Appraisal vs authentication in fine art

A fine art appraisal is an opinion of value as of a date, for a stated purpose. It is not a certificate that the work is by the artist named on the label.

Collectors often request both in one sentence. Those are different assignments. Mixing them produces a number that an insurer, the IRS, or a court cannot use.

What an appraisal answers

The appraisal answers what an object is worth in a defined market, on a defined date, under a defined definition of value. Typical purposes are insurance (retail replacement value), charitable donation, estate tax, estate planning, and equitable distribution (fair market value).

A USPAP report identifies the property as the appraiser understands it. If identification is assumed — said to be, attributed to, circle of — that assumption is written into the report. The value follows the identification.

What authentication answers

Authentication answers whether the object is by the hand or authorized studio it is given. That work belongs to the artist foundation, a catalogue raisonne committee, or a scholar who accepts authorship assignments. Appraisers who follow USPAP do not issue letters of authenticity.

IRS Publication 561 requires reasonable due diligence on authenticity for donated art. Due diligence is not an authentication. If authorship is unresolved, a qualified appraisal is usually premature.