Latest news with #auctionhouse
CTV News
24-06-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Piece of Toronto Maple Leafs history auctioned off
Northern Ontario Watch A hockey stick with a connection to northern Ontario and the Toronto Maple Leafs history was sold at auction for $60,000.
The Sun
20-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Incredible way to get designer clothes, perfumes and gadgets for less than a tenner
EVERYWHERE I look there are hundreds of suitcases in different colours, shapes and sizes. But I'm not in an airport arrivals lounge and there is no luggage carousel in sight. 5 5 5 Instead, I'm at a suitcase auction at Greasbys in Tooting, South London, where you can buy unclaimed luggage from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted for a fraction of the price. Luggage usually goes missing when you have a connecting flight with a different airline, as there is a higher chance your belongings could get lost. Six bags went missing for every 1,000 checked in last year, according to aviation data company Sita. If your bag never arrives and you don't tell the airport, it may be passed to an auction house to sell to the highest bidder. Here's how to bag a bargain of your own . . . HOW IT WORKS GREASBYS has been selling lost luggage for more than 50 years. It holds online-only auctions every other Wednesday. Bidders must email their sealed bids before the auction starts. The person who makes the highest offer wins the item. You can go to the actual auction house the day before to check the suitcases and bags — which is what I'm here to do. I'm surprised to discover you can't open the luggage to inspect the actual items. Every bag and suitcase comes with a label describing the contents. You are unlikely to find high-value items inside luggage. I spent £136 to see if the lost luggage trend was worth it - I thought I'd nab designer goodies but it was a total flop Designer clothes, gadgets, bags and shoes are taken out and sold individually. High-street clothes in good condition are also removed, bagged and sold as one lot. There are typically 20 items to a bag, which usually go for at least £10. Most cases sell for between £18 to £60. The airports are sent the profits from sales, after the auction house takes a cut. If you're worried about ending up with someone's dirty smalls, don't be alarmed. Christine Sachett, owner of Greasbys, says: 'The staff go through every suitcase. They also remove more personal items.' ANY BARGAINS? I FIND two children's Tommy Hilfiger coats, one in hot pink and another in navy blue. They retail at £75 each but sell for £10.80. And my eyes widen as I spy a pair of cream Prada Pegasus trainers worth £600 and sold for £40. A pink and ivory scarf from Mulberry is just my style — it sells for £31.50. There are 15 people browsing in Greasbys and many are regulars. 'Some people work and need to supplement their income, some people actually do it for a living,' Christine said. One regular buys suitcases and sells them on his market stall in Portobello Road. SECRET BIDDING TIPS MAKE sure the wheels and zips are intact when buying a suitcase. 'Check the name of the suitcase and research how much it would normally cost you,' Christine said. 'Some of the big holdalls on wheels are nearly £100 to buy, depending on the bag.' Buying suitcases can often be a mixed bag. 'Unless the owner was unlucky and lost their bag on their way out, or they get everything laundered while they are on holiday, you could be buying someone's dirty holiday clothes,' she said. Do not focus on the weight. 'If it is heavy it could mean it is full of cheap clothing,' she said. 'Lighter ones may have really nice clothing inside.' WATCH OUT FOR FEES FEES are added on top of the hammer price. A buyer's premium will be charged, which is 26 per cent of the cost. VAT, 20 per cent, is also added to the premium only. So a £50 item is £65.60. ARE THERE OTHERS? INDEPENDENT auction house Mulberry Bank in Glasgow holds two lost luggage sales a month. Bristol Commercial Valuers and Auctioneers also holds online lost luggage auctions. BEFORE YOU BID GREASBYS does not offer any guarantees or warranties. If there is something wrong with your item, Greasbys won't give you a refund, a replacement, or fix it for you. That means it's a risk buying items locked inside the luggage, as you can't see if they are in good nick. When buying at an auction, Gurpreet Chhokar from consumer site Which? warns you may not benefit from the same protections as with a retailer. She said: 'You might not be able to change your mind and get a refund. 