Charlie Ross
Freelance Auctioneer

Charlie Ross - Biography

Charlie Ross ran his own auction house in Woburn for over 25 years and has conducted a wide variety of auctions ranging from antiques, commercial and residential properties, through to vintage cars and Intellectual Property. He is also resident auctioneer for MacDougall’s - London’s leading Russian Art specialists - whose December 2010 sale totalled £21 million..

He is much in demand at charity auctions, which he conducts throughout the world, and he has raised millions of pounds over the past few years for numerous charities such as UNICEF, CLIC Sergent, S.I.A, Sparks, GOSH, Anthony Nolan Trust, The Variety Club of Great Britain, The Lord’s Taverners and the Elton John Aids Foundation.

Just prior to the demolition of the old Wembley Stadium, Charlie conducted a two hour live on-screen auction of Wembley memorabilia for Sky TV.

He was invited to conduct the auction of the Otis Chandler Collection of Vintage Cars and Motorcycles in Los Angeles, setting a world record $33 million for a one-day auction of motor vehicles. This was closely followed by a patent auction in New York where he sold a Catalogue of Jimi Hendrix Songs for $15 million.

Each year he conducts the official Pebble Beach Vintage Car Auction for Gooding and Company in California and in August of 2011 he surpassed his previous record of $65 million by raising $78 million over a two-day sale – yet another world record. He now holds the record for the highest price ever achieved for a car sold by auction in the USA. The car, a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype, sold for over $16 million. Another car, The Whittell Coupe, a bespoke 1931 Duesenberg Model J, sold for over $10 million, the highest price ever achieved for an American car sold at auction.

In June 2010 he helped to raise £3 million for Sir Elton John’s Aids Foundation charity and later in November he conducted an Intellectual property auction in the Napa Valley, which totalled several million dollars.

He now regularly appears on BBC programmes such as The Antiques Road Trip, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, Bargain Hunt and Celebrity Antiques Road Trip.

In his spare time (if any), Charlie puts his natural theatricality to good use by singing with Akeman Voices, a small chamber choir based in Bicester, and on occasions with Bicester Choral and Operatic Society and Oxford Operatic Society.