The Paris house receives in London, by appointment, at 100 Hatton Garden, in the heart of the jewellery quarter: important signed jewels, diamonds of weight, stones of provenance, natural pearls, tiaras and collections — examined in front of you, bought outright, paid by bank transfer the same day.
Altmann Collection is a dealer at 22 rue Drouot, Paris, a few steps from the Hôtel Drouot auction house. The house buys for its own account — no consignment, no auction, no intermediary — and places what it buys with collectors and the trade, in France and abroad. In London it concentrates on important pieces: the level of the great jewellery sales in London and Geneva. For a simpler piece, a London jeweller will serve you well; for a significant one, this is the address. What the trade has always done among itself — examine, value, buy outright and pay — the house does openly, for private owners, with the figures on the table. Ariel Altmann, who runs the house, is a trained gemmologist and a member of the Syndicat des Négociants en Art (SNA), the French art dealers' association founded in 1905.
The private route is for pieces whose value lies in the jewellery itself. These are the pieces for which the house crosses the Channel.
Cartier (Paris, London and New York), Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Bulgari, Graff, Harry Winston, Tiffany and Jean Schlumberger, JAR, Belperron, Boivin, Sterlé. Art Deco, the 1950s, the 1970s. Signed jewellery.
Old cuts and modern cuts from three carats, D to H colours, fancy colours, certified or not. Large diamonds · coloured diamonds.
Kashmir, Burma, Colombia and every origin the great sales are made of, with a report from SSEF, Gübelin, GRS, AGL, GIA or LFG — or without one. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds.
Strands, drops and mounted natural pearls — not cultured — with or without a laboratory report. Natural pearls.
Victorian, Belle Époque, Edwardian and Art Deco tiaras, complete or converted, and the great parures. Sell a tiara.
Family collections, estates, divisions between heirs: inventory piece by piece, bought as a whole or one by one. Estate jewellery.
From the first message to the transfer, you deal with the same person — the one who examines, decides and pays.
By WhatsApp or e-mail, in English or French: the whole piece in daylight, the signature and the hallmarks, and any documents — certificate, invoice, earlier valuation, auction catalogue entry. Within 24 hours you receive a frank first opinion: what the piece is, and whether it justifies a meeting.
By appointment only, at the house's London office, 100 Hatton Garden, EC1N 8NX — Chancery Lane and Farringdon stations are a few minutes' walk. For a collection, or a piece kept in a bank vault, the appointment can be held where the piece is. It is examined in front of you; it never leaves your sight.
Based on the piece itself — signature, period, stones, condition — and on the international market of the day. The offer is explained line by line. It commits you to nothing, and we encourage you to compare it.
Once agreed, payment is made by bank transfer, whatever the amount — French law does not allow cash for this trade. The sum offered is the sum received: no commission, no fees, no waiting for a sale date. You leave with a dated purchase document.
Your photographs are neither published nor passed on. Remote appraisal, in detail · Selling from the UK and Europe
A London seller usually weighs the sale rooms against the trade. A Paris dealer is a third route; here is what it changes.
A firm figure, accepted or declined on the day — not an estimate, a reserve and a result known months later.
At auction, the buyer's premium (20–30 % incl. tax) and the seller's commission (10–25 %) combine: the buyer commonly pays 40–50 % more than the seller receives. Here the offer is net.
Days rather than months: no wait for the right sale, no settlement period of 30 to 60 days after the hammer.
No catalogue, no photograph, no published price. The house does not show what it buys. Your name, your piece and the figure remain between you and us.
A piece that has never been offered publicly is what collectors prize; an unsold lot is public, and the market remembers it. Sold privately, first hand, the piece keeps its pedigree — and its value.
The house buys at the great sales and knows their results. It can tell you on the day what a piece would be expected to make, and offer accordingly — directly, without the room. For some pieces the sale room makes sense, and we say so.
Three things worth knowing about the pieces most often shown to us in London.
Cartier opened in London in 1902 and settled at 175 New Bond Street in 1909; from 1921 its own London workshop, English Art Works, made the bracelets, clips and brooches now signed “Cartier London”. The house buys these pieces and knows them well. Sell Cartier jewellery.
British platinum jewellery of the period is often unmarked — platinum was not hallmarked in the United Kingdom before 1975 — which is why an Edwardian or Art Deco piece is read by its workmanship and its stones, not its stamps.
Garrard, Hennell, Collingwood and the London workshops of the Edwardian and Art Deco years: signed or not, a fine English piece is bought for what it is. Belle Époque and Edwardian · Art Deco.
At 100 Hatton Garden, London EC1N 8NX, by appointment only — in the jewellery quarter, a few minutes on foot from Chancery Lane and Farringdon stations. Write first with photographs; the appointment is fixed around the house's visits.
Yes. In London the house concentrates on pieces of the level of the great jewellery sales: signed period jewels, diamonds from three carats, stones of provenance, natural pearls, tiaras, collections. For a simpler piece, a London jeweller — or the Paris house, at 22 rue Drouot — will serve you well.
The house itself: the person who examines is the one who decides and pays. The piece is read in front of you — signature, hallmarks, stones, condition — and never leaves your sight.
For a collection, or a piece kept in a vault, yes: in London and by arrangement, once the first opinion has been given on photographs.
By bank transfer to an account in your name, in euros, the day the agreement is reached, whatever the amount. French law does not allow cash for this trade. Nothing is deducted: the sum offered is the sum received.
A passport or identity card — French law requires a dealer to record every purchase and the identity of the seller — and whatever you have on the piece: certificate, invoice, earlier valuation, auction catalogue entry, box. None of these is essential, except your identity document.
An estimate is not a price: the result depends on the room, the reserve and the day, and it is known months later, less fees. A dealer's offer is a figure you can accept today. Compare the two — we encourage it — and for some pieces we will tell you ourselves that the sale room makes sense.
Entirely. No catalogue, no photograph, no published price; the house does not display what it buys. Your name and your piece stay between you and us.
The house issues a dated purchase document stating the piece and the price, for your records and your adviser. A UK resident may have capital gains tax to consider on a piece sold for more than £6,000; the house does not give tax advice.
Of course: 22 rue Drouot, Paris 9e, by appointment, about 2 h 20 from St Pancras by Eurostar and ten minutes by taxi from Gare du Nord. How it works from the UK and Europe.
Verifiable facts, reviewed in October 2026. For a specific case, the appointment settles the matter.
The house receives in London by appointment at 100 Hatton Garden, EC1N 8NX, in the jewellery quarter the trade has occupied since the nineteenth century. Important pieces only; the first opinion is given on photographs.
A seller is paid by bank transfer or cheque — French law does not allow cash for this trade — and the house records each purchase and the seller's identity, as French law requires. Bring a passport.
In the trade, a piece that has never been offered publicly is said to be “fresh to the market”. Collectors prize it; an unsold lot, by contrast, is remembered. That is why a piece brought first hand is paid more than the same piece bought in the room.
Complimentary and confidential first opinion within 24 hours, in English or French. Then an appointment at 100 Hatton Garden.
Request an opinion+33 7 81 11 49 29