COLLECTOR SERVICES
Your art advisor and acquisition agent, on your side of the table.
Atelier is an independent art advisor to private collectors and institutions — sourcing works that fit the collection you are building and the rooms they will live in. We find the work, verify it, negotiate it, and see it safely onto the wall.
How our art advisory works
Represented from first brief to final installation.
Brief
Collection and setting
We start by understanding what you already own, where the next work will hang or stand, and what you want the collection to become. Scale, light, medium, and appetite all shape the search.
- Collection review and gap analysis
- Room, light, and scale assessment
- Budget bands and pacing
- Long-list of directions to react to
Source & verify
On and off market
We search dealer inventory, private hands, and auction pipelines — including works never publicly listed — then put every candidate through authenticity and provenance diligence before you ever see a price.
- Off-market and private-hand sourcing
- Authenticity confidence scoring
- Provenance and title review
- Condition and comparable pricing
Close
Negotiate and install
We negotiate on your behalf, manage contracts and payment, and coordinate shipping, customs, framing, and installation — with documentation filed for insurance and future resale.
- Represented negotiation
- Contract and payment coordination
- Shipping, customs, and storage
- Installation and documentation
Engagement
Retainer plus commission.
Collector engagements are structured as a retainer plus commission, scoped to the size and pace of what you are building. We set the terms in writing before any search begins, and we disclose every fee on both sides of a transaction.
Priced per engagement following an introductory conversation.
- One point of contact for the whole acquisition
- Full fee disclosure, no undisclosed dealer margin
- Authenticity and provenance diligence on every candidate
- Confidential — anonymous representation on request
The Curator
The same analysis engine we use, available to you directly.
Every acquisition we run is backed by the Curator — Atelier's market analyst for pricing, comparables, trend context, and authenticity confidence. Collectors who prefer to research on their own can subscribe to it directly.
Explore the CuratorFor collectors new to art advisory
What an art advisor actually does.
The role
An art advisor — sometimes called an art consultant or acquisition agent — works for the buyer rather than the seller. Where a gallery is paid to move the inventory it holds, an advisor is paid to find the right work wherever it happens to sit: dealer stock, private hands, estates, or an auction consignment that has not yet been announced. The practical difference is access and incentive. You see candidates you would never encounter on your own, and the person recommending them has no stake in which one you choose.
How we are paid
Atelier works on a retainer plus a commission on completed acquisitions, scoped to the size and pace of the collection. Both figures are agreed in writing before any search begins, and every fee on both sides of a transaction is disclosed to you — there is no undisclosed dealer margin sitting inside the price you pay. Advisory fees across the market vary widely; ours are set per engagement after an introductory conversation rather than published as a rate card.
A first engagement
Most collectors start with a single acquisition or a room. We review what you own, assess the setting, and return a long-list you can react to — which teaches us more than any questionnaire. From there the work is diligence and negotiation: authenticity confidence scoring, provenance and title review, condition, and comparables. Ongoing collection management — valuations, insurance documentation, storage, and rotation — follows for collectors who want it.
Enquire
Tell us what you are looking for
Share a few details and an Atelier advisor will reach out through your preferred channel to arrange an introductory conversation.