Just a couple of years into her Bonhams career, she sold one of the earliest known depictions of a football game, by Alexander Carse, for more than £266,000.
Then, as Head of Scottish Pictures (a position she still holds), she raised more than £300,000 through the sale of two exceptional works by the Scottish Colourist S.J. Peploe – which was all the sweeter given that the proceeds of the sale were going to Amnesty International.
More recently, May’s skills were needed outside the saleroom. She was in charge of Bonhams Scotland’s move to its new headquarters at Melville Crescent. The inviting openness of the Melville Crescent building – a bright and luxurious Georgian townhouse, with many original features – was one of the selling points for May and her colleagues. Everyone is welcome to come in and browse the exhibition gallery, even if no auctions are taking place. “It’s a beautiful building; the salerooms are gorgeous spaces, you can feel the history all around you.”
A love of history, and her desire to dig deeper into the past, have been constant pillars of May’s life. Born in Sussex, her father was a fisherman and her mother a primary school teacher. Both were enthusiastic Morris dancers. This meant that, when May was a child, every weekend her family would be going to different historical attractions – a castle, an open-air museum, a car rally – to dance. May’s connection with Scotland has been another theme of her life.
Her mother’s side of the family are from Aberdeen, and May would spend most of her summers there. Feeling “very at home in Scotland”, she studied Archaeology at Edinburgh University. And it was while she was on a dig in Cyprus that she met another student who was already working part-time for Bonhams. “She told me it was a friendly, interesting place, and that they hired students for casual part-time saleroom assistants.”
A few months after joining the viewing staff team at Bonhams, May had worked her way up from receptionist to specialist in the Scottish Art team and later heading up the department. In 2022, she took on the role of Managing Director.
First, there’s an exciting programme of auctions, with the number of sales in Edinburgh for 2023 already doubled in comparison to last year, with new additions such as The Dog Sale. May is also growing the staff with new specialists such as Sarah Fergusson, Senior Watch Specialist, who will hold regular valuation days in Edinburgh.
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