Antique Terminology Used At Auctions | Northern House Clearance

Jamie Murray

Quality fast and reliable service with a cracking bunch of lads definitely recommended

Bill Mitchell

Contracted this company to clear the flat of my deceased mother. Two young guys cleared EVERYTHING out of the rented property, including furniture, carpets, ornaments, white goods and food/household products, politely, efficiently, and respectfully. Excellent service.

Charles winter

The guys from Northern House Clearance have just cleared a house for me in Scotland. The house was packed not only with a lifetimes worth of memories, but all the clutter that goes with it. Within 2 days it was emptied down to the floorboards. A great job from a good team of lads. Highly recommended.

Graeme hatton

An excellent 5 star service. Firstly the compassion shown due to the circumstances which resulted in having to use their services, not just on the phone but by the team who arrived, on time, to perform the job. Above all a friendly attitude goes a long way in stressful times. Professional from the start to the end of the day and due to the amount of clutter a second day was needed. I could not believe how much was cleared in just one day, it was as if the clutter had it's own clutter to clear. Hope that I never need to use them again, but if I have to clear another property they will be the only people that I call. Highly recommend them. G.Hatton. Cheshire.

Lorna Hamilton

Fantastic service. Highly recommend. The team was so helpful.

Richard Foster

The guys from Northern house clearing cleared my deceased brothers house which was in a state. They were very discrete and great guys very understanding at such a sad time. Great job guys thank you.

Xiu Yun Chen

This is a good company would highly recommend these guys. Very efficent and helpful.

Laura

Highly recommended. From my initial enquiry I found them to be efficient and professional and was given an immediate quote. On the day the guys arrived promptly and were friendly, helpful and thorough. I would not hesitate to use this company again and I would recommend to others. I felt in good hands and I, m very happy with the service I received.

Ruth Lawrence

The team arrived bang on time and began work immediately. They continued for five solid days and completed the entire clearance of my late uncles house, which was a case of extreme hoarding over many decades. They even removed carpets, curtains and swept up so the house was ready for sale. They were exeptionally hard working, polite and charged a reasonable price for this incredibly difficult job. Terrific service, absolutely recommended.

For antique collectors attending and bidding at an auction can be a heart stopping event particularly if you have been after a certain piece for a long time and it has finally come up at auction. Even those who are relatively new to the world of antiques and auctions get a huge thrill even if they are only going with the hope of learning a little more about buying and selling. As thrilling as attending an auction might be it can also be very confusing unless you know the terminology that is being used there, so here it is explained in plain English.

An absentee bid means that you are able to bid on an item without actually having to be here in the auction room. All absentee bids have to be put in before the auction starts by any means that the auctioneer has agreed too such as on the on the phone or online.

An absolute auction is a term that is used for the items won by the one who puts in he highest bid and there are no limitations or reserved prices.

Appraisal is the value of confirmation of the value by someone such as an auctioneer, they are also known as the appraiser.

Catalogue auctions are conducted in a different location to where the actual items listed for sale are being held. The items are presented in catalogues and the actual viewing of the items will have been made before the auction itself has started.

The hammer price is the price that the item sold for at the time when the auctioneer dropped the hammer and considered the item to be sold.

Private auction can take place and this means that the people bidding on the item or items are not seen.

A reserve auction can be held and if this is the case then the lot will have a set amount put on it and this amount isn’t disclosed. Bidders will bid on the lot and if the reserve price isn’t met then the seller can refuse to sell or can accept the lower bid.

This is some of the most common terminology that is used at auctions and although this will vary a little from place to place is used throughout for the most part. Great bargains can be gained at auctions but you have to know what to look for and understand the lingo in the auction room and among collectors if you are to get ahead in the antiques business.