MADAM – Various of your correspondents over the last few weeks find that the prospect of paying for a condition report, as well as a buyer’s premium, sticks in their craw.
Overlooking the vast array of art and antiques that auction houses all over the country offer to potential buyers, and generally (despite all those odious charges) for far less than they would have to pay if purchasing from a dealer or high street retailer, they seem to imagine, that as the sellers also pay commission, the auction houses must be greedily raking in a fortune. Where can all this money possibly go?
It pays for visits to potential vendors (not all of which will produce items for sale). For a ‘man-with-a-van’ (more likely two careful and specialist-trained removal men) to collect the items for sale, take to the auctioneer’s storage facility and, just before the sale, to the saleroom.