What Is Hart Davis Hart Auction Co.?

Hart Davis Hart Auction Co. (HDH) is a U.S. wine auction house and online retailer focused on fine and rare wines. It runs regular auctions, publishes catalogs and results, and positions itself as a marketplace where collectors buy and sell high-value wine. If you are looking to bid on rare bottles, consign a collection, or track auction results, HDH is one of the venues to consider.

What HDH Does

HDH operates at the intersection of auction and retail in the rare wine market. Its core activities, based on its own site content, include:

• Auctions of fine and rare wines — recurring sales, often spanning two days and thousands of lots.
• Online retail — the company describes itself as "a leading online retailer" alongside its auction business.
• Catalogs and results — each auction offers a catalog, index, spreadsheet, and published results.
• News and editorial — auction recaps, producer visits, and collector perspectives.

How Its Auctions Are Structured

Auctions are organized into numbered lots and split across days. For example, a September auction listed lots 1–1337 on Thursday and lots 1338–2674 on Friday, with named collections inside the sale:

• The Adventurer's Collection (lots 538–796)
• An Historic Selection of D'Yquem (lots 1563–1713)
• Wines from the Cellar of Jeff Johnson (lots 1801–2225)

This structure matters if you are bidding: a single auction can contain both broad regional offerings and tightly themed single-owner collections, so lots from one collection may be spread across the catalog rather than grouped at the start.

Scale and Track Record

HDH publishes sale totals and performance against estimates, which is useful for gauging market demand:

The site also notes record prices, such as a Leroy bottle selling for $95,600 and a record price for 2009 Rayas in an April auction. These figures are the auction house's own reported results, so treat them as promotional context rather than independent verification.

Buying and Selling Through HDH

If you want to bid: HDH provides a catalog, index, and spreadsheet for each sale, plus a mobile app for placing and managing bids, notifications when auctions go live, following producers, and participating in live auctions from a phone.

If you want to sell: HDH markets itself to collectors consigning collections. Its editorial includes a collector's perspective on selling through HDH, framing consignment as entrusting a collection to a team rather than simply listing bottles.

What to Check Before You Engage

• Auction status — sales close; the September auction page states "This Auction is Now Closed," so confirm whether a sale is open before planning bids.
• Terms and conditions — each auction links its own terms, which govern bidding, fees, and buyer obligations.
• Errata — catalogs include an errata section, so check it for corrections to lot descriptions before bidding.
• Results — published results let you compare realized prices against estimates before deciding what to bid or consign.

HDH is best understood as a specialist venue: it is not a general wine retailer, and its value to you depends on whether you are dealing in collectible, high-value bottles rather than everyday wine.