Conditions of Sale

To bid you must register for a sale, accept these conditions and receive a paddle number. For higher-value lots we may ask for identity verification before your bids take effect. A consignor — the maker or community whose work is on offer — may not bid on their own lot.

Each lot carries a low–high estimate, exclusive of buyer’s premium and taxes. Estimates are our considered opinion, not a promise of the hammer price.

A lot may carry a confidential reserve — the minimum at which it can sell. We never publish the reserve figure; the lot page shows only “reserve not yet met” or “reserve met”.

You may bid in two honest ways:

• Quick bid — place the next increment on the increment table shown on the lot;
• Maximum bid — tell us the most you are willing to pay and we bid on your behalf, only as much as needed to keep you in front.

The price rises by the published increments. A leader raising their own maximum never raises the price. If two bidders share the same maximum, the earlier bid wins.

To keep sales fair, a lot uses a soft close: if the price or the leader changes in the final minutes, the closing time extends by a short window. This gives every bidder a fair chance to respond and removes the advantage of a last-second bid.

The successful bidder pays the hammer price plus a buyer’s premium, stated on each sale, plus applicable taxes on the premium and any shipping and duties for your zone. The lot’s cost calculator shows the full figure before you commit.

When a lot sells at or above its reserve, we issue an invoice to the winner, record the sale in the provenance ledger as an AUCTIONED event, transfer the record’s ownership, and pay the maker or community their share — including a resale share where it applies. If the reserve is not met, the lot passes and no sale occurs.

Condition reports are available or can be requested on each lot. Works are sold as described in the catalogue and condition report; we encourage you to review both, since each is a genuine, documented object rather than a factory good.