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Glossary

This is the term pronounced by the auctioneer to signal the end of bidding on the lot and its effective sale. If the auctioneer brings down the gavel without saying ‘adjugé’, it means the lot has not been sold and is ‘bought in’ (ravalé in French). In the event of a dispute at the moment of the adjudication, i.e. if two or more bidders make an identical bid at the same time, either vocally or by sign, and simultaneously claim title to the lot after the word ‘adjugé’ has been uttered, the lot in question will be immediately re-offered for sale at the price offered by these bidders, and all those present shall be entitled to bid again.

Advertising

Auction firms need to advertise their sales. This may take the form of an advertisement in La Gazette Drouot, or in another media support; a poster at the auction venue; or a catalogue presenting lots. Such advertising must indicate the date and place of the auction, and the name (and registration number) of the auction firm

Bidding Slip

This is a receipt serving as invoice, which all successful bidders receive, either immediately in the saleroom (in case of payment during the auction), or through post. The bordereau lists the lot description, its catalogue reference, the winning bid, and the buyer’s premium to be paid. It serves as title of payment and ownership: it is useful for insuring the property and if you re-offer it for sale.

Bought-in

Bought-in is the term used to designate a lot that has not been sold, either due to lack of bidding, or because it has not attained the reserve price set by the vendor – whereupon the lot is ‘bought in’ (ravalé in French). If the vendor so wishes, the lot may, and in accordance with the auction firm, be re-offered at a future sale; or recovered by the vendor (who is then liable for buy-in costs of approx. 3%); or be the subject of an aftersale, should any offers be received.

Catalogue

There are two types of sale: uncatalogued sales (known as ventes classiques in French) ; and sales for which a catalogue is produced, with each lot carefully described by an expert, including its dimensions, date, iconography etc. and, above all, its low- and high-estimates. Any modification to a catalogue description is subject to an avis de vente (sale announcement), made outloud during the auction, and noted in the procès-verbal (official auction record). Our catalogues are published around three weeks before the auction, and can be purchased from our offices (price €10-15 according to catalogue) or received on subscription. All catalogues may also be consulted on our website and downloaded free of charge.

Clerk

The clerk, often called the responsable de vente or person in charge of the sale, organizes all aspects of the auction, from the catalogue to the viewing; receives commission bids; and finalizes payments after the sale. As his name suggests, the clerc au procès-verbal (auction clerk) is present during the auction, obtains payments, and draws up the procès-verbal (official auction record). The term comes from time (prior to the year 2000) when auctioneers were State officials and employed clerks in their firms.

Commission Bid

If you cannot attend the sale, you may leave a commission bid – either during viewing, or by downloading and returning the form available on our website.

If you leave a commission bid, a PIASA staff member will bid on your behalf, without exceeding the maximum amount (plus tax) you have stipulated. You can also ask (for lots with an estimate in excess of €300) to be contacted by telephone during the sale, then bid live via the intermediary of the PIASA staff-member you have on the phone. This service is entirely free of charge.

Crieur

The crieur is present in the saleroom among members of the public. He follows the auctioneer’s lead, and ‘cries’ out the bidding. He hands bidding slips to buyers present in the saleroom, and receives cheques, bank account details, and names of buyers, which he transmits to the auction clerk. The crieur is part and parcel of Paris auction ‘folklore’, and helps create saleroom atmosphere. It’s a job which exists only at Drouot: there are only official 16 crieurs in the world!

Droit de suite

Droit de suite (artist’s resale right) was introduced to France in 1920, after the sale of Millet’s Angelus (painted in 1858), which saw the owners make a considerable profit at a time when Millet’s heirs were living in poverty. Droit de suite enables artists (and their heirs for up to 70 years after the artist’s death) to receive a percentage of the price of the work each time it is sold. Droit de suite is applied only to fine art works, and is also applied every time the work is re-sold by an art market professional for any sum exceeding €750 (plus tax). Since the introduction of a 2001 E.U. directive, droit de suite has been applied at 4% of the sale price for amounts under €50,000, then on a reduced sliding scale for amounts above €50,000. The total amount of droit de suite to be paid may not exceed €12,500. Droit de suite is charged by PIASA on the vendor's behalf.

