What is Black Rock Galleries?
Black Rock Galleries (or BRG for short) is a full service estate services company that provides appraisal, liquidation, and consignment services for full estates and single items. The company was founded in 2010 as Bridgeport Salvage and in 2012 (along with a move to its current location in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, CT) changed its name to Black Rock Galleries. For more details about BRG, click here. Since 2012, the company has opened additiona locations in Greenwich,CT; Boston, MA; Raleigh, NC; and Dallas, TX.
Why was BRG created?
Our founders have always had a passion for estates and all their treasures. Over the years, they noticed that while there are quite a few honest and reputable estate service providers, there is a greater number of less-than-honest ones. As a result, they decided to create their own business based on honesty, integrity, and knowledge with the great goal of putting a fresh spin on the world of estates by bringing estate sales and auctions online.
Who do you serve?
Black Rock Galleries service offererings are two-fold. We serve our clients (consignors and/or estate holders) and our customers (buyers and/or bidders). It is this dual role that drives us to offer the very best in our estate services which, in turn, provides our clients with the highest possible sales prices and our customers with true fair-market pricing. We also have strategic partnerships with other service providers such as estate attorneys, realtors, and professional organizers.
Where do you operate?
Headquartered in Bridgeport, Connecticut, our five locations: BRG-Bridgeport (Bridgeport, CT), BRG-Greenwich (Greenwich, CT), BRG-Boston (Waltham, MA), BRG-Raleigh (Cary, NC), and BRG-Dallas (Dallas, TX) allow us to service the entire Northeast and New York Metropolitan region, North Carolina and it's southern neighbors, and now Texas. Additionally, our ability to transport merchandise between locations allows BRG to offer the right products to the right buying markets. Plus our strategic partnerships allow us to offer estate services beyond its geographic boundaries. In fact, we have been been known to work on estates as far away as Puerto Rico and Arizona. The nicest thing about BRG's house-built selling platform is that we can perform their estate sales anywhere in the world, really.
When does BRG run its auctions and sales?
Black Rock Galleries is unique in that we sell our estate merchandise using a couple of different venues. First is our online auction and showroom platform (www.blackrockgalleries.com). We custom-built our own online auction software which uniquely enables us to offer our customers and clients alike a new way of handling estates. In a typical week, there are anywhere from one to three online auctions closing (sometimes more.)
BRG also has a massive 50,000 ft2 luxury consignment showroom, Black Rock Interiors by BRG, housed in our Bridgeport, CT headquarters which offers many more items not available online. Under the supervision of our showroom manager, Roger Lebert, Black Rock Interiors offers shoppers (online and in-person) a wide array of fine antiques, vintage and contemporary furniture, fine and decorative art, lighting, rugs, garden decor, and other curiosities.
Finally, BRG is an approved dealer on several third-party luxury vendor platforms including 1stDibs and Decaso.
What is an appraisal?
An appraisal is an expert and unbiased estimate on the value assigned to an item. When it comes to estate appraisals, there are generally two types: Formal and Informal.
The first is what is known as a "formal appraisal" which is a document created by a certified appraiser that valuates the contents of a home, estate, or collection based on a particular date in time. This document is usually used for legal purposes for taxes, insurance, and/or probate. Sometimes estate appraisals are referred to as "Date of Death Appraisals" because the valuation is based on the date of the owner's death -- not the date the appraisal is conducted.
The other type of appraisal is known as an "informal appraisal" and is generally a verbal valuation on the current market value or fair market value of a particular item or collection. The informal appraisal is designed to give the owner a basic idea as to what they might expect to receive in the sale of their item(s) or collection(s) in the current market.
It is important to note that market values fluctuate based on trends and desirability of pieces within the current market. Items that may have been very valuable ten years ago, may not have much of a market base today. Likewise, items that held little interest to buyers a few years ago may be highly collectible or desirable today.
Are you on social media?
Black Rock Galleries and its subsidiaries are on a variety of social media platforms including FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Here’s how to find us:
FaceBook |
Instagram |
Twitter |
LinkedIn |
Pinterest |
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Black Rock Galleries | Black Rock Galleries | @blackrockgalleries | @brgalleries | Black Rock Galleries | @brgalleries |
Black Rock Interiors | Black Rock InteriorsCT | @blackrockinteriorsct | |||
Clearing House Estate Sales |
Clearing House Estate Sales |
@ClearingHouseEstates |
Clearing House Estate Sales |
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AuctionNinja | AuctionNinja | @AuctionNinja | @AuctionNinja |