Always a pleasure perusing Bonhams Skinner fine art sales. The staff has always been responsive and I am impressed with the selection of items. read more

This place is awful. I've had no success three separate times trying to get a "free" appraisal on known artists art that i have each time they said they couldn't appraise the art because they didn't know the artists. uh ok. Do not use this auction house. It's not the same as your parents' Skinner. I'd give it 0 stars if possible. read more

Bonhams Skinner - Auction Houses Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Wonderful experience! I had a large group of jewelry inherited from my grandmother. From start to finish they made the process so easy and straightforward. Auction was new to me and they walked me through every step. I especially appreciated how honest they were when evaluating my jewelry and told me which would bring higher prices at auction and which I would be better off selling to my local jeweler. I ended up realizing more than double what I had been offered when I got other quotes to sell it as a group. Highly recommended. read more

I'd love to know why Bonham has spent abundant time and energy muddling the historic records for this once venerable Americana auction. Its beyond idiotic. read more

Back in January I purchased a painting which when received did not not match the description of the item from a condition standpoint. They ultimately promised to send me a refund via check of $750, as part of the cost to make repairs to the canvas. It has now been 2+ months and nothing has been received despite several emails requesting status with one response over a month ago that the paperwork had been submitted! Extremely unprofessional and obviously don't give a crap! I had done business in the past with them but doubtful would do so again. read more

I have sold alot of my families property thru Skinners and have been treated very well.

I responded to the Bonhams person who commented on my review. I was offered the opportunity to speak directly with a responsible person and provided a day and generous window for when to call me during the following week. I never heard from anyone! I reached out to Bonhams and indicated my disappointment and was responded to with excuses. It's now been several weeks and still nothing. This experience has been [almost] the worst customer service I have ever received. I did notify the individual who first contacted me to cancel my Bonhams account. No interest in doing business with them ever again. By the way, I have a significant wine collection (4,000+ bottles) which I will be selling in the next couple years and guess what, it I won't be considering Bonhams. read more

Unfriendly, incompetent: cannot identify art glass correctly nor French porcelain. Lazy; will not bother looking up items for identification or value. when it was just Skinners they were better now go elsewhere. I know I will. read more

I wish I would have read all the horrible reviews before consigning my jewelry with this auction house. The communication is absolutely horrendou. You will go days or weeks without a reply to your email and if you are lucky enough to get a reply it won't answer all of your questions. They said their estimates were conservative but half my items didn't sell and the other half sold within the low range. It seems as though they are not well informed of the market. Overall an extremely long, frustrating, and arduous process for little return. I never write reviews on anything but hopefully you will read this and choose another auction house read more

BIDDER BEWARE: "How to Bid" instructions are very misleading, albeit fraudulent. I am not sure you can interpret it any other way. Here are the instructions: "...On the lot page, choose the maximum price you'd like to bid from the dropdown menu, then click 'Place Bid'. Otherwise, press cancel. then ... When the auction is in progress, the auctioneer will place bids on your behalf until you reach your maximum bid price or win the lot at a lower price. If you are outbid, you will be informed by email or push notification on the Bonhams app, with the option to increase your max bid. We recommend you follow the live auction in case you want to quickly increase your max bid." The only way I see to interpret this is when you place your Max Bid, the system will bid on your behalf until your max price is reached. If your Max Bid is not reached, you will win at the highest priced bid it took to outbid the next party. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Your Max Bid is actually your current bid. The system does not bid on your behalf and you will not get it for a lower price. You are bidding against yourself if you put a high max bid. I paid more than double the price of the next highest bid becuase I was "willing" to pay more. I called and they said I was reading the instructions wrong. I filed a complaint wiht them to update the instructions since this is again borderline purposeful misrepresentation. read more

A really badly managed auction house. I bought two rugs from them and sent them a check since they charge for C.C. payments. Included with my invoice I sent my resale #. I had bought previously from them and they had my resale #, The invoice # of my purchase in 2020 was Sk00108904. It showed my resale # and no tax. This time around even-though as abundance of caution I had send the check along with a copy of my resale # some one who is oblivious to sales tax laws was requesting resale # of only Massachusetts and not California. His name as he told us over the phone is Paul. I had hired and paid for a public transporter to pick up the goods so I had no choice but to pay with a credit card. I will be disputing this of course. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM. read more

They are deceptive and unethical. I bid on four items on their online rug auction. Their online auctions are run in a rather confusing and cumbersome way. It was twenty minutes before the items I was interested in were going to close. I placed my maximum bids online for the items; my maximum bids were about 50% over the current bids. To my shock the bid prices jumped to what I had just put in as my maximum offer or one increment below that on all four items. From this it was clear that they do not bid for you in a competitive way the way other auction platforms do. I had read carefully the instructions for bidding online, and nowhere did they disclose that they would jump my bids up to my maximum. There was NO disclosure. They are dishonest. Shame! read more

All auctions can be hit or miss, but that's the nature of the beast! Very professional and friendly staff.

