Selling & valorization
Auction or private sale: how to choose
Auction for liquidity and competitive tension when the piece is strong and timing is right; private sale when you control the narrative, avoid public burn risk, and can reach identity-matched buyers willing to pay full retail. The choice depends on the piece's substitutability, your urgency, and whether a public unsold mark would damage future saleability more than a slower private exit.
The Method's take
The Method's channel matrix runs in order: private first even for museum pieces (full price, zero burn risk), then premium auction only if the piece can set records, then secondary channels for speed or minor goods. A public unsold lot stains the piece permanently — an anonymous withdrawal and re-presentation elsewhere as 'new to market' costs time but preserves value. Reserve discipline is absolute: never start below your all-in cost; negotiate seller's commission to zero on explosive pieces (the house makes up to 50% total on your object — your leverage is the piece itself).
The math
A strong piece burned at auction (unsold, or sold weak under a bad reserve) loses €5,000–50,000+ in future saleability versus a patient private placement at full ask. The 24-hour pass is €100; the annual pass €3,800. One channel-selection error pays for fifteen years of access. Getting the sequence wrong — rushing to auction without testing private appetite, or sitting on a piece that only auction competitive tension can unlock — costs 10–100x the price of certainty.
One question answered here saved you a mistake. The engine answers yours — the exact object, the exact number.
Ask the engine — 24h pass €100