James Lees

Senior Specialist: Furniture

Brought up in Staffordshire, James started off working in the conservation and restoration of furniture and wooden artefacts in the late 1980s. Some years later, he developed a fascination with auctions and decided to pursue a career as a valuer, specialising in furniture, building on the experience he had gained whilst working in conservation.

Over the years, James has worked at a number of well-known salerooms, holding the position of senior valuer in several companies. As a general valuer with a strong leaning toward furniture, he gained experience in most of the categories encountered in busy salerooms.

James has had the good fortune to discover items that have become documentary pieces, appearing in various publications and used as part of the furniture syllabus of the then Incorporated Society of Auctioneers & Valuers (ISVA), using his research notes as a case study, emphasising the importance of provenance and research. James has always sought to learn and develop his understanding of his chosen fields through hands on examination and study.