Selling an antique
There are four routes and none is best for everything. What changes between them is how much the middleman takes, how long it takes and how much of the work falls to you. Here are all four, with what each costs.
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Selling outright to an antique dealer or gallery
- Cost
- They buy below the retail price
- Timescale
- Days
The house buys the piece and resells it. It is the fastest route and the only one where you are certain to be paid, and paid in one go — but you are paid a buying price, not a selling price: the difference is their margin and their risk. Get two or three offers before closing; they vary more than you would think.
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Consignment: the house sells on your behalf
- Cost
- Commission on whatever it sells for
- Timescale
- Months
The piece stays in the shop and you are paid when it sells, less commission. You get more than by selling outright, but it can take time and it may not sell at all. Insist in writing on the commission, the reserve price and what happens if you want it back.
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Auction
- Cost
- Commission from seller and buyer
- Timescale
- Weeks to months
The auction house values it, catalogues it and puts it up for bidding. It is the best route for rare or signed pieces, where competition between bidders lifts the price. For ordinary pieces it works out badly: there are catalogue and photography costs, and a lot that fails to sell is «burnt» for a while.
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Selling it yourself
- Cost
- Platform commission, if any
- Timescale
- Open-ended
You keep almost the whole price, and in exchange you do the work: photograph, describe, answer, pack and ship. And you carry the risk of getting the price wrong, which is the expensive mistake — too low and you lose money, too high and it never sells.
Who do I go to?
The directory of verified houses that buy outright is in preparation. When it is ready, they will appear here by province and speciality.
In the meantime, what you can use are the category guides: what to look at in a piece, what documentation a professional asks for and what vocabulary they use.
Frequently asked
- What is the thing I want to sell worth?
- Nobody serious will tell you from a photograph without seeing it. What you can do: look for similar pieces in auction results —what was actually paid, not what is being asked— and get two or three offers. If they differ widely, there is something unclear about the piece and it is worth a report before selling.
- Who buys antiques?
- Antique dealers and galleries in the field, auction houses, and private buyers and collectors. Which one suits you depends on the piece: for ordinary furniture, a dealer in your province; for signed work or a rare piece, an auction house. Selling a signed painting to someone who only handles furniture is losing money.
- Should I have it restored before selling?
- Almost never, and a bad restoration takes off more than it cost. In antique furniture and paintings what is paid for is the original piece with its wear; the professional buyer would rather decide themselves what gets touched. Surface cleaning yes; intervention, not without asking first.
- What paperwork do I need?
- Anything that shows where it came from: old invoices, family photographs with the piece in them, probate papers, exhibition catalogues. Even incomplete, they add up: provenance is what moves the price most on pieces of any value.
- Does Teselara buy my piece?
- No. Teselara neither buys nor sells: it is a directory of professionals and a place for guides. Selling through the site opens in 2027; until then, here you will find who to approach and what to ask them.
Selling on Teselara
In 2027 selling through the site will open. The terms will be published in the pact before they apply —it is one of the seven rules— and far enough in advance that nobody finds out afterwards.
There is no waiting list and nothing to reserve. We would rather tell you the year and keep to it than ask for your email today for something that does not exist yet.