Whether you are an artist submitting a piece to a charity auction or a collector who opts to sell a piece in order to buy something else, the way you describe the art is a very important aspect of a successful art auction.
In the case of selling with one of the larger, professional auction houses, they will write the description and it will be done by experts in that particular field, but there are many times when writing the description is left up to whoever is submitting and selling the piece. There are some things to always remember when doing these write ups. You should always be truthful when you describe the piece. Never play around with words to make the piece different or better than it is, and never ever bend the truth. It will come back to haunt you. Keep the language tone very neutral and unbiased. People reading the description do not appreciate a hard sales pitch. The intention is to let the visual piece do that for itself - or not. You want to list all the references for the artist or the painting, if has some.
The more minor an artist is, the more important this information becomes. Include precise dimensions or weights and all the physical characteristics that you can think of. Things like whether it has been restored or not, the type frame, the type medium the piece is made of are all important for getting good bids with fewer questions. If people email you, answer all questions and keep copies of all correspondence for future reference.
Also make sure that you can estimate shipping costs ahead of time. If something is heavy and expensive to ship, you dont want a buy backing out after an auction because they either didnt know the price of shipping or cant afford it. Just get all your art ducks in a row, and then have a great auction!
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