F.A.Q.

Welcome to the Frequently Asked Questions section of the ChateauAntiques.com website.

Here we aim to provide you with information you may find useful regarding our antiques for sale and our services.  We provide this page for your convenience but we are delighted to answer any of your questions directly: please use our contact form and I'll get back to you as soon as I possibly can.

Who are you and why should we buy from you?

The short answer is: I am Sean Marshall, I am English and I run this family business from the Ariège department, south of Toulouse, France.  I will most probably be your direct contact for all things 'customer service'.  You can call me on +33 637 53 4477 – I speak English and French.

Everything we do is in order to best serve our customers.  That's what drives us to find the best stock, provide the best information to you, and to take great care in detailing, describing and taking photos of our antiques for sale.  It's what drives us to take such obsessive care in packaging and shipping your antiques to wherever you are in the world.

More information can be found on the 'Our Story' page of ChateauAntiques.com.

How do I buy?

Ideally, directly from the listings on this website. But if there are any issues with that functionality or if you would like to arrange other payment or shipping methods contact me at by using our contact form and we’ll work it out.

Are your prices fixed or negotiable?

We are antiques dealers - our prices are negotiable, to a point.  We can sometimes work out deals for multiple purchases, regular clients and in some other circumstances.  We have weekly and monthly targets to hit so talk to us when you want to do a deal.  A word of warning though: most of our antiques for sale are unique or very rare.  If someone clicks 'add to cart' and completes a purchase while we are negotiating, we will have to honour that sale.  We mention this because, above all, we want you to be happy – and that of course means avoiding disappointment if you were to miss out.

How do you package and ship?

Very carefully and attentively (almost obsessively), with the most appropriate quality materials and with the most professional shippers appropriate to the shipment in question.  Which courier or shipping service we use varies with the size and destination, but we always use reputable companies and we always insure our shipments.  We use quality shipping materials and have many years of shipping all manner of strangely-shaped, fragile items around the world.  We love and appreciate the antiques we ship to you, so we take every care possible so they arrive with you in the same condition in which we send them out.  If something were ever to go wrong, we would take responsibility and put it right.

What is our returns policy?

We would much prefer you to ask more questions and more photos for information and be sure of the item you are buying than ship an item that you don't really want… but we will accept returns in the right circumstances.  If we've made an error with the listing, then of course we'll accept 100% responsibility for that.  If it's a case that you have simply changed your mind, then as long as the item reaches us in the same condition as when we despatched it and within 30 days of the sale, we'll refund you 100% the sale price.  We prefer to have happy customers rather than charge a 're-stocking fee’, which is the industry standard.

Do your clocks work?

As beautiful investments or gifts, YES. But as accurate time-keeping machines… most probably not.  Often our clocks will work both here for us and there for you, but we make no claims or guarantees with regard to this UNLESS SPECIFIED IN THE LISTING. This is for the following reasons:

• The highest quality and most accurate antique clocks need specialist shipping, where they are ideally kept upright and encounter no shocks, minimal vibrations and minimal changes in air pressure.
• Then they need specialist installation and adjustments in place.
• The cost of this is huge, and then you have a movement that needs constant winding and adjustment…

If having accurate time-keeping is the aim, these mechanisms could never compare to the clock in the device you are reading this on (or any of the others accessible to you right where you are now).

Interestingly, we have sold clocks that we considered 'not working’, only to be told by clients that they arrived ticking nicely –probably thanks to a shock along the way!  

The mechanisms in most of our clocks were fragile and temperamental 100 years ago; we do not allude to being able to improve on this.  If you do choose to replace the mechanism with a modern, accurate, battery-operated one, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE consider having this done professionally and KEEP THE ORIGINAL movement safely with the original housing, as this will add to the resale value and give you an accurate time-keeper.

What about electrical items?

Unless specified, our electrical items have the original wiring, switches or plugs and should be professionally rewired, respecting your country’s regulations, before use.  I am happy to provide quotes for this service if I can.  We provide the majority of our items in the original condition for authenticity but believe that, if sympathetically done, the correct replacement of wiring can add to the value and, of course, usefulness of our antique lamps, antique lighting and other electrical items.

Why ‘Chateau Antiques'?

Many of our items come directly from sales at chateaux in the area as those buildings are sold or renovated.

What about tax?

We take care of local taxes, so there is nothing more to pay at our end.  You may be charged local taxes at your end.  This varies from country to country so we’re afraid we cannot provide this local information to all our clients.  

What about trade accounts?

We are delighted to work with other (well-behaved) dealers or professional organisations.  We have, and do, hire for film shoots.

Where do you find your stock?

The antiques we sell come from a variety of sources: collectors, inheritance, estate sales, other dealers, auctions and (if ever we get the chance) flea markets and trade fairs.

Will you buy my antiques?

We can discuss it… contact me!

Can I pay by instalments or reserve an item?

Hopefully by now you'll understand that we'll do anything we can for our customers. So yes, we can usually arrange this with pleasure.