Bonhams director quits after 38 years

NICK BONHAM, charismatic director of Bonhams, has resigned - leaving the auction house without a Bonham on its board for the first time.

Bonham, who had been deputy chairman for two decades and worked there for 38 years, said: 'I'm 55 and I just decided it must be pastures new. In the present auction-house world, it's a young person's game.

'It is an immensely sad day for me, a massive wrench that I won't be selling £2m pictures again. I could have gone on until retirement age but it is not a parting of the ways that came out of any scandal or any nastiness.'

He added: 'I'm going to take up a non-executive chairmanship of a quoted Plc that is associated with the numismatic world. I will continue to sail and do the Cresta run, which I have done 23 times.'

Bonham joined the auctioneer just before his 18th birthday in 1966.

'My first wage as a junior typing out envelopes at the Knightsbridge branch was £6 a week,' he said. 'In my time I have sold more than a million works of art and led 3,000 sales.

'It was boom time and I remember there were hardly any competitors in the provinces, and Bonhams was refusing art by the lorryload.'

The auction house said Bonham was noted for his 'high integrity and fairness' and added that no one is immediately lined up as a successor.