While an estimate is free, an appraisal may not be, insofar as it involves the responsibility of the auction house and its expert.
This responsibility relates to the substantial qualities of the work. This means not only the authenticity and period of production of the work of art, painting or piece of furniture, but also its state of conservation and its potential value on the art market.
- An appraisal takes the form of an official document, whereas an estimate is more like a free service, providing an informal opinion or feeling.
- An appraisal can be presented to the courts or tax authorities, whereas an estimate has no legal value.
- While an estimate is based on price comparisons already established on the art market by examining the recent results of public sales (auctions), an appraisal will go further in its research in order to give the work of art the greatest possible rarity and originality.
In conclusion, the appraiser looks for elements of provenance, a history and a bibliography that might exist and list the work
This will have a strong impact on the price of the work. For example, a royal provenance, or that of a major collector with works in museums, can double the price of a work.
Knowing that a work has taken part in exhibitions or that it has already been published in a catalogue raisonné reassures the future buyer, reinforces its pedigree, creates rarity and originality and therefore increases its value.
Since an estimate is a one-off opinion given free of charge, it will not seek to check the veracity of certificates of authenticity (if they exist) or provenance that accompany the work, painting or sculpture whose value you simply wish to know.
On the contrary, an appraisal will seek to certify the work by consulting the committees, the market authorities, the rights holders or the authors of the catalogues raisonnés (who are sometimes the same people) of the works concerned. These consultations are usually subject to a fee, even if they merely confirm that a certificate is authentic.
This long process of expertise and consultation must be recorded in the official document drawn up by the auction house or independent expert.