'Check any terms and conditions relating to auction sales carefully.' You may also lose a powerful consumer protection, Section 75, when making payments to the auction house using a credit card, she added. Usually, it allows you to claim money back from your credit card provider if something goes wrong. I PAID £130, THIS IS WHAT WAS INSIDE... SENIOR Fabulous Digital Writer Abigail Wilson bought an unclaimed suitcase from Undelivrd, and here's what she found . . . I WAS intrigued to see if I'd bag exciting treasures. I ordered my case for £129.99 from Undelivrd, a warehouse that sells lost Royal Mail parcels, Amazon return pallets and forgotten baggage. The size and brand of case you get will be random. The contents are also a surprise. When the case arrived, it was wrapped in a bin bag. The case was an American Tourister, which is worth £129, but pretty battered. A mouldy smell hit me before I even unzipped it. Rather than pricey clothes or electricals, the contents left me gutted – smelly socks, worn boxers and dirty hoodies. I was excited when I spotted a White Company toiletry bag. But then I realised it's a freebie you get on long-haul BA flights. A pair of leather shoes from Asda, £25 if bought new, was the only decent thing I found. I totted up the cost of the contents and was surprised to see that, when bought new, the items would come to £223.98. If you include the cost of the case, it added up to just over £350. But it was nothing near what I had hoped for, so it really is a lucky dip when ordering lost luggage online. I GOT FREEBIES WORTH £62 IN 24 HOURS WHO doesn't love a freebie? There is no better feeling than getting your hands on a coffee, meal or drink without spending a penny. That's why I spent a day hoovering up bargains along my local high street, including coffee, spring rolls, and even a cocktail – and managed to get nearly £62 worth of goodies. Shops often offer customers freebies to promote new products, reward them for their loyalty or to attract new shoppers. Food and drink prices have soared in the past few years, making it more expensive to grab a treat. So I was eager to see how many freebies I could get my hands on in 24 hours. At 8.30am I popped into my local Greggs to grab my first freebie of the day – a black coffee, worth £1.90. I had downloaded the Greggs app the night before and all I needed to do was open the app and activate the reward. What a result! At 1pm the hunt began for a bargain lunch. I headed to Chopstix Noodle Bar, as I heard that you can get five free spring rolls worth £2.50 if you download the shop's app. I signed up, and in minutes, a coupon for the snack appeared in my account. They were just how I like them – crunchy on the outside and still warm from the oven. At 1.40pm I ventured over to visit a Mac Cosmetics near the office and asked for some testers. I got two 10ml samples of Hyper Real Serumizer, a bestseller, which costs £80 for a 50ml bottle. My samples are worth £12.80. At 6pm I met my friends at the pub. I used an app called Dusk, which helps you find free drinks at bars. The Pembroke in Earl's Court was giving away one free Hugo Spritz worth £10 to every customer, so I went and claimed mine. Cheers! lI also got: Blueberry muffin £3.75; taco £3.49; cappuccino £4.10; cosmetic samples £15.91; Nicotine pouches, £6.50; cat food 19p DROOPER MARKETS SUPERMARKETS suffered a 'dismal' month of May as shoppers cut back on booze and tobacco spending, figures reveal. The total volume of retail sales fell by 2.7 per cent — dropping at the fastest rate in more than a year — the Office for National Statistics says. 5 This compared with a 1.3 per cent rise in April. May's overall retail sales came in considerably below the 0.7 per cent decline that most economists had been expecting for the month. ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: 'Retail sales fell sharply in May with their largest monthly fall since the end of 2023. This was mainly due to a dismal month for food retailers, especially supermarkets, following strong sales in April. 'Feedback suggested reduced purchases for alcohol and tobacco, with customers choosing to make cutbacks.' She added that clothing and homeware stores were reporting reduced footfall in May. A drop in demand for DIY items last month followed the sunny weather in April that had boosted home improvement projects. Despite May's decline, retail sales volumes rose by 0.8 per cent across the three months to May, compared with the three months to February. Nicholas Found, head of commercial content at research consultancy Retail Economics, said: 'The cost of living remains the dominant concern for households.' PETROL PRICES RISING PETROL prices are on the rise again after fuel costs fell to their lowest levels since July 2021. The AA said average prices of unleaded hit 132.8p on Thursday, after they bottomed out at 132.3p last month. Diesel was 138.9p a litre on Thursday, after a low of 138.1p. Tensions in the Middle East have pushed up global oil prices. The AA's Luke Bosdet said: 'Oil prices look daunting but the impact's been limited.' SUPPLY PAIN THE supermarket watchdog has launched a new probe into Amazon. The Grocery Code Adjudicator will look at whether it breached rules on treatment of suppliers. It will focus on its delays to paying them, deductions to commercial negotiations, and how it manages supplier concerns. Leading ombudsman Mark White said: 'The alleged delays could expose Amazon suppliers to excessive risk and unexpected costs, potentially affecting their ability to invest and innovate.' TAX TWEAK MAJOR changes to council tax are coming with a Government shake-up. Millions of households could make the payments over 12 months instead of ten under plans to help households manage their finances better. A consultation launched yesterday also laid out plans to make town halls wait longer before demanding a bill is paid in full and cap liability orders. If just one payment is missed, a council currently can demand bills are paid for an entire year.
