Guides
Sold, Reserved, On Hold: Reading a US Gallery's Sales Claims
Read US gallery sales figures claim by claim: what sold, reserved and on hold mean, how to work out a rate, which consignment terms matter, how to label them.
What to take away
- A press release states what the gallery wants printed, not what it can document.
- Sold, reserved, and on hold are three different things, so ask which word applies.
- Read every sales claim beside the consignment terms that decide who gets paid.
- Test a fresh-to-market claim against provenance records before you repeat it.
- Print each figure with its source and a labelconfirmed, estimated, or declined.
Read the Verbs in the Release
A release that says works sold is making a claim you cannot print as stated. Sold, reserved, and on hold are three different things, and a release can blend them. Ask the gallery which word applies to each work.
Timing matters too. Preview sales often involve discounts and get announced early to build momentum, so a count taken before the opening says little about the run. Ask whether the sales happened before the opening, which works sold, and whether the largest pieces remain available.
| Release wording | Ask the gallery | Safe wording in print |
|---|---|---|
| Sold | Has payment cleared, and was a discount applied? | The gallery reports the work sold |
| Reserved | Has the buyer committed in writing? | The gallery says the work is reserved |
| On hold | Held for whom, and until when? | The gallery is holding the work |
| Sold out | How many works were offered? | Give the offered and sold counts |
Turn the Counts Into a Rate
A release that gives both counts lets you work out a sell-through rate, once the gallery confirms what it counted. A rate built on reserved works is not the same rate as one built on completed sales.
Sell-Through Rate in Five Steps
- Count works on gallery checklist
- Ask pre-opening and during-run sales
- Divide works sold by works offered
- Compare with artist's previous show
- Note which price points moved
- Take the offered count from the checklist, not from the release.
- Ask how many works sold before the opening and how many during the run.
- Divide works sold by works offered.
- Compare the rate with the artist's previous show, if the gallery will share it.
- Note which price points moved, since lower prices often sell first.
State the rate with both counts beside it, so readers can check the division themselves.
Match the Claim to the Consignment Terms
A sales claim means little without the consignment terms behind it. Most US galleries sell on consignment: the artist keeps title until a work sells, and the gallery acts as agent.
Consignment Terms Checklist
Term
- Commission split
- Gallery's share of a sale
- Discount policy
- Who may mark a price down
- Payment terms
- When the artist is paid
- Expenses
- Shipping, framing, photography
- Unsold works
- Returns after the show
What it controls
- Commission split
- Does it hold on discounts?
- Discount policy
- Who absorbs the markdown?
- Payment terms
- Thirty days or ninety?
- Expenses
- Are costs capped in writing?
- Unsold works
- Who pays return shipping?
Question to ask
- Commission split
- Discount policy
- Payment terms
- Expenses
- Unsold works
Minnesota's consignment statute, Minnesota Statutes section 324.03, says the work is held in trust for the artist. The agreement settles who is paid, when, and after which deductions. Ask whether the commission split holds on discounted sales and who absorbs a markdown.
Ask when the artist is paid, which expenses come out of the artist's share, and who pays return shipping on unsold works. Each answer changes what a quoted figure means.
If a dealer will not discuss the terms, that silence is reportable. Write that the gallery declined to describe them. The questions for a gallery owner give a script for pressing the point without turning the interview into an argument.
Check Fresh to Market Against Provenance
A claim that a work is fresh to market is a claim about provenance, so test it against records. Provenance is the history of ownership of a work of art from its creation to the present day.
The Getty Research Institute publishes databases that help trace it, including the Getty Provenance Index. Ask when the piece last sold, at what price, and through whom. Auction records, catalogues raisonnes, and gallery archives can confirm or contradict the answer. The guide to painting provenance checks shows how to work through them. A price without a history is just a sentence.
Word the Line in Your Review
Write the sales claim so a reader can see who stands behind it. Put the source inside the sentence, mark the figure as confirmed, estimated, or declined, and leave out any claim you cannot attribute to a person or a document.
- The source is named inside the sentence.
- Each figure is labelled confirmed, estimated, or declined.
- The artist's share appears only if you verified it.
- Release figures are marked as the gallery's, not as audited sales.
- A refusal to answer is noted.
Check the gallery's exhibition history as well, so the review places the show against its real record. Once the figures are settled, write the exhibition review from what you saw in the room.
Gross revenue multiplies sold works by list prices, which overstates income whenever a discount applied. Keep revenue and profit as separate claims and say which one you mean.
A press pass grants entry to fairs and previews, not a look at invoices. Press accreditation will not answer a sales question, so put that question to the dealer directly.
