Furniture, jewellery, paintings, silverware, curiosity and collectibles… The auctioneer is a generalist of work of art. However, when he started his career, Mr. Guy Laurent had intuition and the desire to innovate by offering an activity not common on the art market, that would open new and wider horizons for his company.
Guy Laurent, a music lover himself and collector, thinks that musical instruments in all their diversity can become this new innovative vector. His conviction lies on two realities: one is that music is an international language, the second that France represents a considerable and attractive source in the field of instruments.
An enlightened intuition: Vichy Enchères quickly succeeds in establishing itself on the market for musical instruments. The auction house is today the leader in bows auctions. Many world records were beaten like, in 2017: a violin bow by François-Xavier Tourte was sold for € 576,000, becoming the most expensive bow in the world.
A particularity conferring auctioneer Etienne Laurent – at the head of Vichy Enchères today – an excellent knowledge of the present ‘cosmopolitan’ market.
Our experts are first of all independent professionals putting their competence to the service of Vichy Enchères: the most trustable way of guaranteeing the equity of prices and the quality of the expertise.
To support our experts in their research, Vichy Enchères has an endoscope. Initially used for high precision surgery, this endoscope allows to film instruments from inside and thus record information useful for their identification.
A significant specificity of the French public auction system is the buyer’s guarantee of its purchase. In fact, each lot sold is accompanied by a slip guaranteeing the authenticity of the item for a period of five years. Finally, a certificate of authenticity prepared by the experts themselves is issued for the most important instruments.
Each sale is promoted by targeted communication: emailings, press releases and editorial articles, released to specialized newspapers and magazines throughout the world.
Each year, more than a dozen auctions are dedicated to the “music” specialty and more than 4,000 instruments find a buyer. Our buyers don’t hesitate to make the necessary trip to appreciate the instruments, certain to find in Vichy the instruments they are looking for
The personal involvement of each member of our team at Vichy Enchères is with no doubt a fundamental asset, allowing sellers and buyers to witness the sales taking place with a reciprocal spirit of trust: availability, person to person contact, discreet advice and efficiency in meeting the clientele, whether near Vichy or at the other end of the world.
National and international laws are becoming more complex and require a perfect knowledge of the procedures to be carried out before and after the sale. So we take care of the administrative procedures and we support you in the management of flat-rate capital gains taxes.
We receive your instruments with the care that their quality requires. Their storage and their exhibition are carried out under optimal security conditions in our stores, saleroom or showcases.
Tailor-made support and high-end logistics are among our priorities: we are extremely careful with a secured and adapted packaging, shipment and transport. We support you through all the administrative procedures.
We also have a deposit office in Paris to make it easier for you to collect your purchases.
