To the surprise of even auction houses, New York City has repealed its regulations that applied to book and art auctions.  According to city officials, the actions were taken as a way to make New York City more conducive to business. Yet, did not the regulations give confidence to auction buyers?

Was there a need for the repeal?  The regulations were designed to create better transparency for buyers and eliminate a few of the most problematic practices from past decades. For example:

  • Licensing of auction  houses and auctioneers,
  • Reserve prices could not be higher than the minimum estimate,
  • Regulations on what is known as “chandelier” bidding,
  • Auction houses could not fake bids after the reserve was reached, and
  • That the reserve price could not be higher than the minimum estimate, and more.

For more on the repeal and changes: Michael Stillman’s complete article on RareBookHUB: Click.