The elusive world of Fine Art just became a little more transparent. Art Auction Guarantee, a new company based in California, is providing sellers/ buyers something they may not be used to: reliability.
For decades, art dealers and sellers have operated in a world where value is an arbitrary notion. Just because a certain piece is worth a certain amount, doesnt necessarily mean that it will sell at that price. Worse yet, despite best efforts, pieces may even go into auction without so much as even the reserve price being met. Simply put, if there is no buyer at the exact time when a seller decides to sell, the seller is simply out of luck, and at a considerable expense.
Art Auction Guarantee is dedicated to art collectors, dealers/ galleries and/ or auction houses alike. The California company offers a type of insurance for pieces of art presented in auction. With the exponential increase in value of art pieces, the company offers a professional service that simplifies the process of buying and selling art at auction, but most of all it guarantees a sale.
How it works
To keep it simple, Art Auction Guarantee functions as a boutique insurance company. For any piece fairly valued at over $10,000 we offer 2 types of guarantees:
1. For buyers, we guarantee the value they paid to acquire the piece; so that when they will decide to present the piece back in auction, they are guaranteed to receive at least the amount they originally paid for.
2. For sellers and for any piece that is to be presented at an auction, we guarantee that the sellers will receive a certain amount (generally the reserve price), the piece being effectively sold or not at the auction.
A contract will be established with the client that will clearly mention the conditions of the auction service provided, the amount guaranteed, generally the reserve price, as well as the cost of the service that is a standard % of the amount guaranteed + a standard shared % of the upside.
In the case the auction sale goes well, the client will receive the proceed of the sale directly from the auction house.
In the event the piece remains unsold, the company will acquire the piece against the payment of the guaranteed amount.
The service allows presentation of pieces in auction with the peace of mind of knowing that no matter what the outcome of the auction sale, we will buy it at the pre-agreed upon value. Better yet, if the piece sells in auction, you will still benefit from the upside above the insured amount. On the buying side, being guaranteed of a future minimum selling price is an important element to build confidence in the acquisition process.
In both cases, with the knowledge of knowing beforehand how much you can sell an art piece for, you can freely conduct your business with a greater sense of ease.
In other words, any seller or dealer that is willing to list their pieces at auction can now entertain the notion that no matter what, they will have a sale. That is, if they partner with Art Auction Guarantee prior to presenting their art piece.
Art pieces that can benefit of the auction guarantee:
Unlike other similar services, Art Auction Guarantee will work with pieces of art that have a estimated value of 10,000$ up. It operates with major renown auction houses worldwide (such as Christies, Sothebys, Phillips, Guardian, Poly, etc) as well as important auction houses in Paris, Amsterdam and Milan to name a few. Initially the service is offered for certain type of pieces such as Old Masters painting and drawings, 19th Century art and decorative arts, Impressionist and Modern art pieces, Modern Sculptures, Chinese ceramics, Contemporary art, Design and 20th century decorative arts pieces.
Who is behind Art Auction Guarantee:
Strong of more than 10 years experience as a gallery owner in Europe (Milan and St Moritz) and in the US, and having also organised a certain number of auctions, Arnaud Aquizerate embraced the art world with enthousiasm and passion; he also realised that, even for art professionals with sophisticated system of information, buying and selling art at auction was not an easy task, and results uncertain. Moreover the lack of transparency and the diverging interest of the various actors added to the difficulty.
That is why he created Art Auction Guarantee in 2011, the company being fully operational and funded.
For more information about Art Auction Guarantee, please contact Arnaud aquizerate at 310 614 7296.
Art Auction Guarantee 470 Camino Norte Palm Springs, CA92262 USA. Tel: 760 904 4604 Fax: 760 406 4014
