Much of what sits on the floor of an Arizona gallery or antiques shop does not belong to the shop. Arizona treats fine art left with a dealer by its own artist as trust property, and it separately treats a store that buys used goods from the public as a secondhand dealer with recording and reporting duties. Both rules change what you should ask before you buy, sell or consign a piece anywhere in the state.
Arizona has a consignment statute written specifically for fine art. When an artist delivers work to an Arizona art dealer for exhibition or sale, the work becomes trust property, and A.R.S. § 44-1774 states that no property which is trust property under that article "is subject to the claims, liens or security interests of the creditors of the art dealer." If the gallery fails, the artist’s consigned work is not part of what the gallery’s creditors can reach.
The same article gives the dealer duties. Under § 44-1776 a dealer who sells consigned work has to transmit all monies due the artist on a monthly basis, and may only use or display the work if viewers are told it is the artist’s work or the artist consented in writing. Section 44-1775 requires the dealer to obtain a written contract, and § 44-1777 voids attempts to waive these protections.
Antiques are a separate regime. A shop buying used goods from the public in Arizona falls under the secondhand dealer rules in A.R.S. § 44-1602, which require the store to record the seller and the item and report the purchase, and to hold the item unaltered before resale. That is why an Arizona estate buyer asks for identification and cannot flip a piece the day it walks in.
Work out first whether you are buying, selling outright, or leaving something to be sold on your behalf. The third one is where money goes missing, and it is the one Arizona wrote rules about.
Nothing here is legal advice. The Arizona statutes cited above have been amended before and city licensing for secondhand dealers differs from the state rule, so confirm the current text with the Arizona Revised Statutes before you rely on it.
Under A.R.S. § 44-1774 fine art consigned by its artist to an Arizona art dealer is trust property, and trust property is not subject to the claims, liens or security interests of the dealer's creditors. That is the protection the statute is built around. Recovering the work still takes effort, so keep your written consignment contract and an inventory with photographs.
Section 44-1776 requires a dealer holding consigned fine art to transmit all monies due the artist on a monthly basis. Your contract can be more generous but a clause trying to waive the protections in this article is void under § 44-1777.
Because buying used goods from the public makes the shop a secondhand dealer under A.R.S. § 44-1602, which requires it to record the seller and the item, report the purchase to local law enforcement, and hold the item unaltered for a period before resale.
Only if the shop's own policy allows it. Arizona does not give buyers a general right to cancel an ordinary in-store purchase, so the written return policy on the invoice is what governs. If the item was sold with a specific attribution that turns out to be wrong, that is a different question and worth raising in writing.