Khaleej Times
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
A Dubai-based art collector channels Audrey Hepburn in her dream home vision
Head of Sotheby's UAE, Katia Nounou Boueiz, came to Dubai in 2015 and is now leading the first GCC outpost of an auction house with nearly 300 years of history under its belt. She gave wknd. an exclusive preview of some of the highlights of her growing art collection at her Jumeirah home, and told us how everyone can become a collector. Katia calls the couple's villa as 'a quintessential LA-style house, right in the middle of Jumeirah'. It has a modern feel, high ceilings and expansive glass windows, as well as big white walls which are perfect for showcasing art. 'We have lots of colourful paintings and ceramic sculptures everywhere throughout. In terms of the furniture, we've made a conscious effort to keep it as minimalist as possible, to let the art take centre stage,' she explained. Katia hosts art collectors from around the world while she cooks up her signature Persian cuisine from her family recipes for as many as 130 guests. Just 38, Katia was born and raised in London but is originally of Iraqi and Iranian heritage. She moved to Dubai together with her husband after they got married in 2015. 'Being surrounded by beautiful paintings for the last 17 years since I started working at Sotheby's will make you into somewhat of a collector,' she told wknd. 'Though my favourite period has to be that of the Impressionists - a little over my budget - my husband and I have slowly started to build a collection over the last 12 years that brings together established and less established contemporary artists from all over the world. 'The first piece that we bought was for our London home, a 1970s piece titled Atom by Turkish artist Hamit Gorele, which we won in a Sotheby's auction. I still absolutely love it.' One of the most exciting purchases the couple have made is a beautiful piece by Latifa Echakhch, which they bought from the Kamel Mennour Gallery. 'She is a very talented Moroccan-French artist who participated in the Venice Biennale in 2011 and won the Duchamp Prize in 2013. This is one of the few paintings both my husband and I fell in love with instantly, we were both 100% sold the moment we saw it.' Sotheby's, founded in London in 1744, and the world's oldest and largest internationally recognised firm of fine art auctioneers, opened its first Dubai-based gallery in 2017. 'While others were focusing on categories such as watches and Middle Eastern art, though we also catered for the best of the best in those fields, my priority was to establish ourselves as the pioneers in bringing masterpieces of international art from different periods, in line with the Louvre Abu Dhabi's boundless approach,' Katia told wknd. 'We showcased Old Masters with Rembrandt, Rubens, Botticelli, Impressionist and Modern Art with Picasso, Kandinsky and Giacometti, and Contemporary including a monumental Mappa by Boetti and a one-of-a-kind collection of Warhol prints.' Since then, the auction house has also presented some incredibly important and rare jewels in the UAE, such as Marie-Antoinette's jewels, including her pearl, as well as major gemstones, such as the 303 carat Golden Canary yellow diamond and the magnificent 55 carat Estrela de Fura ruby. And the company's work in the UAE only keeps growing. In April, Sotheby's held its first public exhibition in Abu Dhabi in 15 years, unveiling $100 million (Dh367 million) of rare diamonds at the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation on Saadiyat Island, with two days of sold-out guided tours. Work and home have now become interwoven for Katia, for whom collecting has become a way of life. But it is not only for professionals, she says. 'The first thing I always advise is to establish your own personal style or aesthetic, and consider the overall theme of your home, whether it's more modern, classic or traditional, or eclectic or minimalist. 'You should seek out art that will compliment and enhance your interior. The next most important thing is that the art speaks to you, whether its paintings, photography, sculptures, you should choose pieces that resonate with you and evoke emotions. All of this will enhance your everyday living.' Textures are key to a collection's visual appeal, so varying the art created in different mediums is vital, she said. 'I also highly encourage trying to buy from artists globally - there are so many things out there once you start looking,' she said. Her favourite space in the Jumeirah villa is the main entrance, a true focal point that any guest will have to see. An open space with natural light pouring in, it's a testament to the very personalities at the heart of the home. 'Here you have artworks hung, centred around my favourite piece of furniture, a wooden dining table that is a pretty big statement piece,' she said. 'My second favourite spot would have to be my rooftop, with its gorgeous view of Dubai's iconic skyline, which is where I tend to host all of my big parties,' she added. But contrary to her life of city living from London to Dubai, Katia says that her dream home would be a charming Provençal or country-style house, like the one once owned by Audrey Hepburn in a small village in Switzerland, with a big vegetable and fruit garden. 'This would be a nice contrast to the busy city and beach lifestyle I have between London and Dubai, something I would welcome in the future, when I'm manifesting my retirement plans,' she smiled. 'For inspiration, I look to the likes of Martha Stewart and Amal Clooney, as I love the aesthetic of their interior style. Going through Sotheby's catalogues is also an age-old inspiration, that is all the more easier now its all online. You could spend hours browsing through and seeing how collectors over time have decorated their spaces.' But for now, Dubai remains a huge inspiration, a hub bringing the world to the Middle East in an ever-growing arts and culture scene. 'Dubai is such a dynamic, vibrant and culturally diverse city, which draws influences from all around the world,' she said. 'The city inspires me to appreciate a wide array of styles and aesthetics, encouraging me to blend these various elements into my collection and the work that I do. I find beauty in the fusion of contemporary designs and art mixed with earthy elements, which creates a nice balance. 'By nature of my line of work at Sotheby's, I get to meet so many interesting people from all over the world, and through these experiences and encounters, my taste is ever evolving.'
