Buying

If you would like to personally partake in the auction, you can obtain a bidder number after providing us with some identification. This can take place during the preview at our showrooms in the Sybelstrasse, or one hour before the auction.

To participate in the auction with a written maximum bid, register in the login area of our website.
Alternatively you can fill out an order form and send it to us by letter, fax, as a scanned e-mail attachment, or return it to us in person.

Submitted maximum bids do not include commission and tax. Of course we will only take your bid to the level that the auction process requires.

Please be advised that we may not be able to process your bid if you submit it to us any later than 24 hours before the auction.

Artworks with an estimated price above 500,- Euro may be bid for by telephone.

To sign up for telephone bidding, please register in the login area of our website.
Alternatively, you can use our bidding form and send it to us by letter, e-mail, fax or by personal delivery at least 24 hours before the auction starts. Please enter the telephone number where you can be reached during the auction.

We will then contact you in time so that we can relay your bids during the auction. Our auction house is not responsible for the reliability of the telephone connection or any transmission mistakes, and is in no way liable during this process.

All submitted maximum bids do not include commission and tax.

The platform lot-tissimo.com gives you the option to participate in our auction as a live bidder. To do so, please register as a bidder on their website. In addition to your registration, we need a copy of your ID to verify you as a bidder. We cannot guarantee the processing of applications submitted later than 24 hours prior to the auction.

For live bidding, Lot-tissimo charges an extra 5% of the net hammer price, which will be added to your invoice as an additional charge. This fee can be avoided if the knockdown takes place via a written or telephone bid perceived by us.

After the auction, there is the Post Auction Sale, where there is the possibility to buy lots at the reserve price. The stated reserve price does not include commission and tax.

The sale is open and prices are valid for the span of five weeks after the auction.

Please understand that bids lower than the reserve price will not be accepted or processed until at least two weeks after the auction, as we must respect the interests of the consignor, whom we have guaranteed the reserve price.

1.
The auction takes place voluntarily based on the orders of the consignors. It is conducted in our name for the account of a third party and is a public auction within the meaning of §§ 383 III, 474 I 2 BGB.

2.
The highest bid will be accepted. If a disagreement about the acceptance of the bid cannot be settled immediately, the number will be offered again. The acceptance of the bid obliges the buyer to purchase and pay. The Auctioneer reserves the right to auction out of sequence, separate, combine or omit numbers, to make the acceptance of a bid subject to reservation as well as to reject bids that are in no relation to the value of the piece. The Auctioneer is entitled to reject written or oral bids from bidders unknown to her without giving reasons, unless appropriate securities are provided or sufficient references are given before the auction.

3.
The prices stated  in written orders shall be the maximum limit for the acceptance of a bid. The acceptance of a bid refers exclusively to the hammer price, i.e. it does not include surcharges, possible levies and value-added tax, which are added. There is no guarantee for the processing of orders arriving later than 24 hours before the auction starts. Our auction house does not assume any liability or warranty concerning permanent and fault-free availability and usage of the websites or the internet and telephone connection or transmission errors.

a. Bids on the floor will be placed using the bidder number. A contract is concluded when the auctioneer accepts the bid. If a bidder wishes to place bids on behalf of a third party, he must notify at least 24 hours before the start of the auction by presenting a power of attorney from the third party. Otherwise, the contract will be concluded with the bidder himself upon acceptance of the bid.

b. In a written bid, the bidder commissions Dr. Irene Lehr Kunstauktionen GmbH to carry out his or her bids following his or her instructions. The written bid requires our confirmation and will only be taken up with the amount necessary to outbid another bid. If several written bids of the same amount are received for the same object of art, a lottery will decide, if no higher bid is present or has been submitted.

c. Telephone bids are permitted for objects of art with an estimate of more than EUR 500 as long as the bidder registered in writing at least 24 hours before the start of the auction and the auctioneer has agreed in written form. Dr. Irene Lehr Kunstauktionen GmbH will carry out the bidding on the floor on the instructions of the telephone bidder.

d. Internet bidding is only admissible if the bidder has been admitted with a username and a password. The admission is exclusively for the person of the admitted bidder. The user is obliged not to make his username and password accessible to third parties. In the event of culpable infringement, he or she shall be liable for any damages arising therefrom. The bids transmitted via the Internet are electronically recorded. The correctness of the protocols is acknowledged by the buyer, who is, however, free to prove their incorrectness. Bids submitted via the Internet before the auction are legally treated as written bids.

