Science and Natural History

James has been Christie’s specialist for Science & Natural History since 2007, and head of Department since 2012.

His first auction at Christie’s was the highly successful pair of Blaeu globes sold in Amsterdam in 2008 for a world record price (€793,850). Other early highlights include the silver armillary sphere in the Yves Saint Laurent sale (€781,000) and the silver simple microscope by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek in 2009 (£313,250). James’ strong personal interest in Geology has resulted in the growth of Natural History sales over the years culminating in the world record price for a Dinosaur with STAN in October 2020 ($31,847,500). With the advent of online sales, he was the first to launch dedicated history of science and technology sales, in June 2013 an Apple-1 personal computer sold for $387,750 in the sale First Bytes: Iconic Technology from the Twentieth Century, followed by a world record price for an enigma machine in November 2014 Code Breakers: Enigmas and Other Cipher Machines for $365,000. Recent sales of note include a record price for a meteorite at auction (£525,000) in the Exceptional sale 8 July 2021 and a world record for a dinosaur skull (£500,000) in 12-26 October 2021 online auction.

A graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge, James speaks English and French; he previously worked for a UK science museum and has sat on the committee of the Scientific Instrument Society.