Biography
Alexandra Starp joined the Gold Boxes department at Sotheby’s London in 2017, following several years of experience at a smaller auction house. She was appointed Head of Department in 2023.
Notable auctions in which Alexandra played a key role include the sale of property from a direct descendant of the Bonaparte family (2018), and the Collection of the Comtesse de Ribes in Paris (2019), where she sold the magnificent gold and hardstone snuff box by Dresden court jeweller Johann Christian Neuber, setting the new record for the most expensive gold box ever sold at auction. Alexandra also oversaw the sale of several important private collections in London, including A Treasury of Vertu and A Collection of a Connoisseur (both in 2020), as well as numerous successful single-owner and various owner sales in Geneva, Paris, and New York in subsequent years. These contributed significantly to Sotheby’s growing market share in the category over the past eight years. Reinforcing its position as the market leader, Sotheby’s remains the only auction house with a dedicated Gold Boxes specialist globally.
Alexandra has a strong academic interest in the history of goldsmithing and explored previously unidentified Hanau gold box makers in her dissertation. In 2025, her essay on the subject was published as part of the catalogue of the David and Mikhail Iakobachvili collection (‘Grosse Bijouterie in Hanau in the Early 19th Century’, in Haydn Williams, 19th-Century Snuffboxes, vol II, London, 2025, pp. 217-225). Alexandra also works on privately published collection catalogues and advises on private sales within the category.
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