Questions sellers ask

Single pieces and whole collections of pre-Columbian art made in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America before European contact: ceramics, stone and jade, gold and other metalwork, and shell. Whether you call it Mayan pottery, Aztec figurines, Inca artifacts or antiquities from a trip, it counts. If your piece is not on that list, write anyway and we will tell you plainly whether we can take it.

Send photographs and whatever you know to info@precolumbian.com, or use the message builder on the Sell to us page. We reply within two working days, in writing: an offer with the reasoning behind it, what we still need to make one (more photographs, say), or a plain statement of what we cannot take and why.

A person reads your message and looks at your photographs. Within two working days you hear back in writing: an offer with the reasoning behind it, what we still need to make one (more photographs, say), or a plain statement of what we cannot take and why. An offer comes only after we have seen what you have. To accept an offer, reply and say yes in writing: we pay by bank transfer the same day, before anything ships, and we take care of the shipping. If you say no, you owe nothing.

No. There is no fee to ask, none for an offer and none if you say no.

No. Papers help: old invoices, collection records, letters from dealers, test reports. We would like to see what you have. But you can write to us with nothing at all.

Yes. Many of the pieces people write to us about are uncertain to their owners. We tell you what we see, and if it is not something we can buy we say so plainly.

Write what you were told, in the words you were given, and say who told you: a dealer's label, an old invoice, a family story. Say that you are not sure. You do not need to be right about the culture, the date or whether it is genuine; we read that from your photographs and tell you what we see.

Write to us. A break or a repair changes what a piece is worth, and sometimes whether we can take it, but it does not rule a piece out. Photograph the damage and any repair you know of, and say what you were told about it. We tell you plainly what we see.

On what the piece is, how well it was made, its condition, how rare it is, its size, its history and what comparable pieces have sold for. We write the reasoning into the offer. Our How we value page sets it out.

We would rather buy a whole collection. If a few pieces are not for us we tell you which, and why, before you decide anything.

Yes. Tell us which pieces you would like to keep, which are promised to family and which you are ready to sell, and send photographs of those first. If they are part of a larger group, or sit among things that are not pre-Columbian, say so. We make an offer for what you send, and you decide whether to accept it.

You hear from us within two working days either way. With enough photographs the offer comes in that reply. For a large collection, or when we need to see more, the reply says what we still need and when to expect the offer.

Photograph the pieces, write down what you know even if it is very little (who collected them, roughly when, where they were bought) and send it to us. We tell you what you have. There is no pressure to sell.

Attach them to an email, or send a link to an album in Google Photos, iCloud or Dropbox. A few photographs of each piece are enough for a first answer; several sides, a close-up of any marks and something for scale let us answer more firmly.

We pay by bank transfer the same day you accept the offer, before anything ships. The offer states the amount. We take care of the shipping. You decide whether to accept it; nothing is paid until you accept it in writing, and nothing ships until you have been paid.

Yes. We do not publish or pass on your name, your pieces or your photographs. What you send is read by us and used only to answer you and to complete a purchase from you.

No. Precolumbian.com buys. This site is for people who want to sell to us.

Yes, please. Write with whatever you hold and say who you act for. We will work with you at the pace the estate needs.