Why buy from a dealer

I've had two recent conversations with people that highlighted the important place antiques and fine art dealers play in selling and buying, for that matter, antiques and fine art.

Both have been very similar in content and in the way they happened. One of the clients happen upon a London auction house catalogue in the gallery and musing through began asking questions about prices and value. I make no bones about the fact that on the whole prices in the gallery are on the face of it more expensive than those shown as estimates in catalogues. However I often have pieces that are considerably cheaper than would be estimated at auction, and the estimate is a guide often they can be exceeded. The client left the gallery and returned around a month later looking for advice (a familiar story from the independent camera shop next door who constantly offer advice only to have the client buy from the net!!). Could I arrange for some carriage and for a piece to be altered as it did not fit into the space for which it purchased.

It transpires the transport estimates were actually more expensive than the hammer price of the piece!! They had been caught in the heat of battle and had to bid for the piece in a thity second slot during the day. They had assumed they had got a bargin. When they came to pay they found that twenty five percent buyers premium plus vat had been added to the bill. It was left interestingly for me to try and explain what this was. The final indignity came when I told them the piece had an associated top. A commonly used term and one that appeared on the invoice, but one not understood by my client. I asked if they had looked at a condition report or spoken to staff at the auction house.....why would they do that!!! The associated top meant the top and base were from two different pieces (I would have explained this in detail in the gallery). The conclusion was it had all bee very hard work and a too much hassle.

Now I can't bash the auction houses too hard but they are marketing very hard for private clients and seem to look down their nose at the dealers who have been attending for years. Many private clients can be put off antiques for life by one bad outing.

It's a little like buying a car, would you buy from a car auction without taking advice or a mechanic with you; or perhaps it's like comparing a bottle of wine from a supermarket, cheap,or buying the same bottle from delightful bistro, where you get advice on how it will complement food and a super atmosphere.

So is buying from a antique dealer different from an auction house. Well yes, firstly the price!! Given the economic situation price is a key factor, although the value equation might be a better gauge. Simply speaking prices at dealers will be more than at auction. But unlike auction houses the price on the tag is the absolute maximum you will pay, there are no added bits (although delivery is sometimes an extra cost). Indeed very often the price on the tag is an opening gambit, and the better the relationship you have with the dealer the larger the discount usually is.

A reputable dealer will be a member of a trade association, we are members of LAPADA www.lapada.co.uk and linked via them to CINOA www.cinoa.org. They have codes of conduct which set out what a dealer should declare on the lable and then onto the invoice. They also have a arbitration service just in case things do go wrong. This give peace of mind as good dealers will show all of the restoration and alterations to a piece. At auction it is up to you to find out.

Then there is the question of pressure. You have around thirty seconds at auction to decide on the piece and how much to pay. Most dealers let pieces go out on approval. You can try them in the home with no obligation, and make sure it fits!! Many dealers deliver for free too.

Then we get onto the matter of after sales. That wonderful longcase clock has just stopped and you can't get it going!! Sympathetic platitudes would be the best you might get from the auctioneer, belive me I've bought a clock that when I came to collect was missing its pedulum (it was there on sale day). Dealers will make good repairs, They wil offer tips on how to look after the piece they may even buy the piece back (or sell on commission), which may get your return closer to retail value rather than it going into the auction bear pit.

Many collcetors use both auction house and dealer. Mnay cut their teeth with a dealer they trust and the dealer if they are worth their salt will pass on auction information to clients