Terms of sale

Cambi Casa d’Aste S.r.l. shall hereinafter be referred to as “Cambi”.

1 Sales are made to the highest bidder.
Cambi acts as a representative agent in the name and on behalf of each consignor of lots. The sale of each lot shall be considered as done between the seller and the buyer (the person who has placed the highest bid out of all the subjects placing bids on a single lot, who is therefore declared to be the successful bidder) directly; this implies that Cambi does not take on any direct liability towards buyers or other third parties arising out of the sale of the lots, and any and all liabilities, including those under Articles 1476 et seq. of the Italian Civil Code, shall be borne by the sellers of the lots. The sales director (so-called auctioneer)’s hammer determines the conclusion of the sales agreement between the seller and the buyer, as well as the buyer’s liability to pay to Cambi the full amount owed for the lot, which includes the hammer price and the buyer’s premium set forth herein (Art. 13). It is expressly stipulated that the sale shall be considered as completed for all purposes, and ownership of the purchased lot shall be transferred to the buyer, only upon full payment to Cambi of all the amounts owed by the buyer pursuant to these terms of sale (notwithstanding any differing provisions set forth by Italian Legislative Decree No. 42/04, including those on the subject of the State’s right of
first refusal; please also refer to Article 15 below).

2 The lots put up for sale shall be considered as used goods provided as antiques and as such do not qualify as “products” pursuant to the definition stated in Article 3 letter e) of the Italian Consumer Code (Legislative decree 6.09.2005 n. 206).

3 The auction is preceded by a viewing during which Cambi (via the Auctioneer or other appointees) shall be available to provide any necessary clarification; upon request, Cambi may provide a condition report for the relevant lot (this service is only guaranteed for lots with an estimate value above 1,000). The viewing’s purpose is to allow potential buyers to carefully and thoroughly examine the authenticity, the state of conservation, provenance, type, and quality of the lots, regarding which only the bidders and the buyer take on any and all risks and liabilities, including those relating to Article 1488, c. 2 of the Italian Civil Code. After the sale, neither Cambi nor the sellers shall be held responsible for any vices in the lots, pertaining, among other things, the state of conservation, misattribution, authenticity, provenance, weight or lack of quality in the lots. To this end, the bidders and the buyers expressly waive the warranty set forth in Article 1490 of the Civil Code, indemnifying Cambi from any liability; to this effect, neither Cambi, nor its staff and consultants, shall issue any valid warranty in this regard.

The potential buyer thus undertakes to examine the lot thoroughly before participating in the auction, consulting a trusted expert or restorer if necessary, in order to ascertain all the aforementioned characteristics, fully and exclusively taking on any and all risks and liabilities regarding the purchase of the lot and its features, which, in case of purchase, shall be deemed to have been sold on an “as seen” basis.

A bid placed for the purchase of one or more lots acts as an express declaration that the bidder has seen and examined the lots and accepts to purchase them unconditionally, in the actual condition and legal status in which each lot is, regardless of the description thereof provided by Cambi.

4 The auctioned lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of the viewing, with all the defects and flaws they may have such as parts that have been broken, restored, replaced or are missing. These features, even when they are not expressly stated in the catalogue, shall not be considered to be decisive regarding disputes on the sale. Antique goods, by their very nature, may have been subject to restorations or changes of various types, such as overpainting; this kind of intervention can never be considered as hidden defects or counterfeit of a lot. As for electrical or mechanical goods, they are not verified before the sale and are purchased by the buyer at their own risk. Watch movements shall be considered as not inspected.