4.
The auction will take place against payment in EURO. A surcharge of 28% is to be paid on the acceptance of the bid, which includes VAT without separate identification (differential taxation). Works of art marked with an N were temporarily imported from a third country. When the works of art are handed over by Dr. Irene Lehr Kunstauktionen GmbH to the buyer, the buyer becomes the importer and owes Dr. Irene Lehr Kunstauktionen GmbH the import sales tax in the amount of currently 7 %. Works of art marked in this way are offered subject to differential taxation. For catalogue items marked with an *, a surcharge of 22 % is to be paid, and sales tax of 19 % is levied on the final invoice amount (standard taxation). For German entrepreneurs who are entitled to deduct input tax on books, works of art, graphics and manuscripts, the total invoice can be issued on request, as before, according to standard taxation. Exempted from VAT are export deliveries to third countries (outside the EU) and – if their VAT identification number is stated when the order is placed as proof of entitlement to tax-free intra-Community deliveries – also companies in other EU member states, provided that they purchase for commercial use. All other buyers from EU countries are subject to the German value-added tax. Foreign buyers outside the European Union will be reimbursed the VAT if the German customs export certificate and the customs import certificate of the respective import country are provided within 4 weeks after the auction. In the case of shipment by us, the proof of export shall be deemed to be given. Invoices issued during or immediately after the auction require special verification and correction; errors excepted.

5.
The ownership is only transferred to the buyer with the complete payment, the risk of any damage already with the acceptance of the bid.

6.
The auctioned objects will be delivered after receipt of the transferred purchase price, from Monday, April 29^th to Friday, May 3^rd 2024, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The storage and dispatch will be at the expense and risk of the buyer. The shipment to unknown buyers will be made exclusively against pre-sending of the invoice amount. If no payment has been made within two weeks after the auction at the latest, the Auctioneer is entitled to cancel the purchase price resulting from the knockdown without further notice, to charge default interest at the usual bank rate and to demand compensation from the Bidder for non-performance. In the event of delayed payment, the successful bidder shall be liable for all damages arising therefrom, in particular interest and currency losses. Those bidders who bid on behalf of other parties are personally liable for acceptance and payment, even if the invoice is issued to another buyer.

7.
All items to be auctioned can be viewed and examined before the auction at the scheduled times. The items to be auctioned are, without exception, used and will be sold in the condition in which they are at the time of the acceptance of the bid. Claims of the buyer against the auctioneer due to material defects and defects of title are excluded. The regulations of the sale of consumer goods shall not apply according to § 474 (section 2) BGB. The catalogue descriptions, which have been prepared to the best of our knowledge and belief, do not contain any guarantees or information about the condition of the items in the legal sense. The exclusion of claims due to material defects and defects of title does not apply if the object is not genuine and the auctioneer could have recognised the lack of authenticity based on circumstances which became known and recognisable to him/her or based on his/her expert knowledge during an examination. The auctioneer is obliged, irrespective of the exclusion of claims, to offer the buyer his rights against the consignor for assignment if he does not otherwise indemnify the consignor. In the case of an offer of assignment, the buyer is obliged to proceed first from the assigned right, even if the auctioneer’s liability for defects of the object is not excluded. Non-excluded claims due to defects shall become statute-barred within one year from the handover of the auctioned object. Other claims for damages not based on defects or the violation of contractual cardinal obligations are excluded unless the auctioneer has acted with gross negligence or intent, or the claim for damages is based on injury to life, limb or health.

8.
Persons with political exposure and their immediate family members are subject to the obligation to provide information within the meaning of the Money Laundering Act (MLA). According to the new guidelines for the MLA, we are obliged to deposit a copy of the bidder’s identity card in the case of written bids over € 7,500 as well as auction hall, live and telephone bids. In the case of legal entities (e.g. GmbHs), we also require an extract from the commercial register or a comparable offical register.

9.
By placing an order or submitting a bid, the buyer expressly accepts these conditions.

10.
Berlin is the place of performance and exclusive place of jurisdiction for both parties.