How to buy

Buying and Selling

Buying

Before the auction there is an exhibition during which the purchaser can examine the lots, verify their authenticity and the conditions of their preservation.
Our room personnel and our experts will be at your disposal for all clarifications.
The people who cannot examine the works directly can ask a digital picture of the lot they are interested in, together with a detailed description of their conditions of preservation. This information reflects exclusively opinions and no employee can be held responsible of possible mistakes or omissions. This service is available for the lots with an estimate higher than € 1.000.

The descriptions on the catalogue indicate the period and the provenance of each object and their conditions of preservation and represent the opinion of our experts.
The estimates under the descriptions represent the evaluation that our experts assign to each lot.
The starting price of the auction is the price from which the auction starts and normally it is lower than the minimum estimate.
The reserve price is the price agreed with the seller and it can be inferior, equal or superior to the estimate indicated in the catalogue.

The beats in the saleroom progress with raisings of 10%, which can change at the auctioneer’s discretion.
The hammer price is the price of adjudication.
The commissions due to Cambi by the buyer are 30% of the hammer price of each lot up to an amount of € 2000, 25% for the part of the price up to € 200.000 and 20% on any amount in excess of this sum, including VAT. Any other taxes or charges are at the buyer’s expenses.
People interested in buying one or more lots can take part in the auction using a personal number (valid for all the sessions of the auction) which will be given after the filling of a participation form with personal data and possible bank references.
People who cannot take part directly in the sale can use our service of written bids, placing an absentee bid completing the form in the catalogue or directly at Cambi’s.
The price indicated is the maximum bid, meaning that the lot could be assigned to the bidder also under this amount, but if there will be higher bids, the object will be assigned to another bidder.
For bidders who wants to offer at least the minimum price on the lot, it is possible to take part in the auction by telephone. For the other lots it is necessary to make a preventive written bid equal to this amount. One of our telephonists will contact you, also in a foreign language, to let you take part in the auction on real time for the lot of your interest. The phone call could be registered. We advise you to indicate a maximum bid also when you ask to be contacted by telephone, in case we could not reach you at the moment of the auction.
The service of written and telephonic bids is free of charge by it does not imply any responsibilities for bids accidentally not placed or for possible mistakes regarding their carrying out. To consider them valid, Cambi must receive all bids at least 5 hours before the auction.

How to pay

The payment of the lots knocked down must be done within 5 days from the date of the auction by:

  • 01 - cash until € 4.999,00
  • 02 - bank draft to Cambi Casa d'Aste Srl
  • 03 - bank transfer:
    Intesa Sanpaolo - Filiale di Genova, via Ceccardi
    IBAN: IT70J0306901400100000132706
    BIC/SWIFT: BCITITMM

Goods collection

The collection of the lots purchased must be done within two weeks after the sale. After this term, goods could be transferred at the purchaser’s risk and expenses to the Cambi warehouse in Genoa.

In this case, the costs of transport and storage will be debited to the purchaser and Cambi will not be held responsible towards the purchaser as for the possible deterioration of the items.
When collecting the items, the purchaser will have to exhibit his ID. If the lots already paid will be collected by a third person, the latter must have a written proxy signed by the purchaser and a copy of the purchaser’s ID.

If the purchaser asks so, Cambi personnel could organize wrapping and transportation of the lots at the purchaser’s risk and expenses. Cambi will not be held responsible for any damages.




Here is a list of the meanings of the terms used in the descriptive cards of the works in the catalogue:

  • 01NAME of the ARTIST:
    according to us, a possible work of the artist mentioned;
  • 02ASCRIBED TO ...:
    we think that it could be a work of the artist mentioned, completely or partially;
  • 03WORKSHOP OF / SCHOOL OF ...:
    according to us, the work was made by an unknown person working in the workshop of the mentioned artist, which can have been created under the direction or not of the artist or in the years following his death;
  • 04CIRCLE OF ...:
    according to us, the work was created by an unknown hand, not necessarily a disciple of the mentioned artist;
  • 05DISCIPLE OF ...:
    according to us, the work was created by an author working with the same style of the mentioned artist;
  • 06STYLE OF / MANNER OF ...:
    according to us, the work was created in the style of the mentioned artist but in a following period;
  • 07FROM ...:
    it seems a copy of a well-known work by the mentioned artist, but with an imprecise date;
  • 08“signed” / “dated”:
    it seems that these data were added by hand or in a period different from the one of the mentioned artist;
  • 09“signature and/or date inscribed”:
    sembra che questi dati siano stati aggiunti da mano o in epoca diversa da quella dell’artista indicato;
  • 10“century ...”:
    dating with a simply indicative value which can have a margin of approximation;
  • 11IN STYLE ...:
    according to us, the work is in the mentioned style even if it was created in a following period;
  • 12“restorations/defects”:
    the goods sold during the auctions, since they are ancient or used, are almost completely subject to restorations and integrations and/or substitutions. The wording will be mentioned only in the cases in which the interventions are considered by the experts of the auction house well above the average and can compromise, at least partially, the authenticity of the lot; 
  • 13“ancient elements”: 
    the objects were assembled using elements and material of previous periods.