thanks for a real big headache.... Linda in Kelowna, B.C. read more

THE NEW 25 % BUYER'S PREMIUM IS OUTRAGEOUS. I hope everyone lets them know and they lose business until they lower the premium back to 20% (lower would be better). In case you don't know the buyer's premium is tacked on to the amount of the winning bid. If you bid $1000.00 and win the item the auction house adds $250.00 to the price +sales tax. And the person who consigned the item has to pay a percentage to the auction house too. That's right , the auction house gets paid by both the consigner and the winning bidder. I have dealt with Bonham and Butterfields for several years now as a buyer. I have several beautiful paintings and works of art that I am very happy with. I have found the service to be courteous and efficient both in person and over the phone etc. Knowing that 25% will be added on to my winning bid makes me think two or three times before I will be bidding again. read more

I don't even know where to begin talking about this most dysfunctional company. I recently had a few items listed through them. I thought this was a reputable company. Some of the items I gave them sold for a total of $900. The final check I received from them, to my horror, was $477! The had charged for transportation, photography, commission and few other lame excuses to rack up the charges. The service is absolutely dreadful. They do not return calls or emails or if they do it's after a months or two. They did absolutely nothing to promote the auction. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I now deal with PBA Galleries and it's such study in contrast. And they do not charge for photographing the items! Avoid Bonhams at any cost. read more

Update: It's now four months later and, you guessed it, still no response from Bonhams. If I could leave zero stars, I would. Again, Bonhams: don't offer a service if you can't provide it. read more

My husband had consigned a painting to Butterfield's about 17 years ago, and while he was not thrilled with the price he got, he felt that it was fair. I had taken my jewelry to Bonham's and Butterfield's as a lark, after having it looked at by Sotheby's and Christies. The Christies appraisal was done online from photographs. Sotheby's did not accept the jewelry (which I did not expect them to, their jewelry at auction begins at $50,000,I was there for Asian art) but agreed with the appraisal which I brought with me from a reputable jeweler from Palo Alto. Christies appraisal was lower but the person I was corresponding with said that I should send the items to New York for further inspection. Christies appraisals came in at twice to three times the Bonhams prices. I took the items in the Bonhams Butterfields and was greeted by their jewelry person who I assumed was their appraiser. She did a short appraisal with a loupe of the diamond and gold bracelet and pronounced that it had x number of carats of diamonds. This was off by almost 4 carats. She did get the 18 karat gold correct. Her auction price was quite a bit lower than Christies price. The pin which was covered with carved rubies, emeralds and sapphires was dismissed as probably defective because the stones were carved, therefore terribly occluded. That pin got an extremely low appraisal which was way lower than Christies. I also brought in a three-strand gold heavy necklace weighing in at over 220 grams. The appraisal came in as scrap metal. All of these items came from the estate of my great-aunt, the granddaughter of Henry Flagler, the founder of Standard Oil, with John D. Rockefeller. Henry Flagler was also the person who brought the railroad down to Florida, and founded Palm Beach and other cities in Florida. In other words, the provenance of the jewelry is impeccable. This week I brought proof of her mistakes in her appraisals. Her response was that she stood by her appraisals, even though I showed her the 11 3/4 carats diamond weight on the bracelet, and the platinum on the bracelet. The appraisal on the brooch showed the stones to be very good quality emeralds, rubies, and sapphires with only mild occlusions which are to be found in all gems of that type. The necklace is worth considerably more than scrap metal. I could sell it if I wanted to at my jewelers for many times what she offered. Needless to say, I was totally disgusted. Since I do not need to sell my jewelry, I will enjoy it for many years and probably hand it down to my daughter. And if she would like to sell it, I will give her the name and email address of Heather at Christies. read more

I agree with the review on Judith Eurich. Unaccommodating and non-informative. I expected more from someone with such notable accolades. No help whatsoever. read more

The Free Appraisal Clinic..........You can get nice appraisers that tell you your treasures aren't worthy enough....and that's okay. Or, you can get the snotty English guy in Collectibles that sniffs and tells everyone they have crap! Then, he dismisses them! After waiting in line and seeing him treat everyone this way, why was I surprised to also be treated thus? What do these people think they are inviting in when they offer a free clinic? The lines are filled with regular folks with their unworthy stuff. I think being an appraiser is more than just looking for that one special $5k figurine. It's about talking to people, exploring history and holding a small piece of it in your hands. Don't offer a clinic unless you are using it as a service to the community. Don't work the Collectibles table unless you like talking to the small people of the world. Save the snotty attitudes for elsewhere. read more

