advice re damage to painting please

[nannybooby]

Last year I sent a drwaing to a well know auction house in London to be sold,they removed it from its frame to photo it for the catalogue ( I hadnt been told they would do this) and it subsequentl as not sold - no doubt due its now awful condition. When I got it back the frame is too weak to hang the picture also great chunks of veneer are missing and the drawing is torn in one coner and bubbling in several places.

After months of writing to them they have offered to pay for a paper restorer
to handle the tear etc but say that the frame is excluded under their terms etc. Short of paying about £700 to a soliictor to have them read the correspondence and possibly say that what the Company say is true ,has any one any bright ideas?

I am absolutly gutted I love the drawing and only pressure of finances made me consider selling it.

[tonywiltshire]

The first place to start is the agreement have the auction house abided by the terms of the agreement either hopefully written or verbal, both are binding but verbal are far more difficult to prove. If they have not you will have grounds to take action against them if they have damaged your property, have the repair of the damage estimated and inform the auction house of the amount and say you require compensation within 14 days or you will take legal action, if they do not pay or ignore you, write a “letter before action” and say you do not want to take action but will have no option if they will not pay, give them a reasonable amount of time, say 28 days, it is very important in English law to be reasonable, keep copies of all letters.
A letter before action or proposed action in the county court can often have galvanising action on the alleged debtor, if they do not pay proceed with your claim in your local county court but even if successful the court will not obtain your money for you, it may take bailiff action to be paid. It is a very simple process but if the amount is high, or there are complications you may need to consult a solicitor.

[nannybooby]

Tonywiltshire, no mention of removal from the frame was ever made either verbally or written or implied.Thanks for your comments. I had already thought that I would go back to the valuers and get a new valuation and estimate of repairs , also contact the dealer who I bought the drawing from ( Now based in London)and ask him the same. I would then have gone down the route you suggest.

[tonywiltshire]

Sounds sensible to me, particularly if you can show the auction house has carried out actions that were not mentioned in the agreement, and if removing the drawing from frame for catalogue, is not a standard procedure that you would have been aware of.
Remember there is a lot of bluff in the law and they may think you are not serious in saying you will take action, try to convince them that you are. A tactic I have found helpful is to fax a copy of the claim form to the auction house and say you will be submitting it to the court in 48 hours if you have not heard from them.
Interested in knowing how you get on please let me know.

[nannybooby]

Thanks for that last tip ,sounds a good one.

[rowanwitch]

putting CC (insert name) and co solicitors and
Trading Standards at the bottom is a good one too

[NOX]

It's not an uncommon practice to remove a piece of art from it's frame for both appraisal and cataloguing so it may well be in the tems and conditions of sale and if not argued that it;s standard industry practice- if so the frame issue might not be easily settled.
My son runs an auction house and it's the responsibility of the house to take adequate care of the vendor's property, and they should be insured against accidental damage.
Might I ask who the drawing is by to guage a value?

[nannybooby]

Lucie Kemp Welch