5 Cambi acts a representative agent of the seller and is exempt from any and all liabilities regarding the provenance and description of the lots in the catalogues, brochures, condition reports, or any other collateral; these descriptions, as well as all other statements or depictions, shall be considered as merely indicative (with the sole purpose of identifying the lots) and not exact descriptions of the actual condition and legal status of the lots, nor shall they be binding for Cambi (as they may be subject to changes before the lot is put up for sale), nor can they be the grounds for any kind of guarantee towards the bidders and the buyer. Cambi shall not be held responsible for any errors and omissions relating to such descriptions, and it disclaims any and all (express or implied) warranties as to the condition, attribution, authenticity, or provenance of the lots, regarding which the seller is solely responsible, including towards the bidders and the buyers. To this effect, the bidders and the buyer expressly release Cambi from any liability regarding the condition, attribution, authenticity, provenance and description of the lots. In any case, in the event that the representative agent’s responsibility in said matters are established, Cambi may reimburse to the buyer (after the contested lot has been returned in the same actual condition and legal status it was in at the time of the sale) only the amount corresponding to the amount that has been received by the buyer for the buyer’s premium (Art. 13) for the contested lot, and the buyer waives, with immediate effect, the rights to any further claim against Cambi in any capacity whatsoever, and without prejudice to the buyer’s right to take direct action against the seller for further damages and any other claims (to this purpose, at the buyer’s request, Cambi may provide the seller’s name and contact information).

6 For antique and 19th century paintings, only the lifetime of the attributed author and the school to which the author belonged are certified. Works from the 20th and 21st century (modern and contemporary art) usually come with certificates of authenticity and any other documents mentioned in each lot’s file. No other certificates, reports or assessments, requested or presented after the sale, shall make up the grounds for a dispute regarding authenticity. Furthermore, any dispute regarding the frames is excluded, where the frames are only presented as being part of the painting and thus have no independent value. In these cases, any risk and danger regarding this is borne by the buyer exclusively.

7 All information regarding metal punches, gold carat and on the weight of gold, diamonds and coloured stones are approximate and given for indication purposes only, and Cambi shall not be held liable for any mistakes in said information or for the artful forgery of valuable goods. Cambi does not guarantee for any certificates attached to the valuables for assessments performed by independent gemmology laboratories, although such assessments may be referred to for the buyers’ information.

8 As to books, manuscripts, prints, and other paper assets, no complaints shall be accepted with regards to damage to the binding, stains, insect holes, cropped or cut edges and any other defect that does not affect the completeness of the text and/or the illustrations; nor for the lack of tables of contents, or white pages, inserts, additions and appendixes made after the work’s publication.

If the item does not have the letters “O.C.” on it, it is understood that the piece has not been collated, hence it is not guaranteed as complete.

9 Any complaint put forth by the successful bidders/ buyers, that shall first of all be settled scientifically between a consultant appointed by Cambi and an equally qualified expert chosen by the successful bidder/buyer, shall be filed in writing via registered letter with return receipt within fifteen days from the sale. After such term, Cambi’s liability ceases to exist. A complaint acknowledged as valid by Cambi shall lead to the mere reimbursement by Cambi of the amount actually paid by the successful bidder/buyer for the buyer’s premium (Art. 13) and received by Cambi, when the contested lot is returned in the same actual condition and legal status it was in at the time of the sale, and the successful bidder/buyer shall have no further pretenses towards Cambi at no title whatsoever. It is understood that the successful bidder/buyer may only put forth any further claims and complaints directly towards the seller, including reimbursing the paid hammer price (to this end, upon the buyer’s request, Cambi may provide the seller’s name and contact information).

In case of valid complaints acknowledged by Cambi regarding counterfeited items, provided that the buyer is in the position to return the lot with no claims or pretenses by third parties and that the lot is in the same conditions it was in on the date of the sale, Cambi may, at its sole discretion, annul the sale and reveal the seller’s name to the buyer, upon the buyer’s request and after giving notice of this to the seller. In this case, too, provided that the contested lot is returned in the same actual condition and legal status it was in at the time of the sale, Cambi shall reimburse to the successful bidder only the amount actually paid for the buyer’s premium (Art. 13) and received by Cambi, and the successful bidder/buyer shall have no further pretenses towards Cambi at no title whatsoever. It is understood that the successful bidder/buyer may only put forth any further claims and complaints directly towards the seller, including reimbursing the paid hammer price (to this end, upon the buyer’s request, Cambi may provide the seller’s name and contact information).