Drouot

The Hôtel Drouot first opened on 1 June 1852 and now houses 16 salerooms over three floors, welcoming over 6000 visitors each day. Some 70 auction firms based in the surrounding district rent salerooms at the Hôtel Drouot to stage auctions. The Hôtel Drouot is located at 5 rue Drouot, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, and open to the public from 11am-6pm Monday-Saturday (until 8pm on Thursdays).

Estimates

Each lot description in the auction catalogue is followed by the lot's estimated value. This involves two prices: a low-estimate – the price beneath which one estimates that the item does not deserve to be sold; and a high-estimate – the maximum price at which the lot is valued. This estimate-band serves merely as an indication of the lot's value: bidding may go well beyond high-estimate (it rarely goes much below low-estimate, given the reserve-price). In no way does the estimate guarantee the price at which an object will be sold.

Étude

Before France’s legal auction reform of 2000, auctioneers were State-appointed officials, or officiers ministériels, who worked with clerks in a firm officially known as an étude. The term étude no longer has legal currency, as an auctioneer is henceforth a salaried employee of an auction firm or société de ventes (since Law n° 2011-850 of 20 July 2011, the official French term for an auctioneer is an opérateur de ventes volontaires). Even so, the word étude is still often used in French to designate an auction firm, and remains the official term for a firm belonging to a commissaire-priseur judiciaire, empowered to direct court-order sales.

Expert

To assess the value of lots offered for sale, PIASA works with numerous experts. PIASA has just two internal departments (Contemporary Art and 20th Century Decorative Arts), and calls on independent experts, recognized in their field, for other specialities. In France there are no regulations governing the profession of Art Expert, although various associations (Compagnie Nationale des Experts, Syndicat Français des Experts Professionnels en Œuvres d'Art, etc.) guarantee the reliability of their members, who are paid on commission – based on the price of the lots they have assessed. Experts undertake research before writing their catalogue entries and valuing lots; and they are present at pre-sale viewings and during the auction itself, where they introduce and describe the lots as they come up for sale.

Export

Since the Law of 1992 came into effect, works of art kept in France must (above a certain value) have a ‘passport’ - a certificate of free circulation that allows them to leave the country, i.e. to be sold to bidders living outside France. PIASA handles passport requests to the French Culture Ministry, which are obligatory for all antiquities, manuscripts, drawings, photographs and engravings worth over €15,000; for all sculpture and antiquarian books worth over €50,000; and for all paintings with a value of over €150,000.

Folle enchère

La folle enchère est une mesure visant à écarter les faux enchérisseurs. En effet, si un enchérisseur se laisse emporter et obtient le lot à un montant qu'il ne peut pas honorer, l'objet sera alors remis en vente. Si le prix obtenu à cette nouvelle vente se révèle inférieur à celui qui avait été offert par le fol enchérisseur, ce dernier devra alors régler la différence.

Import

The sign ƒ preceding a lot in any of our sale catalogues means the item has been imported temporarily from outside the European Union. The work is therefore subject to an additional tax, charged to the buyer, equivalent to 5.5% (plus tax) of the price of your purchase. If you live in a country that is not part of the European Union, the item will be considered as re-exported, and not subject to this tax.

Judiciaire

A commissaire-priseur judiciaire is a State-appointed official with the exclusive right to direct court-order sales (salaried auctioneers of commercial auction firms do not have this right). An auctioneer may, however, jointly exercise both roles – as is the case with PIASA’s three Auctioneer-Directors.

Payment

Auctions at PIASA are held in euros, and payments are effected in the same currency. If you are the final bidder on a lot, you become the owner and the sale is definitive. You must then proceed swiftly with the payment of your lot. There are several means of payment, whether directly in the saleroom or through the PIASA accounts department:
- by credit card
- by certified cheque in euros, upon obligatory presentation of valid proof of identity
- by bank transfer in euros :
   Code SWIFT: BNPPARB Paris A CENTRALE FR
   IBAN (International Bank Account Number): 76 3000 4008 2800 0105 9294 176
   BIC (Bank Identification Code): BNPAFRPPPAC
   PIASA SA DEPOT CLIENT: 16 boulevard des Italiens, 75009 Paris, SVV ART L 321 6 CC
   Bank Code: 30004
   Code Guichet: 00828
   Account N°: 00010592941
   Clé: 76
- in cash:
   - up to €3000 (inc. costs & tax), if the buyer is fiscally domiciled in France, or acting in the context of professional activity
   - up to €15,000 (inc. costs & tax), if the buyer can prove that his/her fiscal domicile is outside France, and that he/she is not acting in the context of professional activity

Our Buyer Accounts department is open from Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm (uninterrupted), tel +33 (0)1 53 34 10 17.

