An auction looks like the most transparent way to buy art. Everything is public: the estimate, the room, the hammer. Almost none of the numbers that decide what you pay are in the catalogue.
The hammer price is not the price
On top of the hammer you pay the buyer’s premium — a percentage the house charges the buyer, tiered so the rate falls as the price rises. It is substantial, and on a low-value lot it can be a quarter of the total again. VAT may apply to the premium, and sometimes to the lot itself depending on where it is being sold and where it is going.
There may also be a droit de suite — the artist’s resale right — payable on qualifying works in the UK and EU. It is capped, but it is real money on a mid-six-figure lot.
Work out the all-in figure before the sale, not during it. The premium, the VAT, the resale right, shipping and insurance are the actual cost.
Estimates, reserves and what they signal
The estimate is a marketing instrument as much as a valuation. A low estimate is often set to attract bidding. The reserve — the confidential minimum the seller will accept — sits at or below the low estimate and is never published.
An auctioneer may bid on the seller’s behalf up to the reserve. Those are "chandelier bids": real-sounding bids against no one. That is not a scandal, it is disclosed practice, but it explains why a lot can seem to have momentum and then die the moment the reserve is passed.
A lot marked with a guarantee or an irrevocable bid has a committed buyer already. That party may receive a financing fee, which means they can afford to bid higher than an ordinary buyer. Check the symbols in the catalogue and their key.
The condition report is the document that matters
Catalogue photography is lit to sell. The condition report is the honest account: restoration, overpainting, tears, craquelure, fading, whether the work has been relined or the sheet trimmed.
Request it in writing and read it against the estimate. Condition is the single largest source of the gap between what a work should be worth and what it is worth. On paper works, light damage is common and permanent.
If you cannot view in person, pay someone to. A condition inspection costs a fraction of one per cent of a serious lot.
Practicalities on the day
Register early — houses run identity and source-of-funds checks and will not let you bid without them cleared.
Set your all-in ceiling including premium and stick to it. The room is designed to make the next increment feel small.
Absentee and telephone bidding remove the room from the equation, which for most buyers is an advantage rather than a loss.
Understand the terms on title and collection: storage charges usually begin quickly, and a work left in a saleroom is your risk, not theirs.
Where we come in
We advise on the lot, arrange the condition inspection, and where a client prefers not to be visible in the room we handle the bidding through the specialist executing for us. Rates, premiums and thresholds change by house and by sale, so we confirm the numbers for your specific lot rather than quoting from memory.