Sotheby's auctioneers Tim Ingles and Paul Hayday have left the
London company to form their own specialist auction house and
dealership. Ingles & Hayday will be based at 94–96 Wigmore
Street, and will hold its first sale on 21 May 2013. Sotheby's will
cease to hold instrument auctions.
The move is further evidence of Sotheby's desire to focus on its
core fine art and antiques business, an area that delivered
headline-making results for the company in 2012, chief among them
the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction – $119.9m
for Munch's The Scream.
Sotheby's has previously divested itself of other niche departments
such as coins, stamps and sporting memorabilia. These are now run
as independent companies, although the people who head them act as
consultants to Sotheby's, so that the auction house can call on
their expertise when servicing the needs of clients who buy and
sell in more than one area. Ingles explained: 'Sotheby's is very
keen to maintain a relationship with us, so clients who have
Picassos and Strads continue to be well looked after.'
Ingles said he wanted to free the business from what he sees as the
limitations of a large corporate infrastructure. 'Sotheby’s is set
up to sell large, valuable items that generally do not need to move
around. To run a successful violin business, you need to be
fast-moving and flexible. We hope we can provide slightly better
client service outside Sotheby’s than we did inside it.'
Ingles & Hayday will nevertheless hold its twice-yearly sales
at Sotheby's New Bond Street premises, and highlights of the May
sale will be on view there at the end of March, during the week of
the other London auctions.
Ingles leaves Sotheby's after 18 years with the company, Hayday
after 15. They took over the running of the department in 1999 and
set up a private sales side in 2004. Private sales now account for
about half of the business profits. 'There is more potential growth
in the private sales area than there is in auctions,' said Ingles,
'but we will carry on doing both. We have no intention of changing
the shape of the business.'
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