The Invoice
One real lot. The whole arithmetic.
Every week, one lot that actually sold in the £1,000–£25,000 band — the band the reader buys in — with the premium, the VAT on the premium and the resale right worked out line by line, and everything the total does not include named underneath.
The lot
Émile Gallé (French, 1846-1904)
Sworders · Design · lot 91 · sold 22 Oct 2024 · Sold for GBP 1,200 (hammer, GBP)
A first purchase at the bottom of the band: a named maker, a real object, a four-figure hammer. The premium shown is Sworders' card as published on 20 Sep 2026 — 27% on the first £20,000 — applied to this hammer. The lot sold in October 2024, before the card moved on 1 July 2026, so this is what the same hammer costs at today's card, not a reconstruction of the 2024 bill. This week also shows the case a fee page must not hide: the lots where no resale royalty is due, and why.
The invoice
Every line carries its method. The premium is Sworders — Buying with Sworders (the house’s own page), walked cumulatively; VAT on the premium at 20% (gov.uk, as of 2026-09-17).
| Line | Amount | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Hammer | £1,200.00 | as announced in the room |
| Buyer's premium | £324.00 | Sworders card · 27% on £1,200.00 (up to £20,000.00) = £324.00 |
| VAT on the premium @ 20% | £64.80 | UK standard rate, charged on the premium, not on the hammer |
| Sub-total | £1,588.80 | 32.4% above hammer |
| Artist’s Resale Right | £0.00 | Not due on this lot — Émile Gallé died in 1904 — more than 70 years ago — so the work is out of copyright and no resale royalty is due. The royalty runs for the artist's life plus 70 years. |
| All-in | £1,588.80 | 32.4% above hammer |
The card moved to 27% on the first GBP 20,000 on 1 July 2026; lots before that date were sold under the previous card. This is context for the figure, not a total.
The resale right, and who pays it
Joint and several between the seller and the seller's agent. Cannot be transferred or waived. Can be allocated by contract, and auction houses commonly require the buyer to pay it. In short: Liability seller, cost usually buyer, by contract, in the UK.So on a qualifying lot the royalty appears on the buyer’s invoice even though the buyer owes nothing in law. The royalty is calculated on the hammer excluding VAT and premium, is exempt from VAT, and runs for the artist's life plus 70 years.
On this lot: not due — Émile Gallé died in 1904 — more than 70 years ago — so the work is out of copyright and no resale royalty is due. The royalty runs for the artist's life plus 70 years. Bands and thresholds as of 2026-09-17 (gov.uk — Artist's Resale Right · Stephenson Harwood on ARR liability · Sotheby's Buy & Sell). The ARR calculator works any hammer through the bands.
Not included in the £1,588.80
An all-in figure that quietly omits these is the exact failure this page exists to correct. None of them is in the total above:
- VAT on the hammer where the lot is not sold under the margin scheme
- Shipping, packing and insurance
- Import VAT
- Aggregator fees (a house may add a percentage of hammer on wins through a third-party platform)
Invoice as of 21 Sep 2026 · lot read 20 Sep 2026 from Sworders — lot archive · the arithmetic is computed from the lot, the premium card above, the ARR bands (as of 2026-09-17) and the VAT table (as of 2026-09-17) at render time, so a corrected figure corrects this page. The fee card · The under-£25,000 band. Not legal or tax advice — re-verify against the Conditions of Sale before bidding.