Roland Antiques

In October 2021, I attended my first Roland NY online auction through Liveauctioneers. After winning the bid on a pair of large antique transferware platters, I was sent an invoice with easy payment options & given a list of recommended shippers. Everything about the auction ran pretty smoothly & my items were safely & quickly shipped through UPS Store #0691.

My sincere thanks to "Beth" at Roland's for helping me with a specific issue. Beth was SUPER NICE & very professional. I'm hoping to attend even more Roland NY auctions in 2022.

Fees out the butt after winning an online auction. They do not ship any items themselves. Since they do not do that, you are left with 3 days to find your own shipping method where they have to come pick the item up. They recommend UPS but they charge way too much. Oh and there is a fee for using that service as well. If I can get a rifle with a bayonet shipped to me from another auction from the same area for $40, why did a singular bayonet cost me $60?! I refuse to participate with this merchant again. Overall the cost to ship the item + fees nearly doubled my cost.

BIDDER BEWARE! SCAM? I paid for the item and try to find my own shipping services to ship the item. I asked if Roland Auctions could help with shipping, they sent a list of their recommended shippers who worked directly with the auction house. I emailed every one of the shippers for shipping quotes, but received no response from them. I called several shippers and they said to send an email to provide a shipping quote.

After the second email, I waited a week and called to ask for update on the shipping quote. They said they must have lost the email and for me to send again. After the third email, there were no response for two weeks.

Excellent auction house. Always have unique items. You should check their auctions every month as you never know what they will have. Staff all super friendly.

Experienced auctioneers with integrity, generosity, and class! Bought from about a dozen auction houses in the past year, and this one is one of my favorites. By far the best in Manhattan, in my opinion.

This place is a disaster. I won and paid for several items during August when most of the city - including myself - is on vacation. Trying to organize a pick up from these people was a nightmare - first they "lost" a lot I had won and asked that I change the pickup to several days later, then when I couldn't do the pickup they started charging me storage fees and leaving me incredibly rude, scolding and out of control angry messages on my phone. They were literally calling me every hour on the hour one day just to yell at my voicemail. Will NEVER bid on anything from them again.

"Caveat Emptor". These words were said to me by one of the owners of Roland Auctions NY when I talked to him about a painting that I had bought a few months ago that turned out to be a deception. First, shortly after picking up the painting the frame and the canvas parted company with each other. The canvas had been wedged into the frame with none of the traditional ways of securing it (i.e. offset clips, nails or staples).

Not any one of these options was possible because the frame was too small. In other words it was not the original frame. A loose canvas and frame in close proximity to each other could result in damage to the canvas and although this did not happen, it would have been helpful to have been forewarned. I did fix that problem with a block plane and a chisel. Second, although I'm not an expert it seemed to me that the color of the back of the canvas, which was the same color as the frame, looked way too dark for the period in which it was painted.

At this point I was still ok with the painting. Later I took the painting to a restorer for cleaning and he pointed out a number of things. He indicated, by lifting an edge of the canvas, that it was new. Also the stretcher bar was new and worst of all the painting was done over a reproduction. Therefore it was meant to deceive. Not only did the company absolve itself from any responsibility with this painting but I was accused of being disappointed that it was not a $10,000 painting by an artist I had never heard of.

Perhaps I should be flattered that the auction owner thought that I was that knowledgeable. In between the time that I bought the painting and my experiences as described above I received an email from Roland Auctions requesting my feedback concerning my recent encounters with them. I did reply and mentioned information about the size of the frame and also that a very inexpensive painting that I had bought around the same time turned out to be a reproduction rather than the pastel that it was advertised to be. I did expect a reply, however, none was forthcoming. If you decide to do business with Roland Auctions NY the only advice I can give you is "Caveat Emptor".

I was referred to Roland from a couple other high end antiques auction houses who looked at several antiques that I was wanting to sell, which both parties told me this is what Roland Auction House would like. One of the brothers/owners came by to have a look at various antiques, which he expressed interest, and that I should give him a call to discuss the items more in detail.

I did just that, left 3 messages with his assistants, who didn't seem to have a real concept on what the business was about. NEVER heard back from him. What is the point in telling a perspective client that you are interested in the antiques and neglect to return something so simple as a phone call? So far, when ever anyone asks me if I could recommend an auction house for certain items, I have to tell them which auction houses to not waste your time on, and to keep to the ones on the UES.

A great source for unexpected antiques. They have an eclectic array of things and a very accommodating staff. Definitely worth the time and easy to shop online.