Cambi shall not reimburse the buyer if the lot description in the catalogue is consistent with the opinion generally accepted by scholars and experts at the date of the sale, or if it states that the lot’s authenticity or attribution are uncertain, or if at the date of the lot’s publication it wouldn’t have been possible to ascertain its counterfeiting without performing impractical or unreasonably costly analyses or analyses that could have damaged the lot or otherwise caused a decrease in its value.

10 The Auctioneer may accept buying commissions for the lots at established prices, with a specific mandate, and place bids on behalf of third parties. During the auction there may be telephone bids that are accepted at Cambi’s incontestable discretion and passed on to the Auctioneer at the bidder’s own risk. Such telephone calls may be recorded. If they are participating in the auction via telephone or Internet, the bidders and the buyer release Cambi from any and all liabilities arising out of technical issues or other problems that may prevent them from fully taking part in the auction (eg. in case of interruptions in the communication, phone line problems, unavailability – for whatever reason), and they shall bear every risk regarding the unsuccessful purchase of one or more lots.

11 Lots are awarded by the Auctioneer, who has full and incontestable discretion in managing and carrying on the auction, and sold to the highest bidder, at the highest of the bids collected; in case of dispute to an award, the disputed item is put up for sale again during the same session, based on the last accepted bid. Cambi may not proceed to award and/or pull from the auction any lots if the best bid among those received hasn’t reached the minimum reserve price agreed upon with the seller; in this case, the lots will be considered as not awarded to any of the bidders. Any risks regarding the loss of or damage to the awarded lots will be transferred to the buyer starting from the moment in which the lot is awarded.

The Auctioneer may, at their full discretion and in any moment during the auction: pull a lot from the auction, place consecutive bids or outbid other bidders in the seller’s interest until the reserve price is reached, as well as take any measures that they should deem appropriate for the circumstances, such as combine or separate lots or make changes to the sale’s order. In the event of a draw between a written bid and an in-room or remote bid, the written bid will be preferred; in the event of a draw between written bids, the earlier bid will be preferred.

If a remote bid is received substantially concurrently with the knock down and/or the award of a lot, also taking intoaccount the technical delay that may derive from remote participation, the Auctioneer may revoke the initial award, reopen the auction and proceed to a new award of the lot.

12 In order to take part in the auction, all bidders shall (no later than 5 hours before the start of the auction; or, for those who will be present in the auction hall during the sale, no later than 1 hour before the start of the auction) fill in, sign, and deliver to Cambi the so-called bid form (that is also present in the auction catalogue, on Cambi’s website, and on the premises where the auction is held), and attach to the bid form a valid form of ID. Upon signing the bid form, all bidders irrevocably undertake to purchase the stated lots at the price offered, and also expressly accept the contents of these Terms of Sale without reservation.

On the day of the auction, prior to entering the hall, clients that wish to bid on any lot whatsoever shall request a “personal number” that is provided by Cambi’s staff subject to receiving the client’s personal information and address and a copy of the client’s identity document; the client may also be required to provide bank references or other guarantees for the payment of the hammer price and buyer’s premium. At the time of purchase, any clients who have not done so yet shall give Cambi their personal information and address. Cambi reserves the unilateral and unquestionable right to deny anyone, at its sole discretion, access to its premises and to the auction, and to reject bids from unknown or unwelcome buyers (the latter also includes anyone who has participated in one of Cambi’s auctions before and has failed to pay the amounts owed for the purchase within the stated time limits or at all); Cambi may, in these cases, choose to allow participation in the auction provided that an adequate deposit is made to cover the whole price of the desired lots or another valid and adequate guarantee or proof of the required funds is provided. If a buyer fails or is late in settling a payment, Cambi may reject any bids placed by said buyer or a representative of said buyer during the following auctions.

13 For each awarded lot, the successful bidder shall pay to Cambi both the lot’s hammer price and the buyer’s premium (including VAT, where applicable by law) amounting to: (i) 30% for the portion of price up to 2,000.00; (ii) 25% for the portion of price exceeding 2,000.00 and up to 200,000.00 (iii) 20% for the portion of price exceeding 200,000.00. The successful bidder will also be liable for payment to Cambi of any other expenses and charges, where it is established by these Terms of Sale.