This business does not take credit cards or pack and ship. They are highly not recommended. Customer satisfaction is not their concern. I will never use again read more

The absolute most inept auction house. They never respond to emails about your work up for auction. Their return policy to get your own art back is a nightmare of complexity. Their experts are non-responsive. There is no communication whatsoever. This is an auction house to avoid at all costs read more

Steer extremely clear of this place. Other reviews will offer you all the detail you need. Terrible, uncouth people with no regard for service and a laughable perception of their own "expertise". read more

Skinner can be hit or miss, good or bad. You have to look things over very closely. They sell in groupings and lots. Nothing, well, for the most part is without some type of none perfect condition - so, you have to look carefully and IF you decide to bid on something you've seen I would take time stamped pics of the item at the time you looked it over - so IF it is damaged when you go to pic up it up you can prove it. The online bids really pick up rapid pace the last few minutes so take close attention. The Marlboro Showrooms seem to have a lower standard of quality than Boston - especially in the jewelry and silver area. The staff isn't too friendly, the seem to think they are aloof, too educated, or above the dealers who come to preview and kinda look down their noses if you ask them questions - it is like they are going out of their way to help you. Usually in life when someone acts in such ways it says more about them. You can get some reasonable deals... but there are other auction houses that treat people and items in kinder and more professional ways. So, go... look, bid, and maybe you'll find that deal you're looking for. read more

I used to adore this firm,,, that's until Bonhams bought them.. what a horrific experience I have had w the new management .. if you call Boston you get rerouted to uk to folks that put you on hold forever .. right hand doesn't have a left hand to speak of forget about whether the two hands communicate . read more

Beware of credit card security when dealing with the new Bonham's regime at Skinner. We recently were notified by Fidelity that our credit card number was discovered "for sale on the dark web" as a result of nefarious activity at the main London office of Bonham's. Fidelity cancelled the card and left us waiting for a replacement, and we still must deal with possible fraudulent charges. So after many years, we are now former Skinner customers--until they lift the requirement that customers must share credit card information in order to bid in one of their auctions. read more

I've bought from Skinner for years. The items are mostly good. But dealing with ANYONE there after the auction is SO AWUL, SO negative and SO convoluted that I will NEVER deal with them again. Skinner makes it difficult to get information about an item, to pay after the auction, and to pick up items that have been paid for. The owners MUST know the widespread reputation because they've implemented a happy/sad feedback system for every email an employee writes to a customer. But it makes no difference! NO ONE CARES! The incompetence and the poor experiences just get repeated again and again. There are so many other quality shops that WANT to work with clients and WANT to earn repeat business. That's not Skinner. They have some nice things. But know that if you buy anything from them (anything!!), the post-auction experience will be awful. read more

My expectations were wrong on so many levels. I'm leaving this review so that others are better guided and thus less open to disappointment. I just sold two paintings with Skinner that I bought there nearly ten years ago. It was challenging: 1) Really hard to get the attention of their reps. Unlike others, I didn't find the reps to be other than professional (when you finally got their attention); I just found them to be overworked. I think Skinner is under-investing in customer service. 2) Last time I left a review--on the topic immediately above--I got a phone call from someone at Skinner inquiring about the review. So I guess that's one way to get their attention! As I didn't want to get the rep I had (eventually and sporadically) worked with in trouble, I took the review down. To that Skinner person: don't call me again; I will not remove this one. 3) I bought the paintings for $1,000 each. I sold them for $475 and $500 (hammer prices). OK, so I have a terrible eye. But I can't help feeling that some of the loss had to do with buying at an in-person auction but, for the sale, Skinner put them in an on-line auction. There are so many other on-line auctions out there, I'm not sure that they carry the same imprimatur of quality (and hence price justification) that you expect an auction house to provide. 4) And then, of course, there's the fees: 27.5 percent on top of hammer price when you buy, and 15 percent off the hammer price when you sell (the latter a concession as I'd bought the pieces at Skinner). So if you buy a piece for $1,000 and sell it later for the same price you'll loose $475. 5) If that wasn't enough, they've a clunky website that doesn't do what they say it will. For example, I got a robo e-mail about the sale results that says "If you are viewing results online, turn the BP toggle switch to off to show the hammer price (reflected in your settlement) and not the default view which includes the buyers premium paid to the auction house." There is no "BP toggle switch". Also, why would they show the seller the amount the buyer has paid in total? That's just rubbing the fee structure in your face. 6) As a seller, they need you to provide a W-9. No problem. But they inform you of this via an email and an attached on-line form. This comes from an email address that doesn't have the word 'Skinner' in it. The info wanted includes your social security number, not something I like to put in an email from an unidentified source. So I went to the website and my profile there. There was no sign of a request for this info or a way to enter it on the website. There wasn't even a notice saying they were going to send you the email from an address you wouldn't recognize. A search for "W-9" shows no results I could go on but just be warned: it's an all around unpleasant experience. read more

