Ouest Enchères Publiques

Ouest Enchères Publiques has been running sales in western France for close to a hundred years, from two salerooms in Nantes and Rennes. It is a generalist house with an unusually wide spread of specialisms — the same operation that sold a Maximilien Luce Paris scene for €28,500 also runs dedicated retro-gaming sales and has put a twin-engine Beechcraft 1900 under the hammer.

What you can buy

• Art and collectors' objects — the core of the house.
• Jewellery.
• Wine.
• Fashion and drugstore sales — designer pieces and branded stock.
• Retro gaming, run as its own sale category.
• Vehicles and professional equipment, including judicial sales.

How the bidding works

Sales are organised by specialism, with separate upcoming and past-sale listings for each. The house runs both voluntary sales and judicial ones (vente judiciaire), and the payment pages are separated accordingly — JPK Nantes and JPK Rennes for judicial sales, OEP for voluntary. Results from past sales are published, which is the quickest way to calibrate what a category actually fetches here.

What to check before you bid

Judicial and voluntary sales at the same house run under different rules and different buyer's costs, so check which channel a lot sits in before bidding. The house offers valuations (demande d'expertise) and shipping through a partner, but shipping is arranged separately and paid separately. The site is in French.