Annual review
Collection advisory
A collection kept in order, year after year. Most collections are documented once, if at all, and then left alone while the market moves, objects change rooms and paperwork goes missing. Collection care is a standing arrangement that keeps the record current, so the owner, the insurer and eventually the heirs all work from the same accurate account.
Collection care
What the annual review covers
- Inventory. Every object recorded with photographs, dimensions, marks, location in the house and a unique number. New acquisitions are added; objects sold, given or moved are noted.
- Documentation. Bills of sale, prior appraisals, exhibition and publication history, and correspondence gathered into one file per object. Gaps in provenance are identified and, where it matters, researched.
- Condition. Changes since the last review are recorded. Where an object needs attention, the practice refers the owner to a qualified conservator and notes the outcome.
- Insurance values. Scheduled values are checked against current market evidence. Where a value has drifted, the schedule is updated so the policy reflects what replacement would actually cost.
- A written summary. A short annual letter sets out what changed, what was updated and what deserves attention in the year ahead.
Who it suits
Collections that are still changing
- Collectors who are still buying and want the record to keep pace.
- Owners whose insurance schedule is more than three to five years old.
- Families preparing for an estate plan, who want the collection documented before decisions are made.
- Trustees and executors responsible for property held over several years.
Pre-purchase review
Before you bid or sign
Condition, authenticity, provenance, comparable market history, and a candid view of whether the asking price is supportable. For an auction purchase, that means reading the catalogue entry for what it does not say, checking the condition report against the images, and setting a walk-away figure before the sale begins. Provenance research
Collection strategy
Where it is strong, where it is thin
Most collections grow by accident, out of opportunity, affection or inheritance. Seen whole, they usually have two or three genuine strengths worth deepening and a long tail that dilutes them. The practice will say which is which, what to pursue and what to release.
Advice, not dealing
Independent, and paid only by you
Parsons Fine Art Advisory does not buy or sell property, and takes no commission on any acquisition or sale. When an owner is weighing a purchase, a sale or a gift, the practice gives an independent view on quality, condition, provenance and price, and the owner decides.
Reducing or passing on a collection
Deciding what to sell, what to give to a museum and what to keep in the family is its own piece of work. Disposition planning
Common questions
Does the practice sell art?
Can the practice bid at auction on a client’s behalf?
You have inherited a collection and do not know what to do with it.
Is advisory work billed differently from appraisal?
Rate
$225 per hour
Advisory rate. Collection care is billed as a flat annual retainer, quoted in advance once the size and needs of the collection are known; appraisal reports produced during the year are billed separately at the published per-item rates. Fees are never tied to the value of the property. Full fee schedule