Auktionshaus Arnold

Auktionshaus Arnold looks back on a history of three generations during the last seven decades. Karl Arnold, first owner of the auction house, applied for an auctioneer’s license in 1942, but without success since he was not a member of the NSDAP. And he never joined them. Only after the war, 1948, he succeeded because all ten of the auctioneers based in Frankfurt had been members of the NSDAP. In the same year, he held the first auction. His son Karl Heinz Arnold, then aged 24, took over the business in 1952. Since 1998 until today, Karl Michael Arnold operates the auction house as a state-sworn auctioneer.

At first located in Stiftstraße, Auktionshaus Arnold moved to Bleichstraße in 1958 where auctions are held until today. In 1968, the building was expanded and an auction room was added. The adjacent building was acquired and modernized in 2004, providing an even larger auction room.

Making a detour via insolvency auctions and pawn shops, art and antiques were offered first of all. In the decades following, the range of offered items expanded significantly. Today, there are frequent auctions of jewellery, watches, jewels, of modern and contemporary art, and of various decorative objects. Numerous special auctions have been held, e.g. Steiff toys, shares, carpets, showing the diversity of auctions. Since 2015, real estate auctions have ben added as a new field of business.

Charity auction for non-profit organizations and institutions have been established as an essential part of the auction program. Pro bono auctions for UNICEF, WIZO, DRK (German Red Cross Frankfurt), German child protection association and local organziations have been held by Auktionshaus Arnold. Since 2002, the auction “Junge Kunst mit Zukunft” (young art with future) takes place during the annual Night of the Museums and aims to support emerging artists studying at art/design schools Frankfurter Städelschule and Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach. Evaluations of estates, distrains or bankruptcy objects for lawyers, banks, fiscal authorities, insolvency administrators, foundations or private persons display another focus of business. Usually, the evaluations show the current market value which is also the base for calculation of the inheritance tax. Regular events including career orientation as well as lectures discussing current development in the art market complete the business activities of Auktionshaus Arnold.