Every month, Maître Aguttes examines the treasures found in his home in Blanzat

Every month, Maître Claude Aguttes opens the doors of his beautiful home in the Planes to the public for a day of free and confidential appraisals of works and objects of art. During this regular meeting, the auctioneer and Marie de Calbiac, director of the Aguttes de Lyon office, give the people of Auvergne the opportunity to offer their “treasures” to learn about their history and also “appreciate”. This approach, well known to collectors, is also useful, if not essential, in the context of sharing, inheritance or public sale. Despite the passing years, this type of encounter remains a moment of passion for auctioneers.

Claude Agot remains very attached to Auvergne

Claude Agot set up his auction house in Clermont only 50 years ago, in 1974. He is passionate about heritage, art and this special model of auction. He was then the youngest auctioneer in France. The liberalization and internationalization of the art market prompted him to open a study in western Paris in the mid-1990s, but at that time he insisted on making regular trips between the Isle of France and Auvergne to enjoy his art every weekend. A house in Blanzat, where his six children grew up. Little by little, the siblings migrated to the capital to pursue specialized studies that allowed them to join the business that had become a family business. Today, three members of the Aguttes family work at the auction house that bears their name. The residence on the Place du Montel in Blanzat is still very much alive, and its owner is still very much attached to Auvergne coming there as regularly as possible, especially for these monthly estimates.

Chardin in a two-room apartment in the Clermont station area

8 years after creating his study, Claude Agot found in 1986, in a two-room kitchen, in the area of ​​Clermont train station, an 18th century painting whose previous owners probably did not know its value. This small 46 x 38 cm pastel is the work of Jean-Siméon Chardin, considered one of the greatest French and European painters of the 18th century. After being put under the hammer of the Commissioner of Clermont, it was acquired by the Louvre Museum for 6.6 million francs, the equivalent today of about two million euros. Selfie with glasses It was painted in 1771 and is now in the Orléans Museum. This extraordinary sale propelled Maison Aguttes onto the international art market.

Exceptional sales

Aguttes therefore moved to Neuilly in 1995, where its existing expertise and consulting services were located and where its specialist sales operations were based. In 2008, after the sale of the André Lefebvre collection for €21.8 million, the house expanded its geographical coverage by opening an office in Lyon in the former Brotteaux SNCF station. In 2012, the Louvre again acquired an 18th-century sculpture by Edme Bouchardon for 3.7 million euros. In 2015, sales of three paintings by Chinese artist Sanyu reached 9.69 million euros, then in 2017 a fourth painting was sold for 8.8 million euros. This “little” Clermont auctioneer from the 1970s has become a must-see at the market.
During this period, Claude Agot created a jewelry department specializing in fine pearls. In 2016, the house was dedicated to inventorying, preserving and distributing the Aristophile collections, which were considered at the time the most beautiful collection of manuscripts and autographs in the world. The distribution will take place in 2022 with at least 335 precursors, including 3 pieces classified as National Treasure. Aside from his stellar sales, Claude Agot cites some good career moments such as selling the collections of the La Mamounia hotel in Marrakesh, the merchandise of fashion designer Kenzo and the merchandise of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in Channons.

success story

2018 is the year of dedication for the Agot family, whose auction house became the first independent house in France to exceed the €50 million mark in auctions. A year later, she established herself in Aix-en-Provence, Geneva and Brussels, where she shines on the main axes of the art market.
They continue to achieve exceptional sales, such as the skeleton of a carnivorous theropod, a bipedal dinosaur, or the extremely rare Guarnerius “del Gesù” violin listed for a modest €3.38 million on David Garrett’s list of musical instruments. It is also the first house in the world to handle an auction in the Metaverse, selling the first posthumous painting by Pierre Soulages and breaking artist Louise Mouillon’s world record by selling a previously unpublished still life painting sold at auction for €1.6 million.
Maison Aguttes has grown significantly since its inception, and today 60 people work there, managing 15 specialized departments. Half of the buyers are international.

The next Appreciation Days will be held on April 29 and May 27, 2024, by appointment only, at Claude Agot, Place du Montiel in Blanzat. (Contact: Marie de Calbiac 07 60 78 08 77 – calbiac@aguttes.com)