Maynards — Vancouver's Estate Auction House
Maynards — Vancouver's Estate Auction House
A long-established Canadian auction firm handling jewellery, fine art, and decorative arts
Maynards is a Canadian auction house based in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a long history of conducting estate sales of jewellery, fine art, and decorative arts. The firm operates as a regional alternative to the international houses — Sotheby's, Christie's, Phillips, and Bonhams — for Canadian consigners and collectors, with regular jewellery auctions featuring antique, vintage, and contemporary pieces drawn primarily from Canadian estates and private collections.
The firm's history and scope
Maynards' origins go back to the late nineteenth century, with the firm developing into one of the established names of the British Columbia auction trade through the twentieth century. The business has operated under various corporate structures over the decades and has at various points spanned industrial, commercial, and fine-art auction segments. The current Maynards Fine Art operation is the descendant of these earlier businesses and concentrates on the fine-art and decorative-arts side, including jewellery.
Jewellery auctions
The firm holds regular jewellery auctions that feature signed pieces from Canadian and international makers — Birks, Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, and others — alongside unsigned period pieces, diamond rings, coloured-stone jewellery, and contemporary designer work. Lots typically include both fine and costume jewellery, with catalogue notes describing materials, makers' marks, and condition. The auctions are conducted with both in-room and online bidding, accessible to collectors well outside the Vancouver area.
Estimates and realised prices in Maynards jewellery sales generally run below those of the international houses, reflecting both the regional buyer pool and the predominantly Canadian consigner base. For Canadian collectors and sellers, the firm offers a domestic option that avoids the international shipping, customs, and timing complications of consigning across borders.
Other sale categories
Maynards' other categories include Canadian and international fine art (with strong representation of British Columbia and West Coast painters), Asian art, modern and contemporary furniture, decorative arts, and silver. Some sales are themed (Asian, modern design, single-owner collections) while others are mixed estate sales.
In the trade
For Canadian collectors building or dispersing jewellery collections, Maynards is a credible regional consignment option, particularly for estates with mid-market and locally significant pieces. For internationally significant pieces — major signed jewellery, high-value coloured stones, important diamonds — the international houses typically offer the deeper buyer pool and the marketing reach to optimise realised prices, and consigners with such pieces often choose Geneva, New York, or London despite the distance.