The Sun
26-05-2025
- The Sun
Urgent hunt for ‘ram raid' suspect after car ‘ploughed into posh London auction house' teeming with jewels & paintings
A POSH London auction house appears to have been ram raided by a car in an aggravated burglary. The incident occurred in the early hours of this morning and reportedly saw a car smash into the front of a building. 3 The Phillips Gallery on Berkley Square, Mayfair, closed for the bank holiday, looks to have been the target of a ram raid. A blue Mercedes appears to have rammed into the front of the upmarket auction house in the early hours of this morning. The front of the building can be seen completely smashed up with the car stopped on the pavement outside. The building's glass door has been shattered and torn from the hinges by the impact of the vehicle. The blue car, left abandoned on the pavement outside the gallery, has been left with dents and scratches from the impact. Police are treating the incident as an aggravated burglary and have launched an investigation. Officers are appealing for anyone with information to come forward. They have been unable to confirm if anything was stolen from the auction house. A crime scene has been set up around the auction house with police tape blocking off the area. The Phillips Gallery auctions art, design, watches, and jewels worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. The Met Police said: " Officers are investigating a suspected aggravated burglary at a commercial property in Berkley Square at 04:14 hours on Monday, 26 May. A crime scene remains in plce while initial enquiries are conducted. Id you have any information relating to the incident please contact the Met on 101, quoting 1114/26May. "No arrests have been made at this stage." 3 3
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Céline Assimon Named Chief Commercial Officer at Bonhams
LONDON — Céline Assimon, the former chief executive officer of De Beers Jewellers, has been appointed chief commercial officer at Bonhams, the international auction house headquartered on New Bond Street, WWD has learned. Her appointment was confirmed in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday morning. More from WWD Delphine Viguier-Hovasse Named L'Oréal Chief Innovation and Prospective Officer EXCLUSIVE: More Executive Changes for Flos B&B Group as Arclinea Family CEO Steps Down Nancy Astor's Turquoise and Diamond Cartier Tiara Hits the Auction Block at Bonhams 'Excited to share that I have joined Bonhams as chief commercial officer. I am privileged to be a part of this international auction house, which was established in 1793 in London, and I look forward to contributing to its rich legacy. A big thank you to Chabi Priscilla Nouri and Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard for their [Nouri and Hoejsgaard] trust,' Assimon said in a post. Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the four original Georgian London auction houses. It is owned by Epiris, the U.K.-based private equity company, and has 14 salerooms across the globe, selling items in more than 60 collecting categories. Assimon joined De Beers in 2020 and left at the end of February. As reported, De Beers wished her 'the very best for all future endeavors,' and said a search is underway to recruit a successor. The company said Assimon 'successfully repositioned De Beers Jewellers as a design-led luxury brand through the expansion of our creative product portfolio in core collections and high jewelery.' It added that Assimon 'built the jeweler's global brand presence through relationships with market leading partners and laid the groundwork for the launch of its Rue de la Paix flagship store in Paris later this year.' The brand is set to open the flagship in the fourth quarter in a building that has recently been renovated. De Beers also credited Assimon with revamping the look and feel of the brand. 'Over the course of nearly five years, I have thoroughly enjoyed my role as the custodian of De Beers Jewellers,' said Assimon, adding that she was particularly proud of the rebranding and upcoming ad campaign. 'Collaborating with my team to research and articulate its distinctive DNA has been a remarkable adventure. The blend of African heritage with a touch of London sophistication resonates deeply,' she added. Best of WWD EXCLUSIVE: Maje Names Charlotte Tasset Ferrec CEO Nadja Swarovski Exits Family Company Amid Ongoing Corporate Shakeup Aeffe MD Exits Fashion Group
