About

  • The Present

    The Present

    Jonathan Coulborn, grandson of the founders, is at the helm of Thomas Coulborn & Sons and continues to cement an international reputation amongst collectors, decorators and museum curators for discovering and presenting items of great interest and integrity.

     

    Jonathan worked for Sotheby's in Sussex, London and Madrid before returning to the family business in 1999. He has lectured on Furniture History in the UK and in Spain, served as Chairman of the British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA), Chairman of Vetting at the BADA Fair and Chairman of the BADA Fair and the business is a member of the BADA. He has also served on the Furniture Vetting Committee of Masterpiece and the International Antique Dealers' Fair in New York.

  • Museums

    Sold to The Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston: 19th Century Jamaican Inlaid Centre Table by Ralph Turnbull

    Museums

    Thomas Coulborn & Sons is proud to have sold to museums across the world including:

    • The British Museum
    • The Victoria & Albert Museum
    • Temple Newsam House
    • The National Trust
    • Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
    • Soho House (The home of Matthew Boulton)
    • Aston Hall
    • Buckinghamshire County Museum
    • Ilkley Toy Museum
    • The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    • Boston Museum of Fine Arts
    • Fine Art Museums of San Francisco
    • The Rijksmuseum
  • Thomas Coulborn & Sons' booth at TEFAF Maastricht 2022

    Fairs

    We presented our inaugural exhibit at The Treasure House Fair in London in 2024.

    Thomas Coulborn & Sons currently exhibits at TEFAF Maastricht and London Art Week.
    Pre-pandemic, we exhibited at:

    • Masterpiece
    • The Winter Antiques Show, New York


    Historically, we have exhibited at

    • The BADA Fair
    • Olympia
    • The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show, New York
    • The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair
  • History

    History

    Thomas and Mary Coulborn bought Vesey Manor in 1942 as a base for their expanding antiques business and they were joined by their twin sons, Peter and Paul in the late 1950s.

     

    While Paul left the business to pursue his love of cabinet making in the 1970s, Peter devoted his life to antiques dealing, only gradually and reluctantly retiring around 2010.

     

    Peter's son, James also worked in the business between 1991 and 2005.

  • Vesey Manor

    The Building

    The business is situated in Vesey Manor in The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield (UK). Vesey Manor was built in the early 16th Century from sandstone. It originally belonged to John Harman (otherwise known as Vesey) who was a native of Sutton Coldfield. He was born around 1462 and died in 1554.

     

    Vesey was Bishop of Exeter from 1519 to 1551 and from 1553 to 1554; he was a close adviser to King Henry VIII, a friend of Cardinal Wolsey and a tutor to Princess (later Queen) Mary. The Manor functioned as a farm until the late 19th Century when it was bought by Edward John Charles, a local entrepreneur who developed the land and extended the building, converting it into two dwellings.