FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Regrettably, traffic within the Planty belt is restricted during our office. However, we can make an appointment before 10.00 a.m. The nearest free-access car park is located in Plac Biskupi, some 300 metres away from our gallery.

All objects accepted for sale at an auction or in our gallery are valued at our location. Sometimes, this may take us a few days so that we can consult an outside expert. Then we write out a consignment receipt which is replaced with a commission sale receipt after a price is determined. If the item is not intended for sale at our gallery, a valuation fee may be charged. We do not do valuations for courts, the internal revenue service etc.

The NAUTILUS Gallery and Auction House has been on the market for nearly 25 years and our exhibition catalogues have often been referenced as perfect examples of professional reliability. We are founding members of the Association of Polish Art and Antique Dealers and Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvres d'art.

People usually sell a piece of fine art if they no longer like it or urgently need cash. If the item is to sell fast, lower bids should be expected because the buyer will try to negotiate the best deal. A sale at an auction usually reaps a higher price but requires the seller to wait until the auction is held, fees calculated etc.

Often, especially on the private art market, works of fine art come with expert opinions that are to certify the authenticity and value of the objects. Unfortunately, a lot of them are worth as much as the paper on which they are written. In France, an expert is treated on a par with a notary public, and a dynamic self-regulatory professional organisations protect art trade against forgeries. Poland is one of a few countries where no legislation is in place to regulate trade on the art market. Absent legal protections, investing in art is not safe unless you have specialist knowledge or a trusted expert. Neither mechanisms are in place to require for all forgeries identified on the market to be publicised. Hence clients would be better advised to consult a renowned and reputable gallery or appraiser; there are not many of them, all of them can be found on the Ministry of National Heritage Art Experts List (http://www.mkidn.gov.pl/pages/strona-glowna/kultura-i-dziedzictwo/ochrona-dziedzictwa-kulturowego/rzeczoznawcy-mkidn-w-dziedzinie-opieki-nad-zabytkami.php).

We can deliver an object you purchase to any place on the condition that the export is lawful. In some cases a few weeks’ delay should be allowed if the object requires consents from competent authorities (http://nimoz.pl/pl/dzialalnosc/wywoz-zabytkow-zagranice). The costs of obtaining such consents are covered by the buyer.

Yes. On client’s request invoices can be raised to document purchases of art objects without, however, necessarily specifying the details described in Art. 5.1.9-14 of the 28 Mar. 2011 Ministry of Finance Regulation on invoices and tax refunds for certain taxpayers, such as the net unit price, net sales value, tax rate or the sum of the net sales value and the tax due. Additionally, the invoice should be marked „Margin Scheme – Works of Art”, not necessarily in its heading though.

All of us have their personal views on what an artwork is so let us define precisely how this term is interpreted by Polish law, especially tax law. In fiscal terms, Art. 120.1 of the VAT Act defines works of fine art as:

• Paintings, collages and similar decorative plaques, drawings and pastels executed entirely by an artist, other than plans and drawings made for architectural, engineering industrial, commercial topographical or similar purposes; hand-made objects of decorative arts, painted fabrics for stage sets, art studio decorations or similar uses (CN 9701, PKWiU ex 90.03.13.0),
• Original engravings, prints and lithographs executed in limited editions, black-and-white or full-colour, consisting of a single or multiple sheets, executed entirely by an artist in any process or material other than any mechanical or photomechanical processes (CN 9702 00 00, PKWiU ex 90.03.13.0),
• Original sculptures and statuary in any material, executed entirely by an artist; sculptural casts where the number of copies is limited to eight and the execution was overseen by the artist or his successors (CN 9703 00 00, PKWiU ex 90.03.13.0),
• Tapestries (CN 5805 00 00, PKWiU ex 13.92.16.0) and wall textiles (CN 6304, PKWiU ex 13.92.16.0) executed by hand based on original designs supplied by an artist on the condition that the number of copies is limited to eight,
• Photographs made by an artist, published by or under the supervision of an artist, signed and numbered, in editions limited to thirty copies, in any size and frame.

This a financial, hereditary and non-transferrable right granted to artists, to receive a portion of proceeds from a professional resale of an original works of visual arts or photography, or a manuscript of a literary or musical work. The right to be paid a fee arises at the moment the work is resold. Failure to pay is not a breach of copyright. In Poland, droit de suite does not necessarily have to be exercised through the agency of collective management organisations. The Polish act on copyright and neighbouring rights enacts droit de suite in Art. 19, where it defines a resale royalty as a percentage of the selling price (depending on the price of the visual artwork or photograph the rate is degressive, ranging from 5% to 0.25%), and sets down a definition of “original copy”. In the case of visual artworks and photographs, droit de suite applies to prices from the equivalent of EUR 100 upwards, with the highest threshold set at the equivalent of EUR 500,000; the royalty amount due may not exceed EUR 12,500.

An original work means a work made personally by the artist, or a copy of it made by or under the supervision of the artist, recognised and marked by him as original.

A natural person who sells a work of fine art outside any business, for example from a private collection, may in certain situations avoid personal income tax on sale proceeds because selling an artwork is exempt from personal income tax if the artwork is sold no sooner than half a year after it was bought, and the sale is not part of the person’s business.

Unfortunately, both Art. 22c.3 of the PIT Act and Art. 16c.3 of the CIT Act put it straightforward: works of fine art which are classifiable as fixed assets (i.e. their initial value exceeds PLN 3,500) cannot be depreciated. Consequently, a business owner who has bought a painting that is a work of fine art to make his office look more attractive will not be able to treat the price of the painting as an income cost all the way until he sells it. As for the tax-deductibility of artworks worth less than PLN 3,500, some tax authorities accept that such expenses may be treated as an income cost as elements of interior decoration (like flowers in a vase) Yet Art. 23.1.23 of the PIT Act and Art. 16.1.28 of the CIT Act explicitly exclude the deductibility of business entertainment expenses as income costs. As the issue is not clear, we recommend that you should apply to a tax authority for an interpretation before you deduct any costs incurred for purchases of works of fine art.

Yes. If our Client so wishes, every object of art bought from us comes with a certificate of authenticity, apart from a proof of purchase (receipt or invoice). A certificate contains a description and a photograph of the item, and, when necessary, additional information about the artist or analogous pieces. A certificate of authenticity is free of charge.

An initial evaluation may be done based on a picture (the face and back, the signature, possible exhibition labels). If the offer is acceptable to us, you can send the item to us via a trusted courier service. You will be mailed a consignment receipt for you to sign and send one copy back to us.

A member of the gallery staff can view the picture at home, by appointment.

Normally, we accept objects for half a year. After that period, the term and offer can be extended for the object.

Try and see. Following conservation, your item may easily find a buyer. However, possible conservation costs may to be too high. This will be discussed with the Client on a case-by-case basis.