My father, Jim Collingridge, FGA, DGA, former deputy chairman of Christie’s South Kensington, died on June 3 at the age of 86 (ATG No 2296).
Born in 1930 Jim – ‘Colly’ to many friends and colleagues – left school aged 14 to begin a 56-year career in the auction business.
He started as an office junior at Debenham, Storr & Sons in Covent Garden. The company had been conducting auctions since 1813, although Jim told ATG many years later he “didn’t even know it was an auction house when I turned up for the job”.