Bonhams — Local services in London

I've used Bonham's and Christies for wine auctions quite a few times over the years but recently stopped using Bonham's after I purchased a mixed case that included a fake bottle. This was supposedly a 1996 Pingus but the wine inside was pale with no deposit, had a new shiny cork with no wine ingress, and the capsule was loose and looked tampered with. A quick Google showed this had been a widely faked wine and that police had shut down a Belgian distributor, so I would have hoped for a quick refund. Instead I was told that no refund could be provided as the bottle was not in it's original condition. Very disappointing, and if buying anything above £100 a bottle from there I would strongly recommend viewing before purchase. Christies on the other hand have been excellent. A couple of times over the last decade I've purchased wines that were slightly mislabelled, and in both cases they quickly resolved the issues with an...

So far service is terrible. Invoice arrived 9 days after the auction using an addresss which is 6 years out of date. It took another, week to sort out invoice being provided with the correct billing information provided at time of registration.

Further they add VAT to the invoice without explicitly mentioning that there is VAT (combining it with buyers premium) which is deceptive. As a foreign buyer VAT can be removed when being shipped but deceptive practice both causes delays and the feeling of working with a disreputable company.

Further there are problems with the recommended shipper.

Go to Sothebys or...

Great to visit Bonham's today to see all The Crown costumes and props before they are auctioned. Great layout lots of floors for it to displayed, very modern rooms with a large lift. Very nice and friendly and helpful staff. Greatly situated in New Bond Street, with all the nice designer shops. Lovely to see all the costumes and props used, so much detail to get it close to the real royal family. Including the gold state coach, so very life-like. I loved the 10 Downing Street door, to, it looked so real and the model of the mall, with all the soldiers and coaches. Great that it was free to...