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December 2023 by Shel Trost
I understand now, after dealing with Bonham’s Skinner why such low online ratings. Neither sellers nor buyers are satisfied.
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November 2023 by Zhang Rui
First time to purchase with Skinner. I have to say the customer service is amazing. Mr. CO helped me handle the invoice multiple times with patience. He also sent me instructions on payment and shipping, etc. I'd like to make another purchase due to the strong service capacity. However, I suggest the stricted tedious process of identification and account setting be simplified.
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September 2023 by Collecting Asia
Quite possibly the worst communication and customer service in the industry across all auctions in both Europe and America. Very unfortunate.
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April 2023 by Derek Wallace
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend doing business with Skinner. I’ve been a regular customer, and have experienced in my last few auctions that the items being bid on do not match the product delivered. In some cases the product quality has been misrepresented, and in other circumstances the product itself was entirely different from the lot that I bid on. Given this experience in several of my recent transactions, I can only imagine that this is happening with a number of their customers. In my experience, it isn’t worth spending the time and money bidding on items if you can’t trust the veracity of the listing. I would suggest doing business elsewhere.
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January 2023 by Sean Trickett
Have never had a bad experience with Skinner or Bonham's (which acquired Skinner last year) I have bought & sold a number of items ranging from art to jewelry to furniture over the last decade or more.
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October 2022 by Antique Galleries of Palm Springs
Easily the poorest customer service of all the auction houses we deal with. We are still awaiting release of our won lots after more than a month. Terrible communication on all fronts. Avoid if possible.
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September 2022 by Judith Sumner
Beware of credit card security when dealing with the new Bonham's regime at Skinner. We recently were notified by Fidelity that our credit card number was discovered "for sale on the dark web" as a result of nefarious activity at the main London office of Bonham's. Fidelity cancelled the card and left us waiting for a replacement, and we still must deal with possible fraudulent charges. So after many years, we are now former Skinner customers--until they lift the requirement that customers must share credit card information in order to bid in one of their auctions.
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June 2022 by Ken S
DONT CONSIGN WITH SKINNERS! I consigned a ***** that somehow got swapped out for a *********************** and they tried to pass it off as mine in their auction. Not only did it not look like my *****, this piece had a label, and it was a cheap Strad. Copy. I dealt with *******************, Skinners Expert. I made an appointment with ***** for the July 14th 2021 to bring these items in to consign to Skinners musical ********************* had viewed the items I brought in, He had written down the lots and asked me which of these items do think is the most valuable? An odd question at best.. I told him the bows and the American Violin are decent but the ***** is nice. After seeing the paperwork on the consignment control form I questioned his estimate on the ***** as it being very low and he said this was a formality and that he would need to look at it closer and adjust it at a later date. Tobers vibe was uncomfortable to me and him asking me that question was very odd and I felt uneasy as I left items with him. I wanted to give ***** , not ever meeting him before, and Skinners the benefit of the doubt and left the items in their care. After receiving a day of auction notification of the auction with a list of my items coming up for auction it was obvious that ************* was swapped out for a much lesser and very cheap *****, whether this was done on purpose or a simple mistake is questionable. After alerting them of this mistake I have been treated with a lack of interest in my loss of items and an indifference to them ever getting this resolved. After many emails to ******************* and ********************* (president of Skinners) with little to no action and many phone calls always being sent directly to voice. My next action is to go legal and very public.
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May 2022 by Peter Kreckovic
They are deceptive and unethical. I bid on four items on their online rug auction. Their online auctions are run in a rather confusing and cumbersome way. It was twenty minutes before the items I was interested in were going to close. I placed my maximum bids online for the items; my maximum bids were about 50% over the current bids. To my shock the bid prices jumped to what I had just put in as my maximum offer or one increment below that on all four items.From this it was clear that they do not bid for you in a competitive way the way other auction platforms do. I had read carefully their instructions for bidding online, and nowhere did they disclose that they would jump the bids up to my maximum. There was NO disclosure.They are dishonest. Shame!
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January 2022 by Alan Z
Avoid Skinner! Apart from a few bright spots (Judith/Asian Art and her scholar/assistant Richard, Jonathan/Clocks and Watches, and a generally amiable, well-intentioned staff, albeit with one or two nonresponsive or conceited higher-ups), Skinner can be a miserable place to sell your artwork. As a late, very accomplished and knowledgeable ethnographic art and antiquities dealer from Cambridge (N.H.) once observed to me after a Skinner auction, Skinner sells art "by the yard". By that he meant that in his view (and I concur), Skinner runs a wholesale, high volume business catering to dealers seeking cheap inventory.In my view, Skinner has never developed the cachet necessary to build the level of retail (i.e., collector) presence achieved by the the top-tier N.Y. firms. And their recent headline making acceptance (and later withdrawal) of a painting misidentified as a Florine Stettheimer (an important, albeit not well known, artist) cannot engender much trust among collectors.Concerning consignments, under their contract, Skinner can lower estimates and place artwork in a cheap (less expensive to run) Discovery sale where low estimates and low expectations set the stage for low results.The sale of a painting by Anne Harris, "Self-Portrait in Paul's Shirt", provides a good example of what can go wrong at Skinner. Originally sold by Nielsen Gallery, Boston, it was placed by Skinner 'specialists' in a Discovery sale, (Discovery/Studio Paintings, Nov. 10, 2010, 2525M/Marlborough, lot 39) sat unnoticed, and sold for a hammer price of $350, about 98% below her gallery pricing at the time. According to Anne, Phil (Alexandre Gallery) sought out the purchaser and bought the painting for $4,000. Another work by Anne Harris, "With Max in May", (Studio Art Online, July 10, 2019, 3267T/Marlborough, lot 1303), from a series that formed the basis for a museum solo exhibition, sold for $1,500, half of its original Nielsen Gallery price, and about 75% below her current gallery pricing. And a painting by Laurel Hughes, "Settling", (Discovery Interiors, August 21, 2019, 3280T, lot 1140) sold for $130, about 90% below its original Nielsen Gallery price. In my view, any of these works would have done well in a better promoted and followed (and more expensive to run) fine art auction. But that is not how Skinner chose to handle them.At times Skinner's cataloging is so poorly executed that it descends into the realm of the comic. A collagraph by Donald Hugo Stoltenberg (Discovery Interiors 3280T, lot 1446) was first attributed to "Stattenberg Rimp" (a misreading of the abbreviation for R. impressit - that the work was executed and printed by the artist). The entry was corrected only a few days after the catalog went online, but the sparse descriptive text lacked the work's date and edition number, only stating its dimensions and that it was a print. Estimated at $20-200, the work sold for $20. Bravo once again to Skinner for meeting its low estimate target!Two monotypes by the late Sally Bishop, (Discovery Interiors 3280T, lots 1138, 1139) a talented artist and educator from Worcester, had images so poorly executed that the works, although rectilinear, appear trapezoidal. And, although corrected now, both works were depicted upside down in the online catalog, one throughout the duration of the auction. Bravo again to Skinner! And kudos for making bargain seekers giddy at their consignors' expense!My advice? Go elsewhere, maybe to a good boutique firm like (rhymes with) Logan, if you need to stay in Boston, or (rhymes with) wind, man, (they recently did well with a Susanna Coffey painting), in the Windy City if you can ship there.
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January 2022 by Kenneth Shaw
DON’T CONSIGN WITH SKINNERS!I consigned a Viola that somehow got swapped out for a lesser viola and they tried to pass it off as mine in their auction. Not only did it not look like my viola, this piece had a label, and it was a cheap Strad. Copy. I dealt with Adam Tober, Skinners “Expert”. I made an appointment with Tober for the July 14th 2021 to bring these items in to consign to Skinners musical Instrument Dept.Tober had viewed the items I brought in, He had written down the lots and asked me “ which of these items do think is the most valuable?” An odd question at best….. I told him the bows and the American Violin are decent but the viola is nice.After seeing the paperwork on the consignment control form I questioned his estimate on the viola as it being very low and he said this was a formality and that he would need to look at it closer and adjust it at a later date. Tober’s vibe was uncomfortable to me and him asking me that question was very odd and I felt uneasy as I left items with him. I wanted to give Tober , not ever meeting him before, and Skinners the benefit of the doubt and left the items in they're care. After receiving a “day of auction” notification of the auction with a list of my items coming up for auction it was obvious that my Viola was swapped out for a much lesser and very cheap viola, whether this was done on purpose or a simple mistake is questionable.After alerting them of this mistake I have been treaded with a lack of interest in my “loss” of items and an indifference to them ever getting this resolved.After many emails to Adam Tober and Karen Keane (president of Skinners) with little to no action and many phone calls always being sent directly to voice. My next action is to go legal and very public.
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December 2021 by Joel Turney
Terrible customer service. Wanted to change the time to pick up an item to avoid having to wait 5 hours in Massachusetts for another appointment near by and they refused to accommodate. Can only pick up within the half hour designated time, and none of their shippers go to Maine.
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February 2020 by Deb Holloway
Great appraisal
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December 2019 by Connor R.
I met with a representative from Skinner Inc to appraise and then auction my late uncle's estate, (roughly 75 pieces of furniture and over 100 prints). The early process went smoothly. The Skinner employee arrived on time and was courteous and informative during the initial appraisal. He mentioned Skinner would be interested in most but not all of my uncle's pieces, so we scheduled a second meeting to catalog and transport the items. Again, the Skinner employee was punctual and polite, but the truck never arrived. The Skinner employee told me he'd email me a picture of his notes, which he would then write up as a proper catalog. He said he would then email me the catalog. He also said he would email me the direct contact information for the trucking department, so I could schedule the pickup. Then, for no reason that I can discern, all communication ceased. The Skinner employee did not email me the information he promised, nor did he respond to my emails, nor did he respond to my phone calls. It was -- and is! -- still a mystery to me. I have since hired someone else. Short of some plausible explanation of extraordinary circumstances, I will never work with or buy from Skinner Inc.
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October 2019 by Norman J.
I have been both buying and selling with Skinner since 1994. All transactions professional.Ceramics department very knowledgeable and helpful.
