Appraisals

Definition of  “Appraisal” : One person’s guess of what some other person might pay!

I commonly receive calls from people wanting me to do appraisals.  When I ask them why they want the items appraised they often say, “Because I want to sell it.”  My advice is to NEVER pay for an appraisal of an item that you want to sell at auction.

While appraisals are necessary for insurance and estate evaluation, they are a waste of money for things that you are going to sell. Why?  Because when you sell it, you are going to “get what you get”, regardless of the appraisal (actually you are going to “get what you get” MINUS the cost of the appraisal). Therefore, the appraisal has only served to LOWER the value of the item.

Following are a few auction results:

The pre-sale estimate is the same as an appraisal of value.  Remember that these estimates were done by highly paid experts specializing in the particular subject area, and with access to all of the most sophisticated research tools.  They should be far more knowledgeable and accurate than any local appraiser.

1. Quinn’s & Waverly Auction Galleries in Falls Church:  A map sold for $23,400 at a December 3, 2009 sale — despite a pre-sale estimate of only $2,500-$4,000. Mid range estimate off by 720%

 2. June 28, 2010: The apparently endless market for images of Marilyn Monroe now extends to inside her body after a set of chest X-rays sold at auction for $45,000.  Julien’s Auctions, which sold the X-rays, estimated that they would only fetch a total of about $3,000  Estimate off by 1,500%

3. October 7 2009 At Aspire Auctions of Cleveland, an ivory box with a pre-sale auction estimate of between $700 to $900 sold for $410,025 (plus premium) for a total of $471,529. Mid range estimate off by over 58,000%

4. During Brunk’s sale in May 2009, a 12-inch Chinese vase (pre-sale estimate $400-$800) sold for a spectacular $1,236,250.  Mid range estimate off by over 206,000%

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So everything sells for more than its estimate?  No, although auctioneers would like you to believe that is true, the reverse is just as common, but not as often publicized (because it is not “news”).

5. Producers of the Antiques Roadshow were excited when, in June 2009, their experts appraised a group of four 18th-century jades for over a million dollars–the highest-priced “find” in the history of the show. But the jades sold at auction in October for a total price of less than $500,000. This episode did not air until January 2010.

6. In a 2009 sale, Bonham’s sold one-third of the 244 lots offered for about 1.7 million pounds on a presale low estimate of 5.8 million pounds (that’s less than 1/3 of the low estimate).  None of its top lots sold.

7. June 11, 2010: Russian paintings: Bonham’s showed the lowest incomes, by selling only 49.6% of its lots, and more than a half of them were sold below the lowest estimate.

8. May 2010:  A retired worker from the British Cadbury Chocolate Factory visited Duke’s auction house in Dorchester, England, with a Ming vase in a cardboard box. The appraised value of the 600-year-old vase was about $1.6 million. But it sold for only $185,305 in May.

Words to the wise: 

Many dealers promote their “appraisal services” as a way of gaining access to merchandise.  The ethical conflicts of purchasing items for which the appraiser has specified the value are obvious!  Imagine going shopping and being able to name your own price for the items you want to buy!!!