Pre-Sale Advice
After you have had your items valued and they have been consigned to auction the next piece of correspondence you will receive will be the pre-sale advice. This is usually sent out around two weeks before the sale and informs you of all the lots that you are selling in that auction.
At the initial valuation, the item description is minimal as the specialist needs to fully research the item and formulate the title, description, condition and any applicable footnotes such as provenance etc. When this research is taking place the auctioneer may find something that increases or decreases the value of the item which could affect the estimates and reserve. The pre-sale advice, therefore, acts as a final check to make sure you are happy with the cataloguing of your lots.
It will list all lots in that auction and will show the primary image (if a photograph has been taken), title, sub-title, description, dimensions, quantity, condition and footnotes. The layout of the information might be slightly different to how it will appear in the printed and online catalogues but the information will be the same. On each lot line, it will also show the low estimate, high estimate and the reserve. The reserve should also inform you of the reserve type (discretion, fixed, net, sell).
If you are happy with the pre-sale advice then you do not need to do anything and can wait to see the final catalogue. However, if you spot a mistake or you are unhappy with the description or the estimate/reserve then you will need to contact the auction houses as soon as possible. This is because they will need to amend the information before the lot details are sent to the catalogue printers and the auction is published on the website. When contacting the specialist it is helpful to be specific with what you are unhappy about. It is also worth saying that there is no guarantee that the auctioneer will make the amendment that you request. For example, if you want the reserve and estimate to be increased and the auctioneer thinks that you will never sell the item with that reserve they may not make the change. It’s their profession and it is part of their job to monitor the market and be aware of the current prices achieved for similar items.
After the pre-sale advice process has been completed the next event to take place is the auction day itself. In my next article, I will inform you of how to best follow the auction proceedings and see your item(s) being sold.