I recently had a quite negative experience with this company, specifically with their New York operation. I bought a small vase in one of their recent auctions and was told that I had to pay local sales tax unless I would use their in-house shipping department to export the vase. Nevertheless, at that time I decided not to go for their service and instead had my own shipper deal with this. A few weeks later I bought several lots of books and this time I decided to ask Bonham's to give me a shipping quote. Although I requested to receive this quote a total of 4 times (!!!) I never even got a reply from their "customer support" let a lone a quote. I ended up using my own shipper again and had to pay local sales tax again. What a waste! An overall sad and disappointing experience. read more

I seriously cant believe these people are still in business? They commit to saying they'll take various pieces you sent them photographs of on line and then you dont hear form them again? You phone them up to find out why you didn't get a contract and written appraisal from them. I spoke to Madeline Garcia who screamed at me saying the same thing over and over without letting me get a word in. She then put me through to Gary Espinosa who had verbally read out estimated prices when he came to my house but left without offering me that list... he was totally unhelpful. He transferred me to someone who had no clue either. Extraordinary. read more

I wish i'd checked here before i gave two oil paintings to Bonham's San Francisco for the auction conducted last night. I was VERY poorly advised, not informed about information they knew and I did not, and the end result was VERY disappointing. I hope this will save someone else from being similarly disappointed. read more

I recently brought some items in with an appointment. Most of the staff was nice, but one particular woman was a complete snot and looked at my Thomas Hart Benton print with an upturned nose. I promptly told her that I saw this same quality geltone going for at least $500 in online auctions to which she replied "People will try to sell anything for as much as they can get online." I had to laugh, because that is exactly what THEY are doing! To make matters worse, the woman I was supposed to meet with to assess my asian block prints didn't even show for the appt.! While most of the staff was helpful, I will not forget my experience with the blonde who looked at the print. I would go somewhere else...very snotty attitude with some of the others too. Especially the guy who looks like the lead in Rocky Horror Picture Show and his younger blonde colleague. Boo. Never judge a book by it's cover! I may have come in with jeans and a t shirt, but that doesn't mean I'm a pauper. read more

We brought some items to a valuation event. All employees we encountered were very professional and we were treated nicely even though none of the items we brought in were suitable for auction. In spite of this, Bonham employees kept asking us if we had any questions and made us feel right at home there. We received lengthy evaluations of each of our items. We were impressed enough to open an account because we will be back - maybe as sellers, but definitely as buyers. 6/26/17. I'm updating this review because I recently sold some coins through Bonhams. Again, great treatment from employees there. I watched the auction in LA live online from home. It was thrilling! Afterwards, I asked a few questions by email and literally got instant responses. Very professional. read more

Have purchased several items over the past 10 years...and consistently received incredibly bad service after the sale. Cashiering, pickup, responsiveness -- all utterly lacking and (worst of all), staff doesn't seem to care. Not to mention the unfriendly attitude which proliferates throughout the staff (with the great exception of the women who work the jewelry previews, all consistently helpful, nice, friendly and easy to deal with). Bonhams is always the same -- bad service, bad attitude, unfriendly, underwhelming. Now, I only purchase if something's a screaming deal. Otherwise, who needs the hassle...and having to wait 20+ minutes to pick up a (paid-for) item during regular business hours? Good luck -- you're going to need it, Bonhams. Wish it were different. read more

Staff is professional and well versed- however, it isn't the same calibre it used to be. We brought a portfolio in - 3 yrs ago - was given thumbs down on 4 items - evidently, no market for them. Returned and last month - same story. Blown away by fees, charges, and more fees. And they are far better than Clars- of zero-stars fame. read more

I cannot understand the low rating of Bonhams, San Francisco. I just returned from a free verbal appraisal by Andrew Lick in Palo alto. I loved hearing his story about my painting- he was so informed about the subject matter of my Chinese painting but because he did not know one aspect in more depth, he is referring the matter to another colleague. It was really a fun experience. read more