What we do
Services
We act for buyers and sellers in the private market, and advise our clients before, during and after a sale.
We work in modern, post-war and contemporary art. We are based in London and work with clients and counterparts internationally.
Buying and selling
Private sales
For owners considering a sale. We start with a frank view of value and of the routes open to the work: a private sale to buyers we approach directly, auction, a sale to a dealer or institution, or a private approach first with auction held in reserve. We recommend the route we think serves you best and manage it from start to finish, whether that means advising on auction strategy and negotiating terms, or offering the work discreetly to a short list of buyers and handling the paperwork and transfer.
Off-market sourcing
The rarest works, and those fresh to the market, tend to change hands privately, if they change hands at all. Through the collectors, dealers and advisers we work with, we can find out discreetly whether a work might become available, and on what terms. Nothing is advertised, and neither side's name is passed on until both agree to go further.
Buy-side mandates
For collectors looking to grow a collection, and for those tracking down a specific work, artist or period. We search the private market and the auction calendar, weigh each opportunity against comparable sales, check condition, title and provenance, and negotiate on your behalf. The decision to buy always stays with you.
Auction consignment
When auction is the right route, we compare what each house will offer and negotiate the consignment on your behalf: the sale it goes into, estimate and reserve, the seller's commission, any guarantee, and how the work is placed and marketed. Terms for the same work can differ widely between houses, and between a seller who asks and one who does not.
Advice
Valuations
Formal valuations for insurance and probate, prepared in line with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), and market valuations ahead of a sale, a purchase or the division of a collection. Each is grounded in comparable sales and current demand, at auction and in the private market.
Collection management
A review of a collection as a whole: how each work stands in the market today, which records and documents are missing, and where it could be strengthened or thinned out. We also help with the practical side of ownership, including museum and exhibition loans, storage, shipping and conservation, working with specialists.
Estates
We work with executors, trustees and families on works of art in an estate, from probate valuation through to sale, on a timetable that suits the family.
Who we work with
Private collectors, family offices, institutions and estates, and the lawyers, wealth managers and other advisers who act for them. If something falls outside what we do, we will say so and introduce someone better placed to help.
How we work
Every engagement is agreed in writing before work begins, and nothing about a client or a work is shared without a confidentiality agreement in place. Each transaction is supported by careful due diligence, so that both sides can proceed with confidence.
Begin the conversation
Tell us what you are looking for, or what you are thinking of selling.
Contact us