Auction Room

Practical tutorials for buying at auction — catalogues, bidding strategy, buyer's premium math, condition reports.

A red leather-bound copy of the Roxburghe sale catalogue, its spine lettered 'Roxburghe Sale · London · 1812'.

How to Read an Auction Catalogue: A Ten-Step Tutorial for Buyers

How to read an auction catalogue: attribution terms, description, provenance, condition reports, estimates, and buyer's premium examples at three houses.

NorwegianSpark Editorial10 min

Thomas Rowlandson, A Print Sale – A Night Auction (1788): bidders crowded round long tables under a chandelier.

Auction Room

How to bid at auction: a first-timer’s guide to absentee, telephone and online bids

How to bid at auction for the first time: in the room, absentee, by phone or online; reserves vs estimates; increments; buyer's premium in your maximum.

NorwegianSpark Editorial12 min

Two bottles of Loupiac sweet wine from different vintages, the older one darker, the wine level visible in each neck.

Auction Room

Ullage, Explained: What a Wine's Fill Level Tells You, and What It Cannot

Wine ullage: what bottom neck, top shoulder and 5 cm mean in an auction catalogue and which fill level is normal for a wine's age. Read before you bid.

NorwegianSpark Editorial12 min