James Christie held his first sale in London on 5 December 1766. The sale included 2 chamber pots, a pair of sheets, 2 pillowcases and 4 irons. Just over ten years later, in 1778, James Christie negotiated a £40,000 deal when the art collection of Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, was sold to the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great. Christie’s has conducted some of the greatest auctions throughout history. Including, the Hamilton Palace Sale in 1882, where a collection of pictures were dispersed over 17 days for a total of £392,562. Eleven of those pictures were bought by the newly founded National Gallery in London. Today, Christie’s is the world’s oldest fine art auctioneer and remains ‘a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful’. Christie’s conducts over 450 sales annually, and has sold everything from fine and decorative art to jewelry and wine: Christie’s fetched £12,000 for Rudolph Nureyev’s ballet slippers in 1995; a staggering £1,960,150 was raised for charity in 1997 for the sale of 79 Dresses from the Collection of Diana, Princess of Wales; and in the year 2000, the ‘Happy Birthday’ dress, worn by Marilyn Monroe to sing to President John F. Kennedy, sold for over $1.2 million. Currently, Christie’s has offices all over the world, including London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai and Hong Kong. Christie’s moved its offices to 8 King Street, St. James’s, in 1823, and this is still its London headquarters today.
- Christie’s London Global Headquarters
- 8 King Street, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6QT
- www.christies.com
- Underground: St. James’s Park