Founded over four decades ago, Skinner offers more than 60 auctions annually. Skinner auctions reach an international audience and showcase the unique, rare, and beautiful in dozens of categories, including the fine and decorative arts, jewelry, modern design, musical instruments, science and technology, wine, and many others.

Drawing on the expertise of its specialists and its personalized service, Skinner works with individuals, institutions, and estate settlement professionals to attract outstanding items from across New England, the United States, and the world. Important sales include a Qing Dynasty vase that set the record for Chinese art sold in the U.S., works by Fitz Henry Lane and Aldro Thompson Hibbard, folk art portraiture, and Kashmir textiles. Skinner regularly sees strong results for items ranging from fine Italian violins to Cartier diamond jewelry.

Skinner is located in Boston and Marlborough, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and Florida, and offers its customers worldwide, “anywhere” access to its sales through the SkinnerLive! real-time, online bidding service.

Skinner was founded by dealer Robert W. Skinner, Jr. (1932-1984), who believed that New England, with its long history as an international arts center, was a fitting location for a world-class auction house. The company began operations in the 1960s and was incorporated in 1971 in Bolton, Massachusetts. Skinner’s Boston gallery opened in 1978. The company has seen steady growth, and in 2009, Skinner moved its headquarters to nearby Marlborough.

 

In March 2022, Skinner was acquired by Bonhams for an undisclosed sum. The new company will be called Bonhams Skinner.

 

Expert departments

Skinner’s appraisers regularly appear on the PBS-TV series, Antiques Roadshow, and other arts and culture programs. Representing 20 specialty collecting areas, the appraisers are expert in the areas of American furniture & decorative arts, American & European paintings & prints, European furniture & decorative arts, fine ceramics, fine jewelry, 20th Century design, fine musical instruments, Asian Works of Art, Fine Judaica, Science, Technology & Clocks, Rare Books & Manuscripts, Fine Silver, Antique Motor Vehicles, American Indian & Ethnographic Art, Fine Wines, Oriental rugs & carpets, Textiles & Couture, Toys, Dolls & Collectibles, and Discovery.

Notable auctions

Skinner conducts more than 60 auctions and events each year and has achieved world-record prices for many pieces sold at auction. Fitz Henry Lane’s Manchester Harbor, a 24x36 inch oil painting, sold for $5.5 million in November 2004, a world record for the artist and the highest price ever at auction in New England.

A rare and historically important previously undiscovered broadside copy of the United States Declaration of Independence sold in 2007 for $693,500. Another broadside copy printed in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1776 by Robert Luist Fowle sold for $380,000 on November 14, 2010.New Hampshire Gazette.

A molded copper touring car with driver weather vane, made in Boston circa 1910, sold for $941,000 

1958/63 Gibson Explorer Electric Guitar sold for $611,000 setting a world record price for a Gibson Guitar.