Sell at auction
Selling at auction may seem intimidating, but it is easier than you think. It’s also a great way to sell pieces without the hassle of posting and packing, especially if you want to downsize, sell a collection, or simply make room for more acquisitions. Jane Tennant, Director at Tennants Auctioneers in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, has this advice for the novice auction vendor…
Pick up the phone. Start with a phone call and chat through with a specialist what you think you might have that could sell. Get to know how an auction works. If possible, go to an auction to familiarise yourself with how it is run. Any decent auction house will have people to explain how it operates and talk through the selling process.
Get an appraisal. There are several ways to have a piece valued. You can attend a valuation day, or you can take the item to an auction house for an expert to appraise. Increasingly, auction houses such as Tennants provide valuations online using high resolution images and other details sent in by potential sellers. This is subject to close inspection in person. Consign the item. If the piece is of good enough value to be entered into an auction, you have agreed the valuation and are happy for it to be sold, you can consign it to a sale. At Tennants we have a whole spectrum of sales – everything from general antiques for £50 upwards, to more specific specialist sales and fine art.
Do your research. Find out as much as you can about your item. Where did it come from? Where did you acquire it? Was it from an unusual collection? How long have you owned it? The more information, the more likely it is you’ll achieve a good result. Be open minded. A lot of people don’t know what they have and sometimes make the wrong assumption. Ask advice on a selection of items as the experts may spot something you have overlooked. Find a good auction house.
Recommendations are invaluable. You need to be able to trust that the people handling your items know what they are looking at, they consign the pieces to the correct sales and promote them appropriately.
Remember the reserve. We can’t predict what will happen on the day so we recommend putting a minimum price (reserve) on an item. If your item is sold with ‘no reserve’ it will be sold for the best price offered.
Consider the costs. Expect to pay about 15 per cent of the hammer price on each lot that sells. Also bear in mind that withdrawing from a sale could mean you are charged 20 per cent of the estimated sale value or reserve. Unsold lots that are left uncollected may also incur a fee.