APPRAISALS AND  VALUATIONS
  • Home
  • About
  • Antiques Appraisals
  • Art Appraisals
  • Collectibles Appraisals
  • Jewelry Appraisals
  • Insurance Appraisals
  • Estate Appraisals
  • Assistance With Selling
  • Research and Authentication
  • Owner's Biography
  • Contact
  • Appraisals Blog

Bryan H. Roberts Appraisal Services Blog

The authentication process

1/25/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Authentication of high-end artwork is a complex process and since it does come up from time to time in my appraisal duties, it is worth exploring here.  What many people are not aware is that most prominent painters (think Picasso, Rembrandt, and others) have a recognized expert or committee of experts upon which auction houses and collectors typically rely. While an appraiser can value a work on the assumption that the piece is genuine, for an auction house to be willing to sell a work by a prominent artist, they will likely insist on first having the work validated at the consignor's expense. Sometimes this can be avoided if the painting appears in a recognized catalog of the artist's work (called a catalog raisonné). Otherwise, the auction house will send high-resolution images of the work to the recognized expert (s) and abide by their verdict. 

A downside to this, of course, is that if the work is indeed genuine but the expert says otherwise, the work will be considered by the art market to not be authentic. And if that is the case, the work will be largely unsellable as a genuine work by the artist. This has led to some serious legal dustups in past years... enough so that the committees for some artists such as Warhol and Rothko have actually disbanded due to the cost and threat of litigation. In one instance, an expert who was preparing a catalog raisonné for a prominent painter abandoned the project after actually receiving death threats from owners concerned their works would be deemed fake. 

So, if you have a work by a major artist and you are considering the idea of bringing it to market, be aware that the process may be complex and also involve having to invest some money up front. 

0 Comments

    Author

    Bryan H. Roberts is a professional appraiser in Sarasota, FL. He is a member of the Florid​a State Guardianship Association and currently serves on the board of the local FSGA chapter. He is a past president of the Sarasota County Aging Network, a non-profit that provides grants to other non-profits benefiting seniors in need and is also a board member of PEL, an area non-profit whose resale store profits support programs and scholarships for at-risk and disadvantaged youth. He is certified in the latest Uniform Standards of Appraisal Practice (USPAP) Equivalent

    Archives

    February 2023
    November 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed




We serve the Sarasota-Venice-Bradenton area... please note that we do not do Real Estate appraisals.
Bryan H. Roberts Appraisal Servic
 All content on this website created by Bryan H. Roberts Appraisal Services is copyrighted.
​© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
  • Antiques Appraisals
  • Art Appraisals
  • Collectibles Appraisals
  • Jewelry Appraisals
  • Insurance Appraisals
  • Estate Appraisals
  • Assistance With Selling
  • Research and Authentication
  • Owner's Biography
  • Contact
  • Appraisals Blog