Buying at auction

Register at the reception for a bidder number at least 30 minutes before your lot comes up for sale; new clients are asked to have an identity card ready. You will be given a bidding paddle, and can then take your seat and bid on the lots you have your eye on. If your bid wins, the auctioneer will ask for your paddle number, and you can pay for and collect your lot straight away.

Bid in real time on our online bidding platform, which you reach through our website, or in our app, before and during the auction.

Register for the auction on the platform at least 24 hours before your lot comes up for sale. The earlier the better, since we may need a few additional details from you to complete the registration.

We recommend setting your maximum bid before the auction starts; the system then bids on your behalf, only as high as necessary.

We call you shortly before your requested lot comes up for sale, and you bid live over the phone with a member of our team.

Telephone bidding must be arranged at least 24 hours before the lot in question is called. Request a line via our bidding form or by email; your request is confirmed by email once we have verified it.

We recommend leaving a written maximum bid as well, in case we cannot reach you during the sale. We do our best to provide a line in your preferred language.

If you know the most you are willing to bid, you can instruct us in writing to bid on your behalf up to that amount, excluding buyer's premium. We bid only as high as necessary to secure the lot.

Send us your written bid by email or post by 12:00 on the day before the auction.

Yes. Registration is per auction, and it is quick and easy: online on our bidding platform or in the app, at the reception if you are bidding in the room, or via our bidding form for telephone and written bids. New clients may be asked for identification and references. If you have bought from us before, it is quicker still, since your details are already on record.

Not on our online platform (app or website), where you can watch, listen and bid from anywhere with no additional charge. Our auctions are also listed on third-party platforms such as Drouot and Invaluable. These are not our platform, and they add a surcharge of their own on top of the buyer's premium. Check with the platform before you bid.

Yes. Send us an email with your request and we will do our best to help. We receive a great many requests in the weeks before an auction, so a written condition report from a specialist is not always possible, but we can always provide additional photographs. That is also why we recommend coming to the preview and inspecting the lots yourself.

No. Under our Conditions of Sale, a bid is binding once it is placed, whether in the room, by telephone, in writing or online. If the winning bidder could withdraw, the underbidder would be handed the lot at a price they only reached because someone else drove them there. Allowing withdrawals could also raise suspicion of bids being placed only to push prices up. Finally, it would not be fair to the consignor, who counts on the sale once the lot has been sold.

This usually happens when you bid on our online platform (app or website) before the auction. Another bidder has left a maximum bid ahead of you, and the system bids on their behalf in the smallest possible steps up to that amount, so any bid below it is answered at once. You cannot see another bidder's maximum until the bidding passes it. Once the auction is under way, the auctioneer leads the bidding and takes bids from every direction at the same time: the room, the telephones, written bids placed in advance, our online platform and third-party platforms such as Drouot and Invaluable.

Yes, that can happen. At a live auction, bids arrive at the same time from the room, by telephone, from written bids, from online bidding on our online platform (app or website) and from third-party platforms such as Drouot and Invaluable.

When two bids are equal, the written bid left with the auctioneer wins. If there are several written bids at the same amount, the earliest one wins. You place a written bid through the bidding form on our website, by email or on paper.

Online works differently. In the online catalogue on our online platform you can bid before the auction: you enter your maximum, and the system bids for you step by step against other online bidders. If somebody entered the same maximum before you, they are ahead, and you count as outbid until you go one step higher. When the lot is called in the live auction, bidding continues from the level reached online, and from here everything is open again: now all channels come together, and a member of our team at the online desk in the room keeps bidding for you up to your maximum, like a bidder in the room. These bids rank equally with the room, the telephones and the third-party platforms; at the same amount, the lot goes to the bid the auctioneer accepted first.

Our advice: if a lot matters to you, place your bid in writing through the bidding form, or bid by telephone, so you can decide in the moment. Or leave one step to spare in your maximum in the online catalogue.

Yes. We ship worldwide with Swiss Post or DHL, on request and where the item is suitable. Your country may charge customs and import duties on arrival, and these can be substantial: please check with your own authorities in advance, as they are paid by the recipient. Lots containing parts of endangered species, such as ivory, tortoiseshell, coral or certain woods, require a CITES export certificate, which the Swiss federal authorities have issued only in exceptional cases since 2024. We are therefore not in a position to assist with obtaining one, and we do not ship such lots abroad without it. Please consider this before bidding. Other import restrictions may apply in certain countries; it is the buyer's responsibility to check before bidding.

Yes. When we ship an item ourselves, it is insured up to CHF 500. For lots with a hammer price above CHF 500, additional insurance is charged at 1% of the hammer price.

The after sale runs for two weeks after the auction. All unsold lots can be bought at the starting price, or at the reserve where one has been set. The starting price is around 20% below the estimate.

Lots must be collected, or transport arranged, within 14 days of receiving your invoice. After that we reserve the right to place them in storage at your expense, charged at a minimum of CHF 2 per lot and day; bulky or particularly delicate lots are charged according to the actual cost.