Since they sold out, Skinner has prioritized greed over customer care. This is our experience, yours may difffer.

I sent some family jewelry to Skinner to sell, some of which sold. Two of the items I sent were earrings and matching brooch which were purchased in the late 1800's along with the ORIGINAL BOX. Skinner was unable to sell the items which I understand, but the items were returned to me WITHOUT the original box. I find this unacceptable since I included a letter explaining that the original box was included. read more

Customer Care/Service is non existent. They are disorganized,rude and unhelpful. Will never buy from them again

Sent a bottle of 60 year old brandy to Skinner for auction. Upon physically examining the bottle, their estimate sale price was $450 - $650, which sounded a little low, but acceptable. When the auction started, the opening bid was set at $200, and it ended up selling for $275. Really frustrating, as I would have kept it for that. Had no idea they would start the bidding with no reserve at 50% of the estimate. Partly my fault and inexperience, as I should have specified a starting price. But Skinner should have also been more helpful in offering guidance. Pretty poor communication. read more

Auction software does not inform you if you won, emails go to spam folders, difficult to pay and verify authenticity. And with buyers premium, not a good price. I did not have a good experience, they canceled my invoice and put the item back in the auction. Very snippy and elitist to deal with even the Director level people. Given the trust level, I would not use this company again. read more

This auction house doesn't seem to care much for anything past their commission. They are totally useless when it comes to shipping as their "in house" shipping department won't answer emails or the phone. Because of that you get stuck with some other shipper who charges 5 times what a normal cost would. I've only dealt with this auction house once, but I won't be returning. Not impressed at all. read more

We recently contracted with Skinner Auctioneers to have a few pieces of Native American pottery appraised. It was a disappointing and poor appraisal by the man who oversees the Tribal Arts section at Skinner. It was obvious that he had little knowledge (he isn't a specialist in Native American art, but more of a generalist), and it was also obvious that he spent minimal time in researching the objects before giving a fully unacceptable appraisal. This is the second bad experience I've had with Skinner. A number of years ago, I left off a collection of antique bottles for their auction. When they weren't listed in the catalog, I asked about them, and was told that they were lost. Almost a year later, they called and explained the bottles had been found, but had been broken. They were worth over a thousand dollars, but Skinner Auctioneers sent me a check for $50, telling me because their "expert" hadn't seen them, they could not justify a higher compensation. My points is, don't use this auction house. They are corrupt and dishonest, and you will be treated rudely and with disdain. Others have confirmed my impression and opinion about them. read more

My consignment with Skinner was a horrible nightmare from day one. I spent a considerable amount of $$ and time transporting "fine" 18th and 19th century (I am a looong time respected dealer) Chinese,Japanese, and European pieces from Buffalo NY to Marlborough. The intake person was an Americana expert scheduled by their receptionist. He complained bitterly because I was late, no one to help, etc. I asked to come back next day for inventory, and to p/u what they did not want. Told, no, don't work on Friday. Asian expert not here, etc. AFTER return to NY, Rudely phoned by clerk that my pieces were all damaged,too late, not worthy, and they wanted only 5 Asian items, the rest could be bundled into large groups for the el cheapo Discovery Sales. They so called Asian expert was on vacation, had not even seen them. When she finally viewed my items, none of my pieces were worthy. Told to come get them, sorry. However, they did want my good European paintings, Bronze, and few "cherry picked" high ticket items" No word yet over a week later on my other pieces. Can't even arrange to go spend a fortune to pick up my so called unworthy garbage. The selling market is poor. Extremely high caliber items are flooding the market as people need $$$. Skinner can not and will not be bothered with pieces bringing less than $1000, or $500. They don't care about you. All that matters is what they can make. I was made to feel like a fool, wondering where I screwed up. Never in my life and I have dealt with crooked auctions, lost items etc., have I been treated so badly. I warn you tread carefully sellers. Go elsewhere. I could get better prices at a yard sale. P.S. You can Google me and see my worthless pieces to get an idea of what they turned down read more

