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Conditions of Sale - Buyer



1. In these conditions, the ‘Auctioneer’ is the company, firm, or person, or his servant or agent who has agreed to auction any lot.

2. Devon and Cornwall Auctions acts as agent only, and neither they nor the vendor are responsible for any faults or defects in any lot or the correctness of any statement as to the authorship, origin, date, age, attribution, genuineness, provenance, or condition of any lot. Buyers must satisfy themselves as to the physical condition of all lots.

3. The highest bidder acceptable to the Auctioneer prior to the fall of the hammer shall be the purchaser and if any dispute arises between the bidders, such dispute(s) shall be settled by the Auctioneer, or the lot offered again and resold.

4. The bidding will be regulated at the discretion of the Auctioneer who reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, and in the case of lots with a reserve, shall have the right to bid on behalf of the vendor.

5. The Auctioneer reserves the right to refuse any bid, or withdraw, consolidate, or alter the order of any lots at their discretion.

6. Every lot is sold by the vendor with all faults and defects therein, and with all errors of description and is to be taken and paid for whether genuine and authentic or not, and no compensation shall be paid for the same. Opportunity is given for inspection of goods and each buyer by making a bid for a lot acknowledges that he has satisfied himself fully before bidding, by inspection or otherwise to all the sale conditions, the physical condition of and description of the lot including but not restricted to whether the lot is damaged, or has been restored.

6a. DESCRIPTION Whilst Devon and Cornwall Auctions strives to ensure the accuracy of the description of a lot either in a catalogue, or spoken or written in a condition report or photographically, it does not accept responsibility or imply any warranty for the authenticity, attribution, genuineness, origin, authorship, date, age or period, condition of quality of any lot. All weights and dimensions given are approximate.

7. All purchasers must give their names and addresses to the Auctioneer on a Registration Form before the start of the sale.

8. Each lot will immediately on the fall of the hammer become the property of the purchaser and be in every respect the risk of the purchaser.

Neither Devon and Cornwall Auctions, nor their staff or agents shall be responsible for any loss or damage whether caused by negligence or otherwise.

9. The buyer shall remove any lot for which he has paid in full plus all other charges, if any, by the time for removal, which shall be either the time for payment or the time stated in any sale notes of the Auctioneer, whichever shall be the later, but provided that no lot shall be removed without the Auctioneer’s express written consent whilst the auction is continuing. The buyer shall be responsible for the removal of the articles and such removal must be carried out safely and lawfully. The buyer agrees to insure against and to indemnify the Auctioneer and the seller against any and all claims arising in respect of injury or damage to person or property, whether real or personal, caused by or in connection with the acts or omissions of the buyer, whether caused by himself, his servants or agents or his principals or employer. Buyers must insure against these risks.

10. All descriptions in the Catalogues, advertisements, or anywhere else are statements of opinion, and are not to be relied upon as statements or representations of fact. All intending purchasers must satisfy themselves by inspection as to all the matters specified in 2. above, as to the physical description of any lot and as to whether a lot has been repaired. Notwithstanding this, any lot which proves to be a forgery may be returned to us within 21 days provided it is in the same condition as when bought, together with a written statement of defects. If we are satisfied from the evidence that the lot is a deliberate forgery we shall refund the money paid by you for the lot provided that (1) if the catalogue description reflected the accepted view of scholars and experts as at the date of sale or (2) you personally are not able to transfer a good and marketable title to us, you shall have no rights under this condition.

11. Remedies for Non-Payment or Failure to Collect Purchases. If any Lot is not paid for in full and/or taken away in accordance with these Conditions or if there is any other breach of these Conditions, we as agent for the seller shall at our absolute discretion and without prejudice to any other rights we may have, be entitled to exercise all or any of the following rights and remedies:-

(a) to proceed against you for damages for breach of contract;

(b) to rescind the sale of that Lot and/or any other Lots sold by us to you;

(c) to resell the Lot (by auction or private treaty) in which case you shall be responsible for any resulting deficiency in the total amount due (after crediting any part payment and adding any resale costs). Any surplus so arising shall belong to the seller;

(d) to remove, store and insure the Lot at your expense and, in the case of storage, either at our premises or elsewhere;

(e) to retain that or any other Lot sold to you until you pay the total amount due.

12. Written commission bids and bids by telephone will be at the sole discretion of the Auctioneer. Payment by successful purchasers in these instances must be made within five working days of the sale by direct bank transfer, or in person in cash or by card payment at the saleroom. Card payments by telephone are not accepted.

13. The Buyer’s Premium is 20 per cent of the hammer price, exclusive of VAT at the current rate

14. Bidding increments shall be at the Auctioneer’s sole discretion.

15. English Law applies to the interpretation of these conditions.

NB All lots must be paid for within 7 days of the sale. All lots still on the premises after 7 days (whether paid for or not) will incur a storage charge of £1+VAT per lot per day. After 28 days uncollected items will be treated as abandoned and re-entered for sale at no reserve and proceeds used to offset storage accrued.