This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2012) |
Lyon & Turnbull is a privately owned international auction house located in Scotland. It was established in 1826 and is Scotland’s oldest auction house. The company is the largest independent auction house in the United Kingdom outside of London. The firm has a saleroom in Edinburgh with offices in London and Glasgow.
Formation | 1826 |
---|---|
Headquarters | 33 Broughton Place Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom |
| |
Website | www.lyonandturnbull.com |
History
editIn 1999, Lyon & Turnbull was acquired by a group of auctioneers who had left Phillips, an auction house which was the third largest in the world during the 1990s. They were joined in the enterprise by Sir Angus Grossart, Chairman of Noble Grossart, a Scottish merchant bank, and a past chairman of the trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland. The company's stated aim was "to rescue a national institution for Scotland and to establish a high quality auction house with an international footprint from a base in Edinburgh".[1]
The firm has a transatlantic alliance with the United States' oldest auction house, Freeman's of Philadelphia.
Notable sales have included L. S. Lowry’s Glasgow Docks 1947 painting and the sale of the Drambuie Art Collection, which profited over £4 million (US$7,836,606).
The building
editLyon & Turnbull is based in Broughton Place in Edinburgh, in a neoclassical building designed by Archibald Elliot, which was built in 1821.