Bidder/Buyer Review: 3.5 Stars If you can get past the HORRIBLE clientele and some of the snooty staff, a Doyle viewing can be a nice way to pass the afternoon. I've stopped by for both their Provident Loan lockbox and Important Jewelry showings as well as some furniture/art viewings. Doyle isn't Christie's and it isn't trying to be. They cater to an older clientele and I'll be honest, some of the stuff is hideous. However, if you can look past the obvious duds, there are some real hidden gems here - no pun intended. Shopping at Doyle takes a keen eye and a good idea what you want. Many of the listings for diamond jewelry don't come with GIA or other detailed reports so you are best advised to do your homework and bring a jeweler's loupe. Appraisals and actual sale prices can vary wildly but unlike some of the major auction houses, you can sometimes find beautiful pieces that don't get bid up like crazy. Two of my favorite pieces that I wear almost daily are from Doyle and I get constant compliments. If you have an open mind and time to do some research, this can be a great resource for discerning buyers. However, I must say that coming into the showroom is a mixed experience. The full-time employees are friendly for the most part but the people they hire can be shockingly rude and easily flustered. I gather they must deal with some awful, entitled specimens in this venue, but is it really necessary to be so snippy? And yes, the visitors can be unnecessarily elitist and throw off weird vibes if you are younger. read more

It's as bad as it can get. After submitting my 17th C. Painting for an estimate sending a few excellent resolution photos, I received an offer with reserve price. When painting arrived at NYC Doyle they lowered the reserve price by 80%. Completely unprofessional and dishonest. One and five thumbs downs . read more

WARNING TO ART COLLECTORS: Doyle NY and Katherine Curran are an Automated Joke!If you have museum-quality antiquities or valuable estate art, stay far away from Doyle New York. They operate like a lazy corporate factory, dismissing high-end historical property via automated computer scripts without any real human inspection.I submitted a pristine Spanish High-Renaissance Chest through an official personal referral from Sotheby's. This is a monumentally significant piece featuring deep narrative reliefs of the 1492 Surrender of Granada and The Baptism of the Moors (based on Master Felipe Bigarny's 16th-century reliefs inside the Royal Chapel of the Granada Cathedral), complete with a massive, period-correct Habsburg eagle iron lock.The handling of this file by Katherine Curran (Seller Services Manager) and her team was an absolute masterclass in professional malpractice and laziness:The 19-Minute Decline: Exactly 19 minutes after my Sotheby's files were registered, Doyle fired off a standard automated rejection. It is physically and humanly impossible for an art specialist to conduct a real evaluation of a 450-year-old High-Renaissance treasure in 19 minutes. They didn't even open the photos. They simply saw a heavy object located in Florida and a quick decline to avoid Manhattan shipping logistics.The 4-Hour Contradiction: Nearly four hours LATER, their central system generated another official email explicitly titled: "Circle of Felipe Bigarny (c.1475-1542)", stating that my property was now forwarded to their actual specialists for consideration.When directly confronted about this embarrassing administrative mess, Katherine Curran chose to defend their broken computer system instead of correcting the error, claiming the 19-minute robot response was their "final answer." How can you officially decline a piece hours before your specialized department even logs into the file?!Doyle NY has zero internal communication, zero respect for art history, and zero professional integrity. Katherine Curran operates like a desk-jockey who is completely out of her depth when handling elite private collections. Do not waste your time with these corporate clowns. Take your certified assets to honest, high-end regional auction houses who actually look at your photos and treat collectors with dignity. Doyle is pathetic! read more

We were advised by our attorneys to take our late mother's jewelry collection to William Doyle for appraisal and estimate for auction. A specialist, Anne, spent some time counting stones, weighing and examining with disparaging comments. Most of the pieces were bought from Fred Leighton and Christies. The experience was dissapointing; her estimates were absurdly low. We shared this with our attorney who mentioned that an associate at William Doyle jewelry department, Kevin Zavian, was in the process of a disturbing law suit regarding missing jewelry. We are proceeding with an well established auction house in New York, read more

I recently had them auction a rare collection of antique jewelry. Their estimates were extremely low, well lower than what the items were worth and what I originally paid for them. The representative did not seem particularly knowledgeable about the items. I do not feel that the company was looking after my best interests. The items did sell, but I estimate I lost about $60,000 in the process. I have since found four of my gems for sale on ebay at four times what the winning bidder paid for them at auction. This was the worst experience (and costly), and I regret putting my collection in their hands. read more

I consigned a number of items to Doyle auctioneers. After each sale I would get a statement and frequently there would be a change that had not been discussed with the representative, I would point this out and the charge would be deleted. This last consignment sale also included a charge that was not discussed. This time the charge was well over $200. The representative promised a reimbursement. This was several months ago. I'm still waiting!! Would I consign anything more to Doyle? Highly unlikely. Be aware!!! read more

Doyle Auction House treated me like a neighbor when I lived in the neighborhood. The employees are very kind. They welcome you. In the viewing room photography is allowed. If you have questions they are ready to find out the answer. If they don't know they will get an employee that knows. Today I spoke to Angelo. He researched my question even before he met me on the display floor. The atmosphere is welcoming, clean and yes very expensive. The current estate sale is full of well known artists. Beautiful modern art. I'm not going to post all my photos. If you get a chance stop in to Doyle. I love looking at originals close up!! read more

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Placed a bid on a lot of men's rings , Doyle sold the lot at a much lower price and ignored my bid . I called the manager and she apologized and stated " we did not know where your bid form was ..." they called me back after they located it and said " we had a mix up"! Really? No thanks ! Never again ! read more

ZERO STARS IS TOO NICE FOR DOYLE!!! Negative number of stars would be heading in the right direction. From my awful, personal experience, some years ago with DOYLE--my best advice is: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH DOYLE AUCTION HOUSE--THE WORST!!! I had a magnificent, hand-carved desk, 5 feet long, kept at a Manhattan storage facility . The desk had great sentimental value; I did not have room for it in my apt, I kept the desk for years, paying $$$$ to store it, which was my choice. The day came when I was finally ready to let go of the beautiful desk. Yes, the people I had dealt with at Doyle ALL SEEMED VERY NICE, and DOYLE SENT A TRUCK with two men who came to the storage facility & picked up the desk, tagged it, --all seemed fine, until I got a call, a message left on my work voicemail, DAYS BEFORE THE AUCTION DAY, from Doyle, from a woman saying, "this is kind of embarrassing, but we seem to have lost your desk..." I was working for a nutcase maniac at the time who made everyone's life miserable, & I had a lot on my plate, & I just didn't have the umpf to sue Doyle's pants off---BUT I SURE AS HECK SHOULD HAVE!!!!! Doyle lucked out, big time. They only offered to pay the MINIMUM (!!!) in the bidding range, which was low, "so more folks would bid". DOYLE LUCKED OUT. In my humble opinion, someone AT DOYLE MUST HAVE WANTED THAT DESK & JUST STOLEN IT! How on earth do you "lose" a FIVE FOOT LONG DESK YOU HAVE PUT TAGS ON?! If you are a legitimate, honest auction house, you do not lose a five foot long ANYTHING. A real auction house is Careful. You catalog everything, including the movement of the piece ! MY ADVICE: RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!! Rather than do business with Doyle. My opinion: DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER DO BUSINESS WITH DOYLE AUCTION HOUSE!!!! Do you really think so many negative experience reviews can be wrong? Be smart-do NOT do business with Doyle. I lost a magnificent hand carved desk, & my heart was broken. IT WAS AN AWFUL, VERY UPSETTING EXPERIENCE!! read more

Great, small company with helpful and kind employees. Items are interesting and impressive. As a consignor, Doyle treated me like family. They are upfront and honest about the odds a item has (which, based on the reviews here, clearly upsets people) which is truly helpful in understanding how the auction results will turn out. Great for furniture, middle to high end artwork and antiques, prints, and jewelry. read more

I have been buying at Doyle for years and have been very happy. I furnished my weekend house and vacation home with carpets, art, and decorative items from Doyle. I have found incredible buys there! I have never had a bad experience with the staff, and they usually bend over back ward to accommodate me. My stars are for Doyle as a place to purchase items. I have never sold through them, so I have no comment about that. read more

As clueless as they come. First I purchased an art lot which was defective and ruined and they denied that fact before finally agreeing. Then they sent me an art lot which came in torn and denied it had anything to do with them. Gives legitimate auction places a bad name. read more

complete RIP-OFF, dishonest, disreputable THIEVES. They don't deserve ANY stars. I purchased & paid for items and doyle won't release them because of dubious & unproven accounting error. I received ZERO for nearly $2000. INCREDIBLE? In reality it is....but I'm afraid at DOYLE this is a common practice...it's truly sickening. read more

The Worst. I tried to give Doyle two pairs of earrings which were made by very well known and expensive Jewelry stores (Lalaounis and Trianon). This snotty, skinny, condescending three year old female with a voice so high that it hurt my ears, had no idea what she was looking at. Such an unpleasant and humiliating experience. I think that her penance should be pumping gas for a year. Guess what, I'm going to Bonham's. read more

The staff is professional and attentive. They understand that it may be hard to part with your belongings, whether it be jewelry or paintings or antiques. This family owned business has been around for 50 years and they genuinely care about their customers. it is not a factory like other auction galleries where you are just a number. At Doyle they make you feel like you matter. read more

Unfortunately, paid $4000 for furniture that looked great in the photos yet is inferior and falling apart in person. An "English Oak Trestle Table" was a counterfeit, and fell apart when unloading. Wicker furniture was cheaply made and came with stained cushions (not shown in photos). A "Continental Provincial Painted Pine Cabinet" is a cheap replica whose creators tried but failed to make look antique. A WMF art nouveau wine ewer is a facsimile which in person someone might find at a flea market, thrift store or tag sale. Beyond disappointing. Unfortunately, there's no recourse as one is obligated to pay once the gavel drops. read more

I consigned a very expensive piece of jewelry with Doyle. They lied about the terms (the agreement I signed was extremely confusing) and assured me that I would not have to sell below a level I wasn't comfortable with. They insisted I set the price low to encourage bidding. So instead of letting the auction end without selling (so I could keep the piece rather than selling at a terrible price) THEY BOUGHT IT THEMSELVES! So YES I paid the sellers commission and the buyers commission for THEM! I had no knowledge that this was even a possibility. I tried to fight it through the better business bureau but all they said was that I signed an agreement... BUYER BEWARE! SLEAZY, DISHONEST. read more

BUYER BEWARE...I called and asked for a condition report and was told that the item was in good condition. I proceeded to bid online, through invaluable, and won. Wow, what a mistake that was. My item is in poor to bad condition and would cost thousands to get to 'good' condition. I am a dealer and buy in a lot of different auctions and can always trust a condition report because auction houses stand behind them. Doyle, however, does not. Now I know why they have such a bad reputation. Consignors aren't the only customers of Doyles with complaints. I would never buy or consign with Doyle. read more

as a first time client with doyle, i was totally disappointed. i would not recommend them for any category. they sold my items one at 50% below there low estimate and the other at 47% below there low estimate . they tell u that they explained the "reserve" which malcolm macneal my acct executive most definitely did not nor did anyone else that i spoke with or had correspondence with, that being tyler kusler, courtney washington, erin mandley or alison b robinson. and by the way they take there sweet time getting bk to u... they all tell u that the info is in the contract..... nonsense !!!!!! that doesn't work . you need it to be explained to u by your acct executive....i would definitely not recommend them at all . there r plenty of auction house around. i have to give them 1 star in order for this to be posted. but absolutely do not deserve any rating.... don't use them ... read more

Connoisseurship here is at a high level. Extremely professional. Feels like a family business all grown up.

I recently bought several pieces of 18k jewelry form their Provident loan auction. When my wife had it appraised we were told that they really were 15k items marked 18k. Doyle would not even deal with it as they claim no responsibility and told me to go downtown to Provident loan. The Doyle catalogue has no photos of any of the jewelry lots, so Provident wants me to prove that it's their property. Major fraud all around! read more