Skinner Auction! Self proclaimed "most reputable auction house in the business" is far from it. Their position is no better that the slimy auction houses that give their business a bad name. My company spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, much of it with US auction houses. We've come to expect a level of full disclosure in the items we buy. Skinner has made it their business to lightly gloss over the condition of their lots and hide behind their vague descriptions. When doing business with Skinner Auction, buyer be ware. read more

I have purchased a couple of admittedly small items at their auctions; nevertheless, they always seem incompetent. Most recently I used their online payments service to pay for a won lot. The system double charged me, so my credit card declined them. After my 2nd attempt went through I received a receipt and it posted to my debit card, but when my shipper went to collect several days later Skinner said I hadn't paid. Called Skinner and they said that it takes 3 to 5 days for charges to post to them. (Uh, what century do you exist in? The 18th?) Don't mean to get in the weeds, but these hassles have occurred w/ them a couple of times now unlike at other auction houses I deal with. read more

I have been a customer of both Skinner and Bonhams for many years and it pains me to write this review since in general I thought they were an honest and fair auction house. I have a serious complaint about a recent item that I bid on (lot 0327 in the November 8, 2022 auction they held in Los Angeles). I was the winning bidder on LiveAuctioneers (in GREEN stating I was "WINNING", for over 30 seconds) when they arbitrarily retracted my bid and sold this item to someone else. I DID NOT RETRACT MY BID.....THEY DID....and I watched it happen LIVE while I was participating in the auction. This is completely unfair and they have yet to provide me with any sort of explanation. I might have expected this from a lower end auction house, but for someone like Bonham's/Skinners this is SHAMEFUL and totally unacceptable. I have filed a complaint with LiveAuctioneers, but that is likely not going to go anywhere since they are just a mediator....so my only recourse is to publicly SHAME this auction house for such an inappropriate action. Buyers beware!!!!! read more

Goodness, I have never had a bad experience with Skinner. The opposite is in fact the case, I continue to sing their praises to anyone who wants to listen. My love affair started when my husband bought my engagement ring there 4 years ago and it has continued ever since- straight through my wedding band and my Christmas gifts each year since then. I have shopped the jewelry, discovery, decorative arts, painting, carpet and fine wine sales all with positive experiences and great buys. The sales are top notch, and I have the paintings, furniture, and jewelry to prove it. The staff are eager to help and guide you, with honest appraisals and opinions. read more

I'd give them a better review if they returned phone calls. If you have artwork to sell, I'd recommend not wasting your time, they are other companies that don't waste your time. read more

Couldn't be more frustrated with an auction house. It's been 90 days now since i "won" my auction. I've sent in the required paperwork they've asked for 3 times and i still have not recieved my items and continue to get the run around. read more

update: not only has shipping continues to decline, the accounts receivable and service in general has become terrible. not sure I will put up with this anymore. completely unprofessional read more

I had a lot of high end and antique furniture to sell because of an overseas move. They were picky about what they took, which is fine. But they don't know what they are doing. They took a good mid-Century rosewood leather sofa and said we'd get up to $1800 for it. I ended up getting like $200 because it went for nothing at auction. I could easily have sold it myself for a lot more. Other stuff went for almost nothing as well. Finally, I just took back the rest of it and when we picked it up, it had serious damage. They tried to totally deny culpability even though we noted the damage on the pick-up receipt, and broken parts were given to us by them in ziplocs. Finally, they agreed to pay for repairs, and I'm still waiting on the check. NEVER again. read more

Excellent experience. Professional, friendly, knowledgeable. Will do business again. Thanks Jonathan. read more

A dishonest and unreliable firm. Asked for a condition report on a set of dining chairs. Because of the report stating they were in good condition, I purchased them for over $25,000. When I received them they were in terrible condition and required $4,200 in repairs. I contacted the director who did not respond. But the head of the department offered me $9 (yes nine dollars) worth of material to repair them. They would not do anything and were indifferent and arrogant. The are not honest, their practices are to present things that are of a different condition than reality. I must now take them to court to read more

Terrible experience. Sold 2 lots and didn't even come close to the low estimate. And they are supposed to be conservative in their estimates ?? Come to find out the original description I sent didn't even make it to the final page! Bad communication throughout the entire process. read more