We sell mostly Polish art, so if you have an art object that may be Polish or Russian you are just in the best place! . Look at several steps we apply when accepting paintigs:

• First of all we need a picture of the object. You can send us it via email or post, including all info you can gather - exhibitions, provenance, even some family stories . It is very useful for us to track the object history, and any fact adds much to its value.
• Since we get the photo, we can quickly answer you if the object is in our interest and if it is we provide you our estimation.
• If you agree we ask you to send us the item - the detailed info about shipping is in our website section Shipping Guide.
• Once the painting comes, our Experts look at it and if the authenticity is confirmed, we send you back our consignment sale contract asking you to return us back the original signed by you. It is important we have a copy signed originally by you because only upon this document we will be able to transfer you money after the sale (our banks require it). You can download the specimen of the contract from our Download Page.

...And then real work begins...

The painting is photographed and very detailed description is prepared by our Experts who look for any information about the history of painting, exhibitions, reproductions in albums and catalogues. All these informations will appear in AGRA-ART Auction Catalogue.

We also do much effort in promoting our auction (and your painting) - by sending our catalogues and flyers to thoroughly targeted customers, mass-media, organizing press releases and conferences, attracting electronic medias as tv and radio channels, using also powerful internet possibilities.

If the painting is sold, we pay the owner 2 weeks after the auction date. We can easily transfer you money on your bank account anywhere in the world, no matter Europe or US or even Argentina:)). We can obviously give you cash if you decide to visit our beatiful country, either.

If the painting is unsold, we reserve ourselves a right to sell it in our gallery for one month after the auction date. After this time we can eventually send you back the painting or try to sell it with different price or wait for your instructions.

Most important - you pay nothing for our services if the painting is unsold. It means that all costs of photography, experts, catalogues etc is on our side. Only the costs of eventual renovation or frame repair will be charged to you. In these case, however, we always first present you the calculation for your acceptance.

Commission rate
We work on the consignment basis so we take commission on sale value of the lot when sold. Our regular commission rate is 20% calculated on the price sold (without the premium). If a lot sells for 1000 we get 200 and you 800.

...Bidding is so exciting..

Exporting the art from Poland
Since Poland joined EU the restrictions concerning export of art have changed to less severe. Anyway, each piece of art that is older than 50 years is subject to export licence. The licence is granted easily in most of the cases but it requires a fee of 25% of the purchase value.

Example:
You won the bidding with hammer price of 10 000. Our premium is 10% so it results to 1000. The export fee is 25% of hammer price so it amounts to 2500. The total for the lot is : 10 000 + 1000 + 2500 = 13 500.



There is also an exception of the above the rule, applying to European Union residents, if it is possible to prove that a lot has been imported to Poland from abroad (not earlier than 3 years). This makes it especially easy for lots coming from European Union, because all lots that are property of EU citizens and/or residents , and have been temporarily sent to Poland for an auction, can easily obtain export licence without the extra fee.

You may see appropriate notice referring to the export possibility at the lot's page in the catalogue (or web).
In any doubt feel free to contact us before the bidding if you need particular information about export possibility.

But this law does not apply to contemporary art and you can easily take out living Polish artists, that may become famous (some of them already are) in near future.

How to take part in our auction?
If you want to bid we first have to know you. So you should register (by email or fax or phone) giving us your detailed personal data (name, address, phone number), and pay the deposit.
The deposit amounts to 10 per cent of the sum you intend to spend. For example - if you expect to bid item of 20 000 PLN opening price you should pay deposit of at least 2 000 PLN. To be entitled to bid you to should pay the minimal deposit in the amount of 1 000 PLN.
If you intend to bid live through the internet - you can either register in regular way or use our automatic gate for authentication with credit card charge online.
For LIVE bidding details please refer to LIVE auction guide

Auction deposit
You can pay us the deposit by CC on our secure site or by bank transfer to one of our accounts:
USD 81 1750 0009 0000 0000 0356 5424 or EUR 15 1750 0009 0000 0000 0356 5448 with Raiffeisen bank in Warsaw.
You can read more in our Conditions of Business, available on our Download Page.
The paying of the deposit is required only when we meet first time and you had no activity records with us before.

Phone bidding
If you want to bid by phone - no problem, we can arrange you a personal assistant who will call you before your desired item shows at auction hall.
Absentee bids are also accepted by fax prior to registering with us.


Catalogues
If you want to know what we offer in details we propose you to subscribe our catalogues, which we are sending to our subscribers not later than two weeks before the date of Auction. See our section CATALOGUES for more info about our publications and subscription system.


Preview of the lots
Paintings that we offer in our Auctions are presented for preview in the special exhibition at our gallery .The exhibition usually starts 10 - 14 days before the date of Auction.
All paintings are also presented at the very day of Auction in Bristol Hotel since 1 p.m.
Certainly the fastest way to see what will be auctioned is to browse our internet site where all items appear before the catalogue is printed.

Please refer also to our Frequently Asked Questions section.

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Any additional information you can obtain by telephone at
+48 22 625 08 08, 625 06 09, 625 06 28 (fax)
or mail: agra@agraart.pl