Private acquisition for rare passion assets

What makes private sourcing different?

Private sourcing works the whole market, not just the published part of it. Under a buy mandate, we approach owners, dealers, and brokers directly, keep your identity confidential, verify every candidate before you see it, and negotiate as your representative — not as a seller's storefront.

The practical difference shows up in three places: the quality of what you get to choose from, the price you end up paying, and what the market learns about you in the process — which should be nothing.

How does a buy mandate work?

A buy mandate is a confidential brief: the asset you want, your parameters, your budget logic, and your timeline. It is not a listing subscription and it is not a wish list — it is an instruction the office works against.

• We map the market and agree realistic pricing before anyone is approached
• We source candidates from public inventory and private channels in parallel
• Each serious candidate is verified: ownership, condition, documentation, market logic
• You receive a shortlist with evidence, not a feed of listings
• We negotiate, you decide, and the office coordinates the close

Visible and off-market opportunities

Public listings are useful — they set the reference prices and reveal motivated sellers. But for genuinely rare assets, the best opportunities often move between private parties before any listing exists. A quota Hermès bag, an allocation-constrained watch, a well-maintained airframe, a yacht whose owner would sell quietly at the right number: these surface through relationships, not search filters.

We run both channels in parallel and tell you honestly which one is serving your mandate better.

The verification framework

Every asset class gets a verification pass appropriate to it before any offer is made:

• Ownership and title — who actually owns it and whether they can sell cleanly: clear title, no liens or competing estate claims, and escrow through a specialist where the asset warrants it
• Condition — the right inspection for the asset: a pre-purchase inspection at an approved facility for aircraft, a class survey and sea trial for yachts, specialist grading for watches and cars, an independent conservator's report for art
• Documentation — the papers that actually hold value: logbooks and airworthiness-directive compliance for jets; matching-numbers and marque certification (Ferrari Classiche, Porsche CoA) for cars; box, papers and service history for watches; date stamps for Hermès; catalogue raisonné and an Art Loss Register check for art
• Market logic — what genuinely comparable assets have traded for, what it will cost to hold, and how it would resell — to whom, and on what timeline

If something does not survive verification, you hear that plainly, with the evidence. Walking away from a flawed asset is part of the service.

Not ready for a mandate? Independent advisory reviews what you're considering — flat-fee →

How we're paid

The fee model is the reason the advice stays honest. We hold no inventory, so there is nothing we need you to buy. We represent one side of a transaction only — yours — so we are never quietly paid by the seller as well. And we work on a success-based commission against a schedule agreed in writing before any work begins, so the incentive is a clean acquisition at the right price, not a bigger ticket. When the disciplined answer is to wait or walk away, saying so costs us the fee — and we say it anyway.