It is the first time the Conseil, introduced in 2001 to patrol France’s auction reform, has definitively withdrawn a firm’s right to stage sales, although several auctioneers have been temporarily suspended.
Bernard Rey was officially based in Neuilly, just west of Paris, but had no permanent saleroom there, and has staged auctions in a variety of venues in and around Paris since going solo in the wake of the reform (he formerly partnered Francis Faure in Rambouillet).
French auction firm banned
FRANCE'S national auction watchdog, the Conseil des Ventes, has banned the firm Rey & Associés from all auction activity, for repeatedly staging sales without adequate insurance cover.