OT...Selling fine art through major AH
 

Does anyone know details regarding consigning Fine art to any of the major auction houses like Christies, Sotheby's etc as far as consignment fees, taxes, etc.

Will these houses waive consignment fees for 6 figure consignments?

Any help is appreciated.

Art Info
 

This might answer your question
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/04...ves/index.html
Read 3rd Paragraph
11.5 million dollars Buyers premium for Picasso that sold for $95 million
Total 105.6 Million

mike

Im looking more for consignment fees...not bp's. Any ideas?

Correction 106.5 Megabucks:D
My family has sold fine art through an auction house. Monet, and Van Gogh...paid a fortune in taxes and fees. :( Dave.

Through a friend of a friend, I stumbled into an estate that had about a half-million dollars worth of Argentinian art and I ended up getting to handle the estate. Turned out to be quite an experience. The heir to the estate was not close to her brother and had no idea what he had, so she was quite pleased (to say the least).
Anyway, if you have something big-time auction houses would definitely want, my suggestion would be to contact a couple and play them off of each other. Be upfront that you're shopping around for the best deal and they'll be competitive with their consignment fee. I dealt with Christie's and Sotheby's, let them know I was contacting the other, and they each came back with a proposal. One was at about 5%, the other at 6.5%.
I'd be surprised if they'd be willing to waive fees entirely -- unless you have something out of this world. They deal with high-end stuff all the time so it would have to be something pretty special, I would suspect.

As for taxes, that sucked. :) For handling the estate, I got 25 percent, so it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing for me. Like a year's pay in a day. But I ended up writing a ridiculous check to the government for taxes. That part of it was very depressing. But hard to complain. It was a great experience, and pretty lucrative. Hope that helps. If you have any questions about specifics, feel free to send me a message.

Rob

a friend of mine worked for Sotheby's and said the commission is anywhere between 20 and 30% and that they typically don't waive fees until you hit the 8 figure mark. If you find a smaller AH that normally deals with 4 and 5 figure works then they may waive the fee for a 6 figure work, but a 6 figure work is pretty chump change to the likes of Christies, etc.

I feel like sports stuff has a bigger network of channels to sell though, whereas the art AH's have you by the balls and they know it.

Thanks folks...i knew id get good advice here!

Probably don't have much to add to what has been said, but I have sold quite a bit of art through auction houses.

Is your six figure number for a single piece or the cumulative total? Sotheby's and Christies in particular will generally give you the run around on single items less than $50k.

Just like cards, know your audience and pick the auction house that best matches the item. While the big boys above are big boys for a reason they are often not the best venue. Illustration or Texas art will likely do much better with Heritage. Americana does very well with Cowan's. Philips and Bonhams are both very good for contemporary works and have international reach.

Talking of International. If your work(s) ends up in an international sale, say the UK or Japan, be aware of tariffs that might apply.

Regarding fees, the smaller (not small) houses are more likely to waive fees if it can be a signature item in their auctions. Being smaller does not necessarily mean less of a hammer price, just like with cards.

Good luck with this.

Pete look into artfact.com. You can look through auction prices there and make a more informed decision. You would have to pay for a subscription to see the prices, but it is cheap and I think it can be done for only one month.

Pete,

Another great resource is liveauctioneers.com. You need to set up an account to see prices realized but there's no cost to do so.

You may find that there's a smaller house that specializes in the item(s) that you are looking to sell and most likely the fees will be lower. The internet has really balanced the playing field with the exception of ultra high-end items (7 figures and up).

I'm the managing partner of small auction house that specializes in art pottery and art glass. Two weeks ago we had a group of Russian items that did really well. Sotheby's in London had a sale of similar items 3 days later and our prices were right in line. The collectors will find the items as long as the auction house puts them online and does an appropriate job of cataloging and advertising.

Typically, you'll be looking at consignment fees in the 20 - 30% range but a smaller house may come down on that.

If you send me a pm and let me know what the item(s) is I may be able to send you in the right direction.

Jeff