“Adjudicated!” » If this sentence is known, the world of auctions is obscure for many of us, with pieces as rare as they are expensive regularly fetching a premium in the big houses. On Sunday, a Napoleon hat was sold for 1.932 million euros (with fees) in Paris, a “record” for the Osenat auction house. Recently, a dinner menu from Titanic was sold for the modest sum of 95,000 euros.
Works of art, real estate, collector’s items, jewelry, historical objects, furniture, dinosaur skeletons but also everyday objects, you can find almost everything at auction. And everyone can take part in the game, so much so that some of our readers are regulars at auction rooms. Martin has his well-established method: “I receive a catalog from the sale. I note what interests me and notify the auctioneer. At the time of sale, [je fais] a sign, then the commissioner raises the stakes. I let him know how much money I have for the item, and I’ll make a move if I stop. »
Maintain your collection
Bruno, another “absolute fan of auctions”, was introduced to it at a very young age. “My first bike, when I was 14, was given to me [offert] by my father, and he took me to buy it in the auction room,” remembers the sixty-year-old. Describing himself as a “die-hard fan,” his shopping list is as long as an arm: “furniture, a car, a painting, objects of all kinds, etc. » But he also uses auctions to get his hands on particular pieces. “For around fifteen years, I have been collecting Longwy earthenware, so I go to the auction house regularly,” describes this enthusiast. I am a subscriber to Interencheres [un site d’enchères en ligne]I have reminders that come to me as soon as there is a new Longwy piece that appears at Drouot [une célèbre maison de ventes parisienne]. »
If in-room and online auctions are more known to the general public, telephone sales are also widely practiced. This is how Vincent, “a regular buyer”, proceeded for a “very good deal” that he got, “not without difficulty”: “In 2021, I saw on a general site a work of Claude Viallat, [dont je suis très fan]. I did a search and found the house selling it. She was in Japan. Site in Japanese. Some elements in English, forms to fill out which did not necessarily correspond to our French standards (for example the postal code)… In short, after contacting the auction house by email, I am registered. »
Fees “too high”
On the big day, Vincent is not at the end of his troubles. “I’m online with sales and comments only in Japanese. Great ! In the end, I got the work in question for around 1,800 euros (including 15% fees whereas in France, they are closer to 30% on average). With the import tax and shipping costs, the work cost me around 2,000 euros”, whereas it would be sold, according to him, “between 7 and 8,000 euros in France”, where the artist is better known.
But auctions are not to everyone’s taste and the sales costs that Vincent mentions hold back more than one. For Christian, they are “too high”, even “abusive”. Buyer fees, intended for the auction house and proportional to the awarded price, are mandatory. Additional expenses, such as shipping costs, security fees or Internet sales costs, can quickly increase the bill, which will therefore systematically be higher than the sale price alone. When we love, it seems that we don’t count.