FAQ – Selling Your Warhol

People often mistakenly assume that auctioning is the best way to sell high-end artwork. This is not true. The common perception is that the prestige and outreach that auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s have is that it will translate into the best possible result – this can be true sometimes. At Revolver, we monitor these prices daily, and pay the top, published value—without the hassle and without any high fees.

We also offer a free market report, so you can see the numbers for yourself. Ultimately, auctioning can be a long and inconvenient process; and you’ll only get a fraction of the final sale—sometimes 50%. Keep in mind the 25% Buyers Premium in which the auction houses do not share with the consignor, and a consignment fee which can also be up to 20%.  That coupled with other ancillary fees can allow for half of the pie.

• Risk — Risk is an important thing to consider when auctioning an artwork. Although auction sales determine market prices, auctioning your Warhol means you are risking selling your Warhol for a lower rate than expected, or worse, not selling your artwork at all. Failing to sell an artwork at auction can be disastrous for the value of the piece, especially with unique works. Art that does not sell after being publicly offered via auction or through galleries to their prospective collectors will commonly be considered “burnt,” which in some cases, will result in making the artwork more difficult to sell resulting in a lower priced value proposition.
• Fees — Once an artwork is sold at auction, auction houses will deduct their fees. These fees typically include a 25% Buyers Premium, a consignment fee of up to 20%, and fees for photography, cataloguing, crating & shipping, insurance, and sometimes marketing fees, which can add to up to 50% of what your artwork sells for. Since market value is most commonly determined by auction sales, as the gap between retail and auction narrows, this means you could only be getting half of the market value of your Warhol. At Revolver, we give you real comparable sales and average them out showing you an estimated net-to-consignor auction result compared to our offer which is paid immediately upon inspection. 
• Time — Auctioning your Warhol means you will not get your money until after the auction itself happens which is dependent on when the buyer pays and then once accounting processes and contacts you for payment. Auctioning is not a quick process, nor a process in which you are in control of the outcome. Outcome can be influenced by the events that can happen between the time when agreeing to consign and finally, when payment is received.  The common range is 4 to 9 months from evaluation to payment. 

The value of a Warhol is typically benchmarked by auction value, which records the performance history of artworks. Warhol artworks are classified in three categories: paintings, prints, and sculpture. Paintings are often unique, however, many have the same silkscreen and only the paint brush strokes and color differ.  Paintings are regarded as more desirable but also more expensive.  Prints can be defined as edition prints and unique prints.  Edition prints are signed and numbered, with few exceptions where a rubber “Andy Warhol” stamp replaced a physical signature. The unique prints were typically test proofs that Andy never intended on selling, and went into storage. Following Warhol’s death, the Andy Warhol Foundation sold the works as unique artworks.  They have estate stamps, initials from an authority at the Warhol Foundation, and a unique catalogue number that matches with the Foundation’s records. Therefore, some Warhols are worth more than others. Trial proofs, for instance (Warhol’s test prints), tend to have a higher value due to their distinctive qualities. The condition of the work also influences its worth, so this is also important to consider when selling your Warhol. However, the market is ultimately driven by supply and demand. To this day, there is a high demand for Warhols and they appreciate in value approximately 12% a year.