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Subject:Finding an Appraiser
Posted By: Tim Sat, Oct 03, 2015
Charlie, allow me to tell a few short stories that will help illustrate my point on the value of appraisals, then i'll offer my best advice.
In 2011, i had a Chinese painting appraised by a person with Phd credentials with extensive experience with paintings of this nature.. I paid approximately $700 for the appraisal. The appraisal was quite thourough and I believe the date and artist attributions made by the appraiser were accurate. The painting was appraised at $5,000-7000, but at a reputable auction, the painting failed to sell even at no reserve and an opening bid of only $700.
In 2009, i purchasd an elaborate Chinese carved ivory panel for $6,500 from an estate sale run by a reputable and experienced appraiser. The piece was shown to all the major auction houses and the piece was estimated to be worth $10,000 to $15,000. I had received a private offer from a Chinese collector of $40,000 for the panel, but declined the offer and opted to take my chances at auction. The panel sold for $116,500 (including buyers premium) at Sotheby's.
In the matter of appraisals, it really depends first on what your intention is for the item you wish to have appraised.
First and foremost, never get an appraisal from a person or company that offer FREE appraisals, but does so because they intend to buy the piece. You'll see this kind of service offered on the Internet. You are inviting the fox into the hen house and be assured that if your piece is worth $1 million, you will never know about it and most likely be convinced to sell the piece for well below its value.
If you are looking just to understand what you own, its age, artist, style, and comparitive quality, then an appraisal by a properly credentialled person could be helpful if they offer that service in the scope of the appraisal. However, this Forum may prove just as valuable, as the collectors and experts here seem to be both willing and capable of offering assistance. In my own experience over the years, I have gained tremendous insight, and consequently feel indebted to this Forum, that at any chance i feel I can give something back in repayment for the knowledge shared, I will.
If you need an appraisal for insurance, the values assigned to property are often arbitrarily based upon what you spent on the piece and/or what you want to be paid for the piece if it destroyed in a fire, flood, or stolen, and how much you can afford to pay for insurance. No degree of expertise needs to be sought out for this manner of appraisal.
If you ar considering selling your piece, but do not know what it is worth, i would first ask yourself, how quickly do you need to get paid?
If you want cash now, do a quick search on Ebay for similar size, quality, and age items on Ebay and Liveauctioneers.com, then bring the piece to a reputable dealer and expect to get 30-40% of the retail price. If the dealers is covering the expense and time of selling a piece, and pays you cash up front, they deserve the lion's share of the sale.
If you consign the piece to a dealer and get paid only one the piece sells, expect to get about 50% of the sale (on expensive pieces, some dealers will take a smaller commission, but it needs to be something special). Just deal with some who is an expert in the field.....there are many that participate in this Forum. The dealer should be able to give you an idea of how quickly they expect the piece to sell, too.....but again, there are no guarantees.
Finally, if you auction a piece through another person/company, don't worry too much about the valuation, but make sure you set a minumum reserve if you're not willing to sell below a certain amount, and expect get 70-90% of the hammer price in about 45-90 days after the sale. Keep in mind that the hammer price is not actual sale price if the auction has a buyer's premium (nearly all auction have a buyer's premium), so it actually calculates that you get around 50-70% of the sale amount.
For example, a buyer of a piece that sells at auction with a 20% buyers premium for $1,000 (hammer price) actually will pay $1,200 to the auction house. If the auction house agreed to the original property owner to sell the piece on a 20% commission, then the seller would receive $800. So, at the end of the day, the auction house made $400 (33% of the total sale) and the original property owner makes $800 (66%).
Selling you item yourself on Ebay is a viable alternative to selling through an auction house - just take good pictures, describe accurately, and pack it safely. You'll ge about 85% of the sale amount atter fees, but some items don't achieve their full potential value on Ebay due to buyer's concerns on authenticity or if you do not have an established record as a high rated seller. If your piece is obviously genuine, this should not be an issue.
Final note, the upside of an auction is that a rare or unusual piece may attract multiple bidders who have the financial means to bid far above what the general valuation of your item. However, there are no guarantees of a sale, so you may get your item back and the stigma of being an unsold item may follow your piece around for a while, making it harder to resell by other means later on.
Hope this about covers your question. Best of luck and post some pictures....all of us enjoy seeing fine examples of Asian art!
Tim
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