Best Auction Houses & Dealers in Denmark

Denmark's Auction Market

Denmark's best-known saleroom is Bruun Rasmussen, founded in 1948 by the art dealer Arne Bruun Rasmussen. It is based in Lyngby, north of Copenhagen, with branches in Aarhus and Glostrup, and sells more than 75,000 items a year across art, design, jewellery, watches, antiques, wine, books, coins and stamps. The house was bought by the British auction group Bonhams in 2022. Its records include a 15th-century Ming dish sold for DKK 35.5 million in 2021 and Vilhelm Hammershøi's Interior from Strandgade 30 sold for DKK 31.5 million in 2019. The other national name is Lauritz.com, a pioneer of Danish online auctions with salerooms in Hørsholm, Brøndby, Roskilde, Odense, Vejle, Aarhus and Aalborg.

Much of the rest of the market is made up of regional houses and specialists. Holstebro Auktioner in West Jutland has held hammer sales since 1985. Svendborg Auktionerne on South Funen combines live sales in its own saleroom with online auctions. VF-Auktion in Hvidovre, outside Copenhagen, calls itself the largest stamp auction house in Denmark and also runs a coin and banknote sale every four weeks.

Danish modern design, which peaked between the 1940s and the 1960s, is one of the market's strongest categories. Svendborg Auktionerne reports steadily rising demand for architect-designed furniture by Poul Kjærholm, Hans J. Wegner, Finn Juhl, Børge Mogensen and Arne Jacobsen, and for PH lamps, 1920s and 1930s stoneware and Royal Copenhagen figurines. Porcelain from Royal Copenhagen, the royal manufactory founded in 1775 and known for its Blue Fluted pattern and Flora Danica service, turns up at nearly every general sale. So does silver from Georg Jensen, the silversmithy founded in Copenhagen in 1904.

Online bidding is now standard. You can follow Svendborg Auktionerne's live sales on a video stream and bid in real time, VF-Auktion's sales are held entirely online, and Holstebro Auktioner takes online commission bids before its hall sales. Buyer's premiums at Danish houses normally include 25% VAT on the fee and fall roughly between 22% and 30% on top of the hammer price. VF-Auktion adds 22%, Svendborg Auktionerne 25% and Holstebro Auktioner 26%. Artworks by protected artists may also carry a 5% resale royalty collected for Copydan.