Plus-value

If property you sell PIASA achieves a price in excess of €5,000, a plus-value tax is applied (by PIASA on behalf of the vendor) at a set rate of 5%.

You may be exonerated from this tax in certain cases, upon presentation of the necessary documentary proof:
- if you have owned the work for more than 12 years
- if the work comes from a joint inheritance and is sold within two years of the start of the inheritance
- if the work has been sold to a public institution
- if the work comes from abroad

Pre-emption

The right of pre-emption gives the States the possibility, at auction, to substitute itself for the final bidder so that the item concerned enters public ownership. In practical terms, just after the gavel has fallen and the hammer-price had been announced, a State representative, present in the saleroom, rises to declare sous réserve de la préemption de l'État (‘subject to State pre-emption’). The State then has 15 days to confirm the pre-emption.

Premiums

Auctions involve extensive organization and personnel, and auction firms need to cover their costs by charting a commission, or premium, on the sales achieved. There are two types of premium:
    - buyer’s premium added to the hammer price (as announced in the saleroom by the auctioneer once bidding on a lot is completed), and which varies according to the hammer-price:
       23% on the first €15,000 (27.508% inc. tax)
       then 20% from €15,001-600,000 (23.92% inc. tax)
       and 12% above €600,000 (14.352% inc. tax)
           For books:
               23% on the first €15,000 (24.265% inc. tax)
               then 20% from €15,001-600,000 (21.10% inc. tax )
               and 12% above €600,000 (12.66% inc. tax)

- vendor’s premium, which is deducted from the hammer price before the vendor is paid; this premium is not fixed, and depends on various factors

It is thanks to the combined income from these two premiums that PIASA are able to offer you the best possible service.

Reserve

The reserve-price is decided by the vendor, and corresponds to the amount below which he/she does not wish to sell. The reserve price cannot exceed the low-estimate; it may, however, be lower, depending on the vendor’s priorities. The reserve-price is strictly confidential, and in no way corresponds to the starting-price.

Société de Ventes Volontaires (SVV)

What are now officially known in French (since Law n° 2011-850 of 20 July 2011) as sociétés de ventes volontaires de meubles aux enchères publiques are commercial companies with the exclusive right to stage ‘voluntary auctions’ in France. Unlike court-order sales, which can only be conducted by a State-appointed commissaire-priseur judiciaire, a ‘voluntary auction’ results from individual choice. SVVs must receive formal approval from the Conseil des Ventes Volontaires (national auction watchdog) and have at least one qualified auctioneer among their staff, associates or directors.

PIASA is a limited company (registration n° 2001-020) owned by 14 shareholders, with 5 qualified auctioneers (3 directors and 2 salaried).

Starting Pirce

The starting price, announced by the expert in the saleroom, is the amount at which bidding begins. It is usually below low-estimate and the reserve-price (with which, however, it has no connection).

Vacation

A vacation is a French word used to describe an auction session. An auction may involve several vacations, e.g. a session in the morning and one in the afternoon; or, for very important sales, the vacations may be spread over several days. Auctions usually involve a single vacation and, in fact, the two terms are largely synonymous.

Viewings

Pre-sale viewings offer a special opportunity to examine all the lots in the sale (even those not illustrated in the catalogue); for uncatalogued sales, the viewing is the only way of knowing the contents of the sale. Viewing take place in the saleroom the day before the auction (11am-6pm) and on the day of the sale itself (11am-noon). Auctioneers, sale officials and experts are present to answer questions and requests for valuations. You can also buy the sale catalogue at the viewing if you don’t yet have it. At the viewing, you have the possibility to inspect lots closely and/or handle them carefully. You may also leave commission bids. For our prestige sales, a selection of the finest lots are on show in our offices at 5 rue Drouot (2nd floor) from Monday-Friday, 10am-noon & 2-6pm.