Appraisal, art appraisal

An often thorough analysis of works of art establishing its value. It usually results in a written document used in the contexts of insurance and in taxation in many countries. An appraisal is also done by sellers and resellers of art.

There are various ways to appraise a piece of art.

1) it can be assessed on the price the object would fetch at an auction. This is called ‘fair market value‘.
2) or the cost of replacing the said object, called ‘insurance value’

Various people are in a position to offer you an art appraisal. Auction houses, curators and professional independent art appraisers would be able to assist you. The results vary, but surprisingly less than you would imagine, because most of these professionals are very thorough indeed or pass you onto a specialist in their network who is better suited to appraise. Anyhow, you are best off finding an appraiser who is specialising in the genre, period, category or art movement that your art falls within than just a ‘general practitioner’.

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