Whether you are looking to sell your art or collect it, there are many ways to access and engage with the world’s leading art markets. Buying at auction is the most efficient way to acquire artwork and can often be cheaper than buying directly from a gallery. However, there are a number of factors to consider before making the decision to buy or sell at an art auction.

For those Toronto art auctions selling their work, it is important to remember that most auction houses will take a significant percentage of the sale price (often 15% or more) of your art in commission, plus additional costs like marketing, LDL and insurance, cataloguing, shipping and storage fees. Additionally, performance commission fees – charged when a work sells above its high estimate – can add an extra 1-2% for the seller.

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In addition to auction sales, Cowley Abbott also conducts private art sales and provides appraisals and consultancy services. Their upcoming fall sale includes 138 works of Canadian historical, post-war and contemporary art as well as Inuit art and international art.

Putting work into an auction will generally require you to find one of the house’s specialists and discuss your prints with them. They will advise on pricing and how your print fits into the wider market of their collectors, before advising which sale it should be entered into. Once your artwork is at the auction, it will remain there until sold or returned to you if it fails to sell, when you will be expected to pay any unsold fees (often 1.5% of the average of the low and high estimates) plus storage costs.