One of the most common mistakes made by owners of antiques and works of art is the belief that there is only one market and that price is objective. In reality, at least three parallel markets exist for the same object: the auction market, the dealer market, and the private market. Each operates according to a different logic, a different price dynamic, and a different understanding of “value.” The problem begins when figures from one market are uncritically transferred to another.
The price achieved at auction, a dealer’s offer, and a private transaction may differ not by a few percent, but by several hundred. Not because someone is lying, but because each market answers a different question.
The Auction Market: The Price of an Event, Not Objective Value
The auction market is the most visible and, at the same time, the most misleading. It provides public data, records, statistics, and headlines. Auction prices are most often cited as “proof of value.” Yet an auction does not measure value—it measures the outcome of a specific market event at a specific moment in time.
Auction prices are influenced by factors that have little to do with the object itself: the composition of bidders, their emotions, competition between two participants, the timing of the sale, and even the quality of catalogue photography. The same object offered six months later, by a different auction house and in a different market context, may achieve a completely different result.
For this reason, an auction price is always a record of a moment. It can be analytically useful, but it cannot be treated as a definition of market value.
The Dealer Market: A Price Filtered Through Risk
Dealers, antiquarians, and galleries operate within a different framework. Their price includes not only an assessment of the object, but also storage risk, exhibition costs, time during which capital is tied up, and a margin that allows the business to function. This market is more stable, but also more conservative.
Dealer prices are rarely the highest, but they are often the most predictable. They do not react violently to short-term trends, nor do they reward emotion; instead, they prioritize quality, condition, and actual marketability. From a valuation perspective, this is a filtering market—screening out problematic, difficult, or high-risk objects.
A common mistake among owners is to treat a dealer’s offer as “undervalued.” In reality, it is a price that reflects the full cost of bringing an object to market.
The Private Market: Silence Where the Most Expensive Decisions Are Made
The least visible, yet often the most significant, is the private market. These are transactions between collectors, foundations, institutions, and investors that never appear in public records. In this segment, prices can be the highest—provided the object perfectly matches the specific needs of the buyer.
The private market does not forgive valuation errors. There is no corrective mechanism in the form of bidding or public pressure. What exists instead is full responsibility for the decision. This is why professional valuation matters most in this segment—not as a number, but as a negotiating instrument.
Which Market Tells the Truth?
None—and all of them at once. Each market tells a different truth about the same object. Auctions reveal emotional potential, dealers demonstrate real marketability, and the private market shows the maximum willingness to pay under ideal conditions.
True market value does not reside in a single number, but in the relationship between these three levels. Understanding it requires experience, comparative analysis, and awareness of the consequences of choosing a particular sales channel.
This is why valuation is not a simple assignment of a price, but a responsible interpretation of the market.
If you want to understand the real value of your object in today’s market, explore professional valuation at ArtRate.art.
