Why Not Join AAA or ISA?
There is no such thing as a “Certified Appraisal”. Even though some might see the term, “certified appraisals”, there is no governmental licensing or certification for personal property appraisers There are appraiser trade organizations in which a member can earn the right to be called “Certified” within the association. For AAA it would be after ten years of membership, biannual refresher courses, testing, and attendace at association events. Members need not have a college degree in the field, but must complete courses with tuition paid to the association. As long as you keep paying you have earned the right to put an official sounding title after your name.
I choose not to join any of the several appraiser associations. They are a fine way for a young person to break into the profession and get some credibility, for an annual fee. I paid my dues with a career that has spanned over 50 years.
I started evaluating 19th C paintings in December of 1972 when I and my partners opened Davis-Bartlow Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. Our London partner sent us a crate of 44 antique oils. He bought whole estates in Ireland where paintings had been hung floor to ceiling for generations. They were cleaned, framed and shipped to us in six-week intervals. It was a bulk operation and most of the research on the artists and values had to be conducted after they reached the States. I had a twelve-volume BENEZIT DICTIONARY OF ARTISTS which had the sales, auction records and biographies of thousands of artists. I researched each painting and assigned prices based on the quality and condition and the sales performance records of the artists.
This was my 10,000 hours in the field. I began to recognize the particular styles of different artists and the age of the canvas and wood stretchers. The darker tha back of the painting generally meant it was older. The dryness of the wood stretcher and even the type of nails became information I could use later when I began appraising. In our five years we handled about