Fontaine's Auction Gallery — Local services in Pittsfield

Be very careful when buying high-priced Laterndluhren and Dachluhren!

Auction Nov. 17th 2018: Lot Nr. 121 - "BIEDERMEIER LATERNDLUHR 1 YEAR ASTRONOMICAL REGULATOR" is a total fake! A few years ago, an Austrian clock collector bought this Vienna Laterndluhr from the Viennese art dealer Stephan Andreewitch for a large sum of money. After experts found out that this was a complete forgery, Andreewitch had to take back the clock, refund the purchase amount and pay all the costs for the Vienna court and the lawyers. An expensive affair for a worthless Laterndluhr fake!

Time and again, forgeries of Viennese Dachluhren and Laterndluhren you may see in the world of Internet. Unfortunately, such bad copies are also offered by antique and art dealers in large cities such as Vienna, London, ... but also in large auction houses as "original" and the customer needs a lot of expertise to distinguish original from replica.

Therefore, my tip: Stay away from buying such high-priced copies, if you do not understand! You usually never see your money again!

Meanwhile, I have seen that Fontaines Auction Gallery has responded to my posting and has removed the clock from the auction. That's a good thing and I hope, that the experts of Fountains Auction Gallery also have testet the remaining Laterndluhren for originality! They all seem to be also...

Atrocious experience with John Fontaine and Fontaine’s Auction House. I reported him to the Better Business Bureau as I see was done by another customer just last month! Was treated horribly by Mr. Fontaine for requesting a full refund for an item damaged after the auction and prior to my shipper picking up. Was refused a refund and belittled on the phone by Mr. Fontaine for the $693 clock when a huge crack in the back was made PRIOR to my shipper removing the clock (shipper took photos of the crack before leaving auction house) No cracks when bidding as the photos show no cracks & the condition report has no notations. Mr. Fontaine hung up on me several times. His justification for not refunding me was that “we should call it even” since he chose not to charge me a storage fee (?!). Then he went about threatening to charge me a storage fee just because he did not like that I asked for a refund for my damaged property after it arrived.

It’s a sad story when a business such as Fontaine’s is allowed to operate and bring in revenue when they are deceitful and have zero concern for the legal rights of the customer. I sincerely hope the others reading this review chose a honest and ethical auction house instead of...

In 2007 my husband and I contacted Fontaine's after reading of a clock auction. I emailed pictures of items I wished to sell. I expressed concern as to how to get the items to their auction. They said they had a truck that picked up item in other states and would stop at our house on the way back from one of these pickups. We sent a large hand painted and dated German trunk, a slag glass tiffany style stained glass lamp, an old circus poster professionally framed and 2 large store display spice tinsel. After several months I inquired on the status. The girl was rude and said we owed them money. We never received a statement or any monies. We acted in good faith that we would receive a check. Nothing! My husband has since passed away and for some reason I am still on the mailing list. I do not recommend this auction and will always feel hurt that we trusted some our treasured items to this auction and...