The process
How an appraisal works
Seven stages, no surprises. You will know the scope and the cost before work starts, and where the assignment stands at every point after.
Conversation
Describe what you have and why it needs valuing. The purpose determines the standard of value, and the standard determines everything that follows. Ten minutes by telephone or video, at no charge; if you do not need an appraisal, you will be told so.
Written estimate
A scope and fee range in writing before any work starts. If photographs will help, email them: overall views plus any signatures, marks, labels or inscriptions.
Engagement letter
Scope, purpose, intended users, fee and timeline in writing, signed by both parties. Fifty percent due on execution. The intended use is stated because USPAP requires it, and because a report prepared for insurance cannot simply be repurposed for the IRS.
Inspection
Inspections take place at the property. Each item is examined, measured, marked, described and photographed. A typical on-site day covers a substantial collection; a single work takes about an hour. Nothing is moved or handled without your agreement.
Research
Market data, comparable sales, catalogue and archival research, condition assessment, and provenance where it bears on value. This is where the time goes, and where the report’s defensibility is built.
Report
A complete written report prepared in accordance with the principles of USPAP, delivered digitally and bound on request. Two to three weeks as standard; four to six weeks for IRS-compliant reports for donation or estate use. Rush service is available.
Afterwards
The workfile is retained for at least five years, as USPAP requires, so an update or a carrier query does not start from zero. Re-appraisals for existing clients are billed at a reduced rate.
Preparing
How to reduce the cost
The bill is hours, so anything that removes hours removes cost.
- Gather invoices, prior appraisals, provenance files and exhibition records
- Find the framer’s and conservator’s receipts, which date things
- Photograph the backs of pictures as well as the fronts
- Write down what you know about where each piece came from, however vague
- Group objects physically before the inspection, where practical
- Give the deadline at the first conversation, not the third
What the practice will not do
Informal or verbal opinions of value, authorship or authenticity are never given. An opinion without a report is one you cannot use and no appraiser can stand behind.