A limited warranty, in the auction context, is a contractual representation made by an auction house to a buyer regarding specified attributes of a lot. Unlike a full guarantee of authenticity, which may extend across all material catalogue claims, a limited warranty restricts the scope of representation to particular factual statements (typically the authorship and the date of the work, or in the case of jewellery, the maker's name and the period attribution) and applies only for a defined period after the sale, conventionally five years.

Standard structure at major houses

The terms of limited warranty are set out in the conditions of sale published in the front of every Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Phillips catalogue. At Christie's the warranty is structured as a representation of authorship for a five-year period from the date of sale. At Sotheby's the equivalent representation is similarly five-year, with the language framing the warranty as covering the principal authorship designation only. At both houses, descriptive material such as condition, provenance, and exhibition history is explicitly excluded from the warranty.

For jewellery, the limited warranty typically attaches to the maker (Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Fabergé, etc.) and to the period (Belle Époque, Art Deco, Retro, etc.) where these are stated unambiguously in the principal catalogue heading. Stone identity (whether a stone is, for example, a sapphire rather than a synthetic spinel) is generally covered, but specific origin attributions (Kashmir, Burma, Ceylon) are typically qualified or excluded unless supported by an accompanying laboratory report from a trusted independent house such as SSEF, Gübelin, AGL, or GIA.

What the warranty does not cover

The exclusions are extensive and consequential. Most catalogue language excludes from warranty: condition reports, weight, measurements, attribution to a specific stone deposit, period qualifications such as circa, treatment disclosures (e.g., heat or fissure-filling), and any descriptions characterised as attributed to, workshop of, or after. The buyer's remedy in the event of warranty breach is restricted to rescission of the sale and refund of the purchase price; consequential damages such as lost appreciation, insurance costs, and legal fees are excluded.

The buyer must notify the auction house of an alleged warranty breach within the warranty period, supply substantive documentary evidence (typically a written opinion from a recognised independent expert), and return the lot in the same condition as at sale. Non-compliance with any of these procedural requirements voids the warranty.

Practical significance

For sophisticated buyers the limited warranty is a structurally important but ultimately narrow form of buyer protection. It functions effectively to recover from outright misattribution (a claimed Cartier piece that proves to be a later copy, for example), but it does not protect against changes in scholarly opinion (an attribution that is reasonable at the time of sale but is later questioned), nor does it cover the substantial commercial gap between a fully attributed piece and one downgraded to attributed to or school of. For pieces where attribution is the principal value driver, the limited warranty is necessary but not sufficient, and prudent buyers commission their own examination by independent specialists before bidding.