Function and glass come first
Specialists state whether the shutter fires across its speeds, whether the meter works, and whether the lens shows haze, fungus, separation or scratches. Untested is said plainly.
Markets · Photography, Cameras & Optical Equipment
Cameras, lenses and photographs, each described the way specialists check them
A camera bidder wants to know whether the shutter fires and the glass is clear; a print buyer wants the process and when it was printed. Auctionomy gives both kinds of lot the room they need, under your house's name.
How your bidders buy
What your bidders read for
Completeness sets the price
Original caps, hoods, cases, boxes and instructions, and a lens matched to its body by serial number, change what collectors pay.
Prints sell on process and date
Photograph buyers want the process (albumen, platinum, gelatin silver), whether the print is vintage or printed later, the size and any stamps, signatures or edition numbers on the verso.
Catalogued your way
Every line of the entry has its place
Description, estimate, condition and provenance are separate parts of every lot on Auctionomy, and each one shows on the lot page. The entry shown here is an illustration, written the way the trade writes it.
Illustrative lot · fictional
Lot 141. A German 35mm rangefinder camera, black paint finish, with 50mm f/2 lens, 1950s
Body and lens serial numbers recorded, with matching maker's lens cap and leather ever-ready case.
Estimate US$2,500–3,500
- Condition
- Shutter fires at all speeds, slow speeds sound accurate. Rangefinder patch bright and aligned. Light internal haze to the lens, no fungus. Brassing to the top plate edges.
- Provenance
- From the estate of a Portland press photographer.
Your sale on Auctionomy
Run the way your house runs it
Condition notes a specialist can trust
Write function, optics and cosmetics into each lot's condition note, and the serial numbers and accessories in the description, beside close photographs of the glass and the mechanism.
Prints catalogued as works
Record process, print date, dimensions and verso inscriptions in the description, and the print's ownership history as provenance.
Categories from plate cameras to stereocards
Arrange the sale into rangefinders, medium format, 35mm, lenses, cine and optical toys, and photographs, with filtering, search and a watchlist.
Timed sales for deep collections
Run a large collection as a timed sale with your own increments and absentee bids. A late bid extends the close.
Your trade, your house
Fluent in the trade, and unmistakably yours
Silvergrain Camera & Photograph Auctions is a demonstration house: fictional, built on Auctionomy to show how a house specialising in photography, cameras & optical equipment looks on the platform. Its name, colours, typeface and page layout are its own, assembled from the same components every house uses. Yours would carry your name, your logo and your look, on your own domain.
No commission on the hammer price
A flat subscription, agreed with your house. Your bidders register with you, and the buyer's premium you set is yours.