Mark your calendar for the 2024 Spring Auction to be held on Saturday, April 20th!

How To Bid

There are many ways to participate in the Larsen Art Auction.  You may bid on lots in the auction in person, via telephone, via absentee bids, and online.  Registration is required to bid on lots in the auction.  Please complete the online registration form by clicking on the brown REGISTER TO BID button or by sending in your completed printable registration form under the REGISTER TO BID tab, both of which can be found at the top of the website or by clicking the underlined links above, no later than 5:00pm MST (PDT) the day prior to the auction.  Please see below for a brief walkthrough of each bidding process.  Please feel free to contact the gallery if you have any questions or need additional information.


PLEASE NOTE:  IF YOU HAVE REGISTERED TO BID AND DID NOT RECEIVE AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BY EMAIL WITHIN ONE (1) BUSINESS DAY,  PLEASE CONTACT THE GALLERY AT registration@larsengallery.com.

Please review the Terms & Conditions Of Sale prior to registering to bid.  Note there is a Buyer's Premium due in addition to the hammer price and applicable taxes for each lot sold.  The results of the auction will be posted online under the PAST AUCTION RESULTS section under the VIEW LOTS tab.  All results are inclusive of the Buyer's Premium.  Winning bidders will receive an invoice for the lot(s) purchased as well as a list of recommended transport and shipping companies sent to the email listed on your bidder registration form or to the email associated with your online bidder account on LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, or Bidsquare.  Payment for purchases is due within five (5) days of the date of the auction.  Acceptable forms of payment include cash, check, wire transfer, and credit card (Visa, MasterCard or American Express).  Credit card purchases are limited in total to $25,000 (no additional fee).  Once payment has been successfully received in full, you may arrange for pickup or shipment of the artwork.


Attendee Bidding:

You may join us in the gallery and attend the live auction in person.  Upon arriving at the gallery, visit the registration desk where you will receive your bid paddle with your bid number.  You may place a bid any time during a lot of interest by simply raising your bid paddle.  The Auctioneer will verbally recognize your bid.  You may also get the attention of one of the ringmen assisting the Auctioneer.  If you are the winning bidder, the Auctioneer will acknowledge your bid amount and your bid number ('Sold for $1,000 to Paddle Number 153').

The Larsen Art Auction does not yet process payment nor allow lots to leave the gallery on the day of the auction.  Winning bidders will receive an invoice sent to the email listed on their bidder registration form the Monday after the auction.  You may then call or visit the gallery to arrange payment.  Once payment has been successfully received in full, you may arrange for pickup or shipment of the artwork. 


Telephone Bidding: 

You may register as a telephone bidder and participate live during the auction via an Auction Representative.  In this manner, you may make decisions in real time pertaining to your lot(s) of interest.  When registering as a telephone bidder, simply list the lot number(s) in which you are interested.  A Representative will send a confirmation of your telephone bid(s) with approximate bidding time ranges to the email listed on your bidder registration form.  On the day of the auction, a telephone bidding Agent of the auction will call you approximately 2 lots ahead of the lot in which you are interested.  They will inform you of the starting bid and then call out the bidding to you over the phone.  Please inform them if you would like to jump-start the bidding with an initial bid above the starting bid.  Otherwise, wait until the bidding slows and inform the Agent when you would like to place a bid.  The lot will not sell until you have a chance to accept the current asking bid.  There will be a final notice when a lot is ready to be sold ('Going once... Going twice...' or 'Fair warning...').  The Agent will then inform you if you are the winning bidder and the hammer price.

If you have interest in other lots that are close together, it is likely our Agent will stay on the line with you or place you briefly on hold until your next lot of interest is ready to begin.  If you have interest in other lots that are later in the auction, the Agent will disconnect and contact you prior to your next lot of interest.  We try to use the same phone bidding Agent for clients with several lots of interest, but this is not always possible.  The Larsen Art Auction has mostly used the same phone bidding Agents at each of our auctions.

In the event that you miss a call or are disconnected from the telephone bidding Agent, please do not attempt to redial the agent.  The telephone Agent will call you multiple times prior to the lot and, in the event you are disconnected, will attempt to call you back at the same telephone number as quickly as possible in order to continue the telephone bidding process.  Attempting to redial the agent will likely result in the agent receiving a busy dial tone in an attempt to redial you.


Absentee Bidding: 

You may register to bid as an absentee bidder.  Simply list your lot(s) of interest as well as your top bid limit (not including buyer's premium) for each lot when registering to bid.  An Auction Representative will then bid on your behalf live during the sale of the lot(s).  The bidding Agent will begin at the starting bid for the lot and continue to bid on your behalf up to and including but not exceeding your top bid limit.  If bidding stops below your top bid limit, then you would be the winning bidder at that hammer price.  If the bidding surpasses your top bid amount, the bidding Agent will suspend bidding on your behalf.  You may leave absentee bids on several lots.

Please note that your top bid amounts are not inclusive of the Buyer's Premium.  If you are the winning bidder, you will receive an invoice sent to the email listed on your bidder registration form.  Please do not attempt to call the gallery during the auction to inquire if you have won your lot(s) of interest.  Please contact us the Tuesday following the auction if you believe you are a winning bidder and have not yet received an invoice.


Online Bidding: 

You may bid online through LiveAuctioneers or Invaluable.  Simply visit the applicable website and register to bid through their platform.  Online registrations require manual confirmation, so please register for the auction no later than 8:00 am MST the morning of the auction.  After this point, we cannot guaruntee your registration will be accepted in time to allow you to bid.  Be sure to read the online platform's Terms and Conditions of Sale, as these biddinig platforms typically charge a higher Buyer's Premium than the host auction house.  The Buyer's Premium can also be found by clicking on an individual lot in the sale and scrolling down to the 'Buyer's Premium' or 'Terms' sections.

At the beginning of the auction, Agents of the Larsen Art Auction will open the online bidding platforms.  Once the bidding begins in the room, the bidding is opened online.  The bidding begins at the starting price unless prior bidding online or a bidder in the room opts to jump-start the bidding.  The current bid and asking price will be updated as bids are placed during the sale of each lot.  If an online bid is placed, an Auction Representative will notify the auctioneer.  Submitting a bid online does not guarantee a successful bid in the room.  The Representative will either accept your online bid or will indicate that a competing bid was recognized prior to your bid.  You may submit as many additional bids as you wish in order to join the bidding.  The bidding in the room can be very quick at times, so we recommend waiting for the bidding to slow a bit before placing another bid if your initial bid is not accepted.  A few seconds prior to closing the lot, the Representative will indicate that the Auctioneer will be closing the lot very shortly by sending 'Fair warning...' or 'Going once, going twice...' messages.  Once the Auctioneer closes the lot in the room, the lot closes online.  Online bids submitted after the lot has closed in the room are not accepted.  If you are the winning bidder, you will recieve an invoice sent to the email associated with your online registration.  Please ensure that your address and contact information are up-to-date prior to the start of the auction.

Due to the unreliable nature of the Internet and inherent delay in communication between the room and the online platforms, please be sure to bid as quickly as possible to ensure the Agent has enough time to submit your bid to the Auctioneer prior to the lot closing.  Absentee bids may be placed on any of the online platforms.  This allows the online platform to bid on your behalf up to and including but not exceeding your top bid limit through their system, which limits the time between submitting and receiving your bid.  If you submit absentee bid(s) through an online platform and the live bidding exceeds your top bid limit, you may continue bidding live on the online platform if you wish.

Please opt to register for telephone or absentee bidding with the Larsen Art Auction if you are highly motivated to purchase a lot.