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Authentic artwork is highly valued for r esale with
prominent auction companies like Christie’s. In fact,
Christie’s recently sold numerous pieces of post-war
contemporary art for a total of nearly $25 million dollars.
Regardless of an item’s size or characteristics, there are
several additional elements that factor into gauging
their value.
While an item that has been in a family for a long period
of time might have a lot of sentimental value, that does
not necessarily mean that it has monetary value. Here
are some tips for assessing the value of your items.
Work with an expert. Christie’s deems expertise as their
main asset as an organization. All employees at Christie’s
must be experts in their field. As more clients in more
places in the world are captivated by art and seek to
acquire it, knowledge, judgment and service is ever mor e
relevant. Whether clients are buying, selling or dealing,
they count on experts to understand both the cultural and
commercial value of art.
“It is so important to have an e xpert to authenticate
your items because there are a lot of fakes out
there,” states Siner. “We have a service tha t does
our authentication for us. Anything that comes
into our stores undergoes a thorough and lengthy
authentication process to ensure its legitimacy
whether it’s anything from Waterford to Tiffany, or
Copenhagen to Cartier. The last thing we ever want
is for someone to come into one of our stores and
buy something that isn’t what it says it is.” Siner
also emphasizes the importance of research. Look
at past sales through art websites. Ebay can also be
a valuable tool to see how similar items have sold
in the past.
Above all, manage expectations. Understand that
when going through an auction or consignment
process, all parties involved benefit monetarily.
“From a consignment standpoint, it is our goal
to put the fairest price on something and offer a
significant savings to our customers - often more
than 50 to 90 percent off retail price,” Siner shares.
“We often must break the news to people who
have sentimental value for something, however,
the monetary value just doesn’t coincide. It is
important to be transparent, candid and manage
expectations.”
Consignment and auction can be fantastic options
for generating a return on investment on ar twork,
designer furniture and virtually any luxury item.
Navigating the right course of upscale resale is
the key to finding homes for these impor tant
family treasures.
This makes it even more important to research and
know the true value of an item