Hermann Historica on international expanding course

Hermann Historica oHG, Munich, forges a strategic alliance with Bloomsbury Auctions and Dreweatts, London, New York and Rome and welcomes Nick McCullough, former Head of Arms & Armour Sales at Christie’s.

Munich, 02.08.2010 - Hermann Historica, the leading specialist auctioneer for Arms, Armour and Militaria is pleased to announce an alliance with the international offices of Bloomsbury Auctions, the world’s leading auction house of rare books and manuscripts and Dreweatts founded in 1759. The alliance will see Hermann Historica establishing a permanent presence in Bloomsbury’s Maddox Street [Mayfair, London] premises as well as a representative office presence in both New York and Rome. In turn, Dreweatts will establish a branch in Hermann Historica’s Munich premises with a view to developing a meaningful presence in the German market.

“We have been looking to expand internationally for some time now and this opportunity to grow with the expanding activities of the new Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions alliance is a perfect fit for us. Like Bloomsbury, we deal with clients at the very pinnacle of our area of specialisation and the quality and location of their London, New York and Rome premises generously expands our options for future sale locations.” commented Wolfgang Hermann.

According to Stephan Ludwig, Dreweatts’ Executive Chairman, “Hermann Historica are a well respected business trading at the top of their field. It has been our stated goal to expand our alliances to incorporate further complimentary fields to our in-house departments and I look forward to exploring the many potential business opportunities that a presence in the German speaking European area will afford both Dreweatts and Bloomsbury Auctions”.

Both companies are clear in their message that this is only a strategic commercial trading alliance and that there are no plans to merge the businesses, now or in the future.

New International Consultant
This news coincides with Hermann Historica’s appointment of Nicholas McCullough (52) as an international consultant following his departure last year from Christie’s after many years running the Arms & Armour department internationally. McCullough will be based at Maddox Street when not ‘on the road’.

Nicholas McCullough has thirty-two years of professional experience as a specialist valuer and cataloguer in the fields of Antique Arms & Armour, Militaria and British modern Sporting Firearms. He bought his first piece at the age of eleven and, following service in the British army, this early interest developed into a career path.

Nicholas McCullough joined Bonhams’ auctioneers in London in 1978 and held his first arms auction in that year. In 1981 Nicholas headed the Arms department at Phillips auctioneers and in the next year left to begin the first of two periods of employment at Christie's. continued in Antique Arms & Armour at Christie's for a total of eleven years, both in London and New York. Most recently McCullough was Christie's international Senior Specialist and Head of Arms & Armour Sales from 2005 to 2009.

In 1987 McCullough joined Sotheby's in New York where he held responsibility for their Antique Arms & Armor auctions until 1998. Within that period Nicholas was also appointed as a consultant specialist to Sotheby's Arms department in London and additionally to head Sotheby's arms sales in Zurich. Subsequently Nicholas McCullough moved with the London department to Sotheby's in West Sussex. From there he was involved in many of the most significant valuations and sales of noble and ancestral armouries from within the German cultural sphere that have been conducted in the post-war years. These included the gunroom and armoury of the Princes Thurn und Taxis, the armoury of the Grand-Dukes of Baden, and that of the Royal House of Hanover.

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About Hermann Historica
Hermann Historica OHG is the leading world auction house in the special areas of : antique arms and armour, hunting, antiquities, medals and orders, as well as historical objects and military history. Founded nearly 50 years ago by Count Erich Klenau von Klenova, Baron von Janowitz in Nuremberg as an auction house for coins, orders, medals, and other military objects were offered right from the beginning. At the beginning of the seventies, offerings were expanded to include antique weapons. On the basis of the comprehensive scope of the objects offered and the carefully researched and high quality production of the special catalogues, those offerings were an immediate and enthusiastic success with international collectors and museums. In 1982, the present owners changed the name of the auction house to Hermann Historica OHG, and carry out at least two auctions yearly for more than 25,000 clients throughout the entire world. The numerous objects which were formerly possessions of great noble families, in particular those from the Austrian and German Imperial houses, have attracted great international interest, especially when choice collections such as the famous hunting treasures from Castle Fuschl at Salzburg, the historical technical museum in Nümbrecht and the "Antique Weapon Collection" of the world renowned Berlin collector, Axel Guttmann, are broken up and offered at auction.

All Photos: Copyright Hermann Historica oHG 2010