Sotheby’s Chairman & Auctioneer Shot in Face During Grouse Shoot

Tags: Auctioneers, Hospitalization, London, Sculpture, Sotheby's, World Record

Henry Wyndham, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and the auction house’s most senior auctioneer, was sprayed with 52 pellets to the face, throat and arm this weekend after a shotgun accidentally went off in his direction during a grouse shoot.

The accident occurred at a shoot organized by American hedge fund manager Louis Bacon on a hired estate. It was the opening weekend of the grouse hunting season, which began on August 13th this year.

Wyndham was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. According to one source, “Henry was very lucky – if he had not been wearing glasses he would have been blinded.”

Many recognize the auctioneer’s name after he ushered in a new record for the art world in 2010: it was Wyndham who swung the gavel that celebrated Giacommeti’s L’Homme Qui Marche I earning £65 million ($104.3 million) — the most ever paid for a work of art at the time.

[via Scotsman.com]

Photo courtesy of DPA