14 The buyer shall settle the full payment owed to Cambi before collecting the purchased items, no later than the final deadline of five business days following the purchase (this deadline shall remain suspended, in the cases in which the Italian Leg. Dec. no. 42/2004 “Code of Cultural Heritage” is applicable, for the time period established by law with regards to the right of first refusal; see Art. 15 below). The awarded lots shall be collected within the final deadline of two weeks following the purchase (this deadline shall remain suspended, in the cases in which the Italian Leg. Dec. no. 42/2004 “Code of Cultural Heritage” is applicable, for the time period established by law with regards to the right of first refusal; see Art. 15 below); it is understood that the awarded lots can be delivered to the buyer only following the full and timely payment to Cambi of all amounts owed and in any way set forth by these Terms of Sale. If the buyer fails to pay, in whole or in part, the total amount owed by that time, Cambi shall be entitled, at its own discretion, to: 

a) terminate the award and sale of the lots in accordance with Art. 1456 of the Italian Civil Code, and return the item to the consignor; in this case, the successful bidder shall pay to Cambi, as a penalty, the amount corresponding to the buyer’s premium as per Art. 13 above, calculated on the hammer price, notwithstanding the right to further damages; or
b) take any legal actions necessary to obtain the compulsory enforcement of the purchase obligation for the awarded lot and the payment to Cambi; or
c) sell the lot through private negotiations or in the following auctions, on behalf of the non-paying buyer and at their own expense, pursuant to art. 1515 of the Italian Civil Code, taking compensation from the future selling price, notwithstanding the right to payment for any further claims and damage compensation.

If the successful bidder doesn’t fully comply with their obligations within the stated timeframe, Cambi shall still be indemnified from any liability towards the successful bidder for the loss, damage or theft (in full or in part) of the awarded lot following said timeframe; the successful bidder hereby waives, with immediate effect, the rights to any further claim or complaint towards Cambi.

In any case, Cambi will be entitled to payment by the successful bidder, for each lot, of the relevant custodial fees, as well as the reimbursement of any expenses incurred for transportation and storage, as per the price list available upon request.

15 Each buyer shall, for the lots subject to the procedure of declaration of cultural interest (so-called “notification / notifica”) pursuant to Articles 13 et seq. of Italian Leg. Dec. no. 42/2004 (Code of Cultural Heritage) or to the precautionary regime following the notification procedure (Articles 14 et seq. of Italian Leg. Dec. no. 42/04), comply with all the provisions set forth by the Code of Cultural Heritage as well as any other applicable regulation, including those regarding customs, currency and tax matters. It is the buyer’s sole liability to verify whether there are any restrictions to the circulation (including within Italy) and/or the export of the purchased lots, as well as the permits/ certificates that may be required by law or equivalent titles (that have been or shall be issued), and Cambi shall be expressly indemnified from any and all obligation and/or liability in these regards.

Cambi shall give notice of any lots that fall under a regime of temporary admission brought onto the Italian territory by a foreign seller.
If either the right of
first refusal pursuant to Art. 60 et seq. of Italian Leg. Dec. no. 42/2004 or the forceful purchase (“acquisto coattivo”)

In the event of compulsory purchase pursuant to Art. 70 of Italian Leg. Dec. no. 42/2004, the Auction House’s right to obtain payment of the buyer’s premium by the successful bidder shall remain unaffected.

Certain lots may already have been subject to a declaration of cultural interest by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism pursuant to Art. 13 of the Italian Code of Cultural Heritage. In that case – or in the event that a procedure of declaration of cultural interest pursuant to Art. 14 of the Italian Code of Cultural Heritage has been set out, Cambi shall give notice of this in the catalogue and/or through an announcement made by the Auctioneer before the relevant lots are put up for sale. If a lot is subject to a declaration of cultural interest or to the procedure of declaration of cultural interest before their sale, the seller shall report that the lot has been sold to the relevant Ministry, pursuant to Art. 59 of the Italian Code of Cultural Heritage. The sale of the “notified” lots shall be subject to the suspensive condition that the relevant Ministry does not exercise its right of first refusal within the time limits laid down by law (sixty days from the date on which the report was received, or within the limit of 180 days as per Art. 61 comma II of the Italian Code of Cultural Heritage). Before said time limits for the right of first refusal have expired, the lots cannot be delivered to the buyer based on the provisions in Art. 61 of the Italian Code of Cultural Heritage.

In any case, it is understood that if any declaration of cultural interest (or the procedure thereof) should be presented after the moment of the sale, this shall in no way affect or annul the sale, nor the payment liability towards Cambi, nor, in general, the sale and purchase of the awarded lots.

The lots shall only be shipped abroad subject to obtaining a certificate of free circulation or a declaration of value (so- called DVAL), based on the Cultural Heritage Code and its subsequent provisions, where applicable. It is the buyer’s sole responsibility to obtain the documents needed in order to export the lots. In no case shall Cambi be held responsible for any issues concerning the export procedure, including delays or failure to obtain the documents needed in order to export the lots, as the relevant Export Office is solely responsible for the timeframes and assessments in this regard.

Cambi does not take on any responsibility towards the buyer as for any possible export restriction of the objects sold, nor concerning any possible license or certificate that the buyer must obtain according to the Italian law.

16 All clients undertake to provide a copy of their ID as well as all necessary and updated information that allow Cambi to fulfill its customer due diligence obligations, pursuant to and in accordance with Art. 22 of Italian Leg. Dec. no. 231/2007 (Anti-Money Laundering Decree). All transactions shall only be completed subject to the client providing the information required in order to fulfill said obligations. Therefore, as set forth by Art. 42 of Italian Leg. Dec. no. 231/07, Cambi reserves the right to hold back and not complete the transaction if it is not possible to perform customer due diligence.

17 Any lot including material that belongs to protected species such as, for example, coral, ivory, tortoise, crocodile, whale bones, rhino horns, etc., requires a CITES export permit issued by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.

All potential buyers are required to look into the laws regarding the import of such items in their Country of destination.

18 The right of resale shall be borne by the seller pursuant to Art. 152 of Italian Law no. 633 of 22.04.1941, as replaced by Art. 10 of Italian Leg. Dec. no. 118 of 13.02.2006, where applicable.

19 The estimate values in the catalogue are stated in Euros and are only given for information; they shall not determine any certainty for bidders and successful bidders. Such values may be equal to, higher or lower than the reserve prices agreed upon with the sellers.

20 The Terms of Sale, governed by Italian law, are fully accepted, with no reserves, by all subjects taking part in the auction sale (including anyone participating remotely, via telephone, Internet, or apps). In the event that the Terms of Sale are translated into a language or languages other than Italian, the Italian version shall prevail and remain binding. All disputes arising out of Cambi’s sale at auction activity shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Genoa, Italy; any other court of law is excluded.

21 The data provided by people taking part in the auction are processed in accordance with the current regulations in force on the protection of personal data (so-called Privacy), as stated in Cambi’s Privacy policy. Pursuant to Art. 14 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Cambi, in its capacity as data controller, informs that the personal data provided shall be used, in paper-based and electronic means, to fully and comprehensively perform the contractual obligations between the parties, the sale and purchase agreements stipulated by the company, as well as to perform any other services pertinent to Cambi’s business purpose. The provision of data is mandatory in order to

The provision of data is mandatory in order to fulfill the contracts; for other purposes, it is discretionary and it shall be requested in the appropriate manner. The full Privacy policy is available on Cambi’s website www.cambiaste. com.

By registering for an auction, clients are consenting – unless they opt out – to receive catalogues for the following auctions as well as other informative material relating to the Cambi’s activities sent out by Cambi.

22 Any communications regarding the sales shall be made via certified email or registered letter with return receipt to:
Cambi Casa d’Aste S.r.l.
Castello Mackenzie Mura di S. Bartolomeo n. 16 16122, Genoa