Consignment & cataloguing

What we do with your object

It is photographed on the same warm sweep as everything else on this site, under the same north light, so a buyer comparing two lots is comparing objects rather than lighting setups. Where the form warrants it, we shoot an eight-frame turntable.

Then it is measured — height, width, depth, seat height where relevant, and weight, because weight determines shipping and shipping determines the bidding.

The condition report

We look at it in raking light and we write down what is wrong with it, with measurements. Every fault is pinned to the coordinates on the photograph where it actually is, so a buyer sees it rather than reads a euphemism about it.

This costs us bids on individual lots and earns us bidders across sales. We think that trade is obviously correct and we are not going to relitigate it.

Placing it in a sale

A single good chair does better in a furniture sale than in a general one, and a set of plates does better in a ceramics sale than in either. We hold the object back for the right sale rather than pushing it into the next one.