LAPIERRE MARKET · Sell
Selling your design furniture as a private owner
Moving house, settling an estate, or changing your collection? We value your furniture free and without obligation within 24 to 48 hours, even a single piece, anywhere in France.
You own one or more pieces of vintage design furniture and would like to know what they are worth. This page explains how selling works for a private owner. Professionals have their own page: professional disposals.
We buy anywhere in France, and the brands and designers we take are listed on the sell page.
Why people write to us
Some are moving, and the USM Haller no longer fits or the Togo will not go up the stairs. A USM can also be shortened: see reconfiguration.
Others are settling an estate, with furniture bought new in the seventies by people who never knew it was design. Its marks of use do not rule it out.
Collectors sell one piece to buy another, and often know it better than we do. And sometimes you have simply tired of a piece: if it is signed and in fair condition, it is worth far more than it would fetch at a car-boot sale.
What makes the value
Value does not fall steadily with age. It depends on the model, the edition period, the colour and the condition, in that order.
Patinated leather, foam that has settled a little, lacquer marked along the edges: that is simply how a piece looks after years of use. What really brings the price down is structural breakage, damp, deeply torn leather, and clumsy repairs such as a repaint, a visible glue line or a part that is not original.
An honest valuation
We do not give you an inflated figure only to revise it downwards on collection day. Our photo valuation is written as subject to inspection, and with good photographs the firm offer rarely moves far from it.
If a leg has been reglued, tell us: it saves an unpleasant surprise at the last minute.
Photographing your piece
A precise valuation starts with good photographs.
- Shoot in daylight without flash: one view from the front, one three-quarter, one from the back.
- Take a sharp close-up of every label, serial number or stamp, even if it is illegible.
- Show the marks of use upfront, since we will see them anyway.
- Note the width, height and depth, and on a modular piece, the number of bays and levels.
- Tell us its story: bought new and when, inherited from whom, found where. A documented provenance counts towards the value.
Three options
The detailed ranges are on the sell page. You are choosing between time and amount.
With an outright purchase, you are paid straight away and we take the resale risk, which suits a home that has to be vacated or an estate that needs settling. Consignment brings you a markedly larger share of the final price, but over a few weeks to a few months, and the price may come down. A brokered sale is for pieces above ten thousand euros.
We tell you which option suits you, even when it is not the one that suits us.
Collection
In Paris, Île-de-France and around Auxerre, where our secondary depot is, we come ourselves, even for a single piece.
Elsewhere in France, we arrange collection, at our cost for an outright purchase. You have nothing to pack or dismantle: with a USM, dismantling is part of our work. We confirm the timing with the offer.
From five pieces, or for a valuable configuration, we can value on site. Below that, photographs are enough.
Getting started
Write to us at infos@lapierremarket.fr or use the contact form, with photographs, measurements and the piece's history. We reply within twenty-four to forty-eight working hours.
To see how we authenticate, read our sourcing process.
Indicators
What our model actually means.
- 24-48 hvaluation from photographs
- Freevaluation without obligation
- All of Francecollection arranged by us
Frequently asked
Frequently asked.
Is the valuation genuinely free and without obligation?
Yes. You pay nothing, and nothing obliges you to sell afterwards. Plenty of people write to find out what they own, then keep the piece.
I only have one piece. Are you still interested?
Yes, if it falls within our scope: we often buy single pieces. Only the logistics change, because outside Île-de-France a single item goes with a carrier, which takes a little longer to arrange.
I am clearing a parent's house. How should I go about it?
Photograph it room by room without sorting anything, because sorting is our job. Often two or three items out of thirty interest us, and not always the ones you would expect. We tell you what we take and what is better offered elsewhere.
How can I be sure I am not underpaid?
Our outright purchase range is published: thirty to fifty per cent of the probable resale price, and we give you that price with the offer. So you can check the arithmetic and compare it with the market. If the margin seems too high, consignment leaves you more.
What if I do not know whether my piece is authentic?
Send us the photographs, since most doubts can be settled from the images. For USM Haller, our appraisal page explains how to run a first check yourself.
Offer us a piece
Attach your photographs here, because the accuracy of the valuation depends on them. We reply within 24 to 48 working hours.
A question, a project, a sourcing brief?
Get in touch