Good Bargaining Rules: How Auction Houses Work

If you want to get a masterpiece for yourself, you can contact the auction house. They will tell you what is most profitable to buy and invite you to the auction.

At the auctions, you can offer something from your collection. Experts will evaluate the object of art and put it up for auction. You can earn a lot of money. Who appoints the starting price for the exhibits and what percentage of the transaction is received by the auction houses, you will learn in this article.

Art objects are bought and sold in antique shops, in galleries, and from hands, but it is safer to do it at the auction. In the largest auction houses get works by famous authors, and experts check them for authenticity. In addition, there are special legal services that will prepare and check the deal from all sides. Usually works of art stored in duty-free warehouses. However, this year there was a huge incident with Yves Bouvier.

The starting price for the subject of art depends on the importance of the artist in the art market at the moment. Aivazovsky, for example, put up for sale and Sotheby’s, and Christie’s. The last auction offers “Sunset in Venice” for 400 thousand pounds sterling – this is the most expensive picture in the future auction in London. By the way, almost all the works of the upcoming auction Christie’s specialists were looking for in private collections.

Large collectors and significant collections are always in plain sight. Auction houses are always aware of how things are going at the owners of art objects. But auctions also seek to exhibit unique findings – something that has not yet been on the market.

Anyone can offer a picture. If it passes the test, it will get into the catalog. Interested in the lots can make bets in person, by phone or online. By the way, if your bid won, you will also have to pay a commission to the auction house. For buyers 25% of the value of the masterpiece, for sellers – about 10%.

Given that investment in art is one of the most popular, and people go to auction even during the crisis, auction houses work with profit. And what is important – observe strict rules. One such – the inability to refuse to buy.

“When you participate in the auction, you conclude an official contract with the auction house. As soon as the hammer strikes for the last time, and the work sold, you are required by law to pay for it. If you, say, promised to pay a million pounds for a painting, and then say you changed your mind, then you are damaging the value of the painting. Therefore, the buyer is put before the legal obligations”, – said the chairman of the board of directors of Sotheby’s Mark Poltimore.

Experts say that collectors almost never change their decision. Sometimes it happens in Asian countries. In such cases, when selling expensive lots – the organizers of the auction insist that the buyers make a deposit in advance.