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A: Christie's regularly hosts both live and online sales. A live sale takes place at a specific date and time. Throughout a live sale, the auctioneer accepts telephone, online bids via Christie's Live, live bids in the saleroom and absentee bids to determine the final hammer price and buyer of each item offered for sale.

An online sale is open for bidding over the course of several days. When an online sale is live, you can bid online either by placing a onetime quick bid or setting a maximum bid. A maximum bid indicates the highest bid you are willing to place on a lot. Once placed, bids will automatically be placed on your behalf until your indicated maximum bid has been exceeded by a competing bidder. The countdown timer on each lot indicates how much time is left before the lot closes for bidding. If several bidders place bids on a lot in its final open moments, the lot will remain open for two additional minutes until no further competitive bids have been placed and a highest bidder has been determined.

Please contact client services for assistance with arranging to bid on behalf of a company. 

There are many ways to buy with Christie's. You can buy at auction by registering to bid in one of our regularly held live or online sales. For more information on ways to bid, please visit our buying guide.

If you are looking for a specific object to add to your collection or home, you can work with a Christie's specialist to purchase a work outside of our auction calendar. You can learn more about private sales by visiting the Private Sales webpage.

A: You can bid in an online sale by setting up a My Christie's account and registering to bid. Online sales accept absentee, quick and maximum bids. A quick bid allows you to place the next sequential bid on a lot in real time, while a max bid sets the highest bid you are willing to place on an item and continues to bid on your behalf until that bid is exceeded. For more information on how to bid in an online sale, please visit our buying guide. 

Once you have created a My Christie's account and registered to bid in a live sale, you can bid in person with a paddle. You can also bid remotely by submitting an absentee bid, signing up for a telephone bid, or bidding via Christie's Live. An absentee bid allows the auctioneer to bid on your behalf up to the highest bid you are willing to place on an object. If you choose to bid on the telephone, a Christie's employee will call you ahead of your desired lot and bid on your behalf in the sale room while speaking with you on the telephone. Christie's Live is an online bidding platform that allows clients to place bids electronically while viewing the sale livestream. For more information on how to bid in a live sale, please visit our buying guide.

A: Bidding generally opens below the low estimate and advances in increments of up to 10%, subject to the auctioneer’s discretion.

Christie's offers property for sale from over 60 different collecting categories. For a full list of our specialists and categories, please visit our department pages.

If you would like to understand whether a specific object is appropriate for sale at Christie's, please visit our auction estimate page to submit photographs and receive a preliminary valuation. Please note that Christie's sells art from the secondary market. We are not able to consign work from individual artists or their representatives.

Before you can register to bid in a sale, you will need to create a My Christie's account. Once you have a Christie's account, complete with relevant identification information, you can register to bid in any sale. For more information on the account creation and registration process please visit our buying guide.

The buyer’s premium is a percentage of the final hammer price that the buyer of an object must pay in addition to the hammer price of an object. In addition to the buyer’s premium and hammer price, the buyer is responsible for paying all relevant taxes and shipping costs. The buyer’s premium varies by hammer price, sale location and sale category. To view the buyer’s premium schedule for each Christie’s selling site, please view our buying guide.

A: You can learn about upcoming auctions by browsing our auction calendar (link to auction calendar). If you are interested in a specific sale or lot, you can click the "Follow" button to receive relevant notifications or status changes. You can also sign up for our weekly email to read interesting features and learn about upcoming auctions, exhibitions and more.

You can manage your communication preferences by logging in to your My Christie's account, going to the “Account Settings” tab and then clicking on “Communication Preferences". You can also unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email.

A: You can find specialist contact information on our department pages. If you are interested in a specific sale, you can find contact information for relevant specialists on the sale overview page for each auction.

A: To view sale results, please visit our results calendar once the sale has closed.

A: You may have issues viewing our website because of your browser. Please note the website performs best on the latest version of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. If you are having issues viewing Christie’s Live, please ensure that your browser settings are not blocking pop-up windows. It is also possible that you are experiencing a caching issue and need to clear your browser cache.

If you are having difficulties with the Christie’s mobile app, please try logging out, checking your network connection, updating the app, or reinstalling the app.

Christie’s ongoing commitment to sustainability means that significantly fewer sales will feature printed catalogues. We invite you to browse lot information, including additional photographs and lot essays, related to specific lots and upcoming sales on our website. If a sale does feature a print catalogue, you will be able to purchase copies on the Christie’s website through the sale landing page, subject to availability.

If you wish to bid or sell at Christie’s, we need to verify your identity to comply with anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, and to protect against fraud. Individual clients will be asked to provide a copy of their government-issued photo ID and a recent proof of residential address. Corporate clients will be asked to provide formal documents evidencing the company’s name, number, address and the identity of its officers, shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners. We may also ask you to provide a financial reference and/or deposit before you bid. Please contact our Client Service teams for more information or assistance with completing your account.

We will hold and process the information you provide in accordance with our privacy notice.

Once you have activated your My Christie's account, you will have access to the following Christie’s online features:

·             Record your interests for personalised recommendations

·             Follow lots, set reminders and access lot condition information

Once you Log in and complete your account, you will be able to access the rest of our online features:

·             Register and bid in sales

·             Enjoy exclusive access to Christie’s LIVE™, Christie’s unique online bidding tool

·             View your invoices and pay online 

·             Track the progress of any items you are selling

A: An NFT, or ‘non-fungible token’, is a unique, digital certificate that is stored on a blockchain and provides certain ownership rights in an asset, typically a digital one, such as a digital work of art. Visit our NFT 101 Collecting Guide to learn more.