Estate valuation is a service that we provide regularly to our clients. Whether the estate has hundreds of items or just a few, whether it may be worth hundreds of dollars or millions, we can provide an efficient and accurate estate evaluation for you.
There are multiple reasons to have an estate valuation done.
These include:
• The passing of a loved one – We often get a call when a parent or grandparent has passed on, and the executor of the estate is left to deal with valuables that were accumulated over a lifetime. Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming when you see that there are many items that need to be appraised, and then possibly sold. We are accustomed to dealing with this, and we can walk you through it.
• Insurance purposes – If you have a large collection of valuable items (old or new), it makes financial sense to insure those items against fire or theft. In order to do that, the insurance company will require an official appraisal to determine the value of the item(s) and write the policy.
• Litigation – Estate valuations are often done for legal reasons. Perhaps the divorce judge has ordered you and your ex-spouse to split all assets evenly, and you have to determine the total value of your property. Or, if someone wins a civil lawsuit against you, you may have to declare the value of your estate to the court.
• Liquidation – If your grandparents face mounting medical bills and need to generate some cash for that purpose, an estate valuation will tell them what their items are worth. This will help in determining if the entire estate needs to be liquidated, or if you can just sell a few items.
One of the questions that we are commonly asked is, “When arranging an estate valuation, what items should we have appraised?” Some people are concerned about having an appraisal done on items that may appear to have no value, or items that are modern. Our answer is to let us be the judge of the value. Countless times, we have had people come to us for an estate valuation and mention another item (or several) that they didn’t feel was worth bothering with. Please don’t make that mistake! In some cases, the “worthless” item turned out to be quite valuable – even more valuable than all of the other items combined. Pre-judging an item as having no value can be a very costly error.
What do we appraise? Virtually anything.
We have done appraisals on these items and many more:
- Art
- Coins
- Silver
- Porcelain
- Jewelry
- Documents
- Glass
- Rugs and Textiles
- Furniture
- Bronzes / Sculptures
- Decorative art items
What makes us different is the procedure we use for doing an estate valuation. Many antique appraisers will insist on seeing the item in person by coming to your home, or having you bring the item to them. This is not only inconvenient for you, it is also absolutely unnecessary.
Virtually all of our valuations are done online via our website. We have a detailed form in which you can enter all of the information about your item, including your description, size, any dates on the item, condition, provenance (history of ownership and authentication), reason for the appraisal, and a few other details. It is very easy to do, and there is also a button for you to upload several digital photos of the item.
When we receive the information you submit, we will contact you by phone or email for a free consultation, at which time we will tell you what the appraisal fee will be. You will also receive an invoice for the fee. Once payment has been received, we then proceed with your appraisal.
We offer our estate valuation services around the country at fine arts and antique shows, and online through our website.
