Jon Baddeley
Encyclopedia
Jon Baddeley is one of the world’s leading fine art auctioneers, an authority on scientific instruments and collectables, a broadcaster and an author.
As Managing Director of Bonhams, Knightsbridge – the busiest of the international auction house’s portfolio of salerooms – Jon is responsible for auctions of jewellery, silver, paintings, furniture & works of art, specialist sales of portrait miniatures, arms & armour, sporting guns, coins & medals, science & technology, toys & dolls, and entertainment memorabilia.
Jon began his career at Sotheby's Belgravia in the early 1970s. He joined as a porter, but quickly rose through the ranks to become Head of the Collectors' department and auctioneer by the age of 25. Subsequently, he left the company to become an independent dealer in decorative arts for the next five years. However, missing the thrill of the auction world, he rejoined Sotheby's in the early 1980s and remained there for the following 20 years, finally becoming Group Head and Board Director of Sotheby's, London.
In 2003, Jon joined Bonhams as Global Director of Collectors' sales and over the following seven years has been responsible for many landmark auctions and world record prices. Highlights include: the British Airways Concorde auction, the Admiral Nelson Bicentenary sale, John Lennon' lyrics for Give Peace A Chance, Eric Clapton’s Guitar Collection and the dress worn by the late actress Judy Garland in the role of Dorothy in the film The Wizard of Oz. He has sold props from the BBC's Dr Who television programme, a 14th century English astrolabe quadrant (now in the British Museum), the Michael Bennett-Levy Collection of Early Technology, Peter Golding’s Collection of Rock Art and The Ward Collection of Musical Snuff Boxes.
He is the author of the reference book Nautical Antiques and Collectables, which has been published in the UK and re-printed in France and Germany. Jon is also known to millions of people across the world as a specialist on the BBC's long-running television programme The Antiques Roadshow, on which he has made regular appearances since it began in 1977.
As Managing Director of Bonhams, Knightsbridge – the busiest of the international auction house’s portfolio of salerooms – Jon is responsible for auctions of jewellery, silver, paintings, furniture & works of art, specialist sales of portrait miniatures, arms & armour, sporting guns, coins & medals, science & technology, toys & dolls, and entertainment memorabilia.
Jon began his career at Sotheby's Belgravia in the early 1970s. He joined as a porter, but quickly rose through the ranks to become Head of the Collectors' department and auctioneer by the age of 25. Subsequently, he left the company to become an independent dealer in decorative arts for the next five years. However, missing the thrill of the auction world, he rejoined Sotheby's in the early 1980s and remained there for the following 20 years, finally becoming Group Head and Board Director of Sotheby's, London.
In 2003, Jon joined Bonhams as Global Director of Collectors' sales and over the following seven years has been responsible for many landmark auctions and world record prices. Highlights include: the British Airways Concorde auction, the Admiral Nelson Bicentenary sale, John Lennon' lyrics for Give Peace A Chance, Eric Clapton’s Guitar Collection and the dress worn by the late actress Judy Garland in the role of Dorothy in the film The Wizard of Oz. He has sold props from the BBC's Dr Who television programme, a 14th century English astrolabe quadrant (now in the British Museum), the Michael Bennett-Levy Collection of Early Technology, Peter Golding’s Collection of Rock Art and The Ward Collection of Musical Snuff Boxes.
He is the author of the reference book Nautical Antiques and Collectables, which has been published in the UK and re-printed in France and Germany. Jon is also known to millions of people across the world as a specialist on the BBC's long-running television programme The Antiques Roadshow, on which he has made regular appearances since it began in 1977.
Publications
- Baddeley, Jon 'Nautical Antiques and Collectables' Philip Wilson Publishers (2003) ISBN 978-0-85667-394-8,
- Baddeley, Jon (Contributor) 'Antiques Roadshow: How to Spot a Fake' Published by Boxtree Ltd (1999) ISBN 0752217917
- Baddeley, Jon 'The A-Z of Twentieth Century Antiques'