Lyon & Turnbull

Lyon & Turnbull is a privately owned international auction house located in Scotland. It was established in 1826 and is Scotland’s oldest auction house. The company is the largest independent auction house in the United Kingdom outside of London. The firm has a saleroom in Edinburgh with offices in London and Glasgow.

Lyon & Turnbull

Exterior of Edinburgh building.
Formation	1826; 199 years ago (1826)
Headquarters	33 Broughton Place Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom
Board of directors	Gavin Strang, Managing Director Iain Mackinnon, Chairman Nick Curnow, Vice Chairman Paul Roberts, Vice Chairman Campbell Armour, Non-Executive Director John Mackie, Director Philip Smith, Director Alex Dove, Marketing Director Willie Bremner, Finance Director
Website	www.lyonandturnbull.com

History

In 1999, Lyon & Turnbull was acquired by a group of auctioneers who had left Phillips, an auction house which was the third largest in the world during the 1990s. They were joined in the enterprise by Sir Angus Grossart, Chairman of Noble Grossart, a Scottish merchant bank, and a past chairman of the trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland. The company's stated aim was "to rescue a national institution for Scotland and to establish a high quality auction house with an international footprint from a base in Edinburgh".^[1]

The firm has a transatlantic alliance with the United States' oldest auction house, Freeman's of Philadelphia.

Notable sales have included L. S. Lowry’s Glasgow Docks 1947 painting and the sale of the Drambuie Art Collection, which profited over £4 million (US$7,836,606).

Locations

Lyon & Turnbull's Edinburgh headquarters is based in Broughton Place in Edinburgh, in a neoclassical building designed by Archibald Elliot, which was built in 1821. Their London gallery is located in Connaught Street and their Glasgow gallery on Bath Street.