Houston Auction House Seeking Consignment Specialist and Cataloguer

Morton Auctioneers and Appraisers in Houston Texas is looking to fill two positions.  the first is a consignment specialist, with responsibilities to include assisting with sourcing consignments, authentication, cataloging, and condition reports.  The second position is for a generalist cataloguer.

For more info on the job openings, contact Morton at jobs@mortonhouston.com, or 4901 Richmond Avenue Houston, Texas 77027 Tel: 713-827-7835

Click HERE for direct info on the jobs offerings

CONSIGNMENT SPECIALIST
(Duties including but not limited to the following)

- Assisting with the sourcing of consignments by evaluating and appraising Works of Art for estimate requests from e-mails, photographs and walk-in clients
- Manage cataloguing team and delegate assignments as needed
- Research and catalogue property including authenticity, bibliography, provenance and exhibition history
- With cataloguing team, liaise with the photography department and catalogue production department on layout, design and catalogue notes
- Prepare condition reports of consigned property prior to each auction
- Participate in auctions, conduct telephone bids. Ability to fill multiple roles as needed

QUALIFICATIONS

-Bachelors degree in Art History or Decorative Arts related subjects
- 5-7 years of relevant experience, preferably in an auction house, gallery or art advisory setting
- A passion and commitment to the auction and arts industry
- Extremely thorough, organized and detail oriented
- Demonstrated ability to multi-task and prioritize
- Ability to maintain composure in stressful situations and meet constant deadlines
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including superior written and spoken communication
- Superior and discreet client service skills
- Proven ability to follow-up
- Ability to learn in-house cataloguing and database systems, along with knowledge of Outlook, Word and Excel
- Must work well within a team

CATALOGUER (GENERALIST)

PRIMARY FUNCTION/POSITION SUMMARY:

The Generalist position contributes to the production of all auction catalogues involving providing descriptions and estimates on all merchandise for Auction sales throughout the year. This is a high-volume job with multiple sales and deadlines with a constantly evolving workload. The Generalist should expect to spend significant time working in the warehouse with the material, learning the fundamentals of cataloguing, conditioning, and handling and interacting with other specialists and departments.
Responsibilities include processing consigned items for sale, including research and catalogue entry writing and proofing; working with the photography team, and varying duties as dictated by size and frequency of sales.


ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS (Duties include but are not limited to the following):

• Assist with catalogue production with a particular emphasis on organizing and checking photography, descriptions, and estimates of merchandise for each sale
• Research property for cataloguing using on-line databases, intranet and Internet resources, departmental library resources (monographs and past auction/dealer catalogues) and outside experts (such as curators, dealers, publishers, etc.)
• Prepare property for determining value, condition and marketability of property
• Other duties as assigned by Manager.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

• Auction House experience
• Bachelor’s degree in the fine or decorative art category preferred, or equivalent work experience
• Knowledge of E-mail, Spreadsheet, Word Processing and Photography editing software
• Ability to learn RFC System, intranet, and website.
• Rigorous attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and prioritize.
• Ability to remain calm in stressful situations.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including superior written and spoken communication.
• Strong client service skills.
• Proven ability to follow-up.
• Strong typing skills.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Work is performed primarily in a warehouse environment and/or an office setting
• Noise level in the work environment is moderate; will vary for external locations.

Please send your resume, cover letter, and references to jobs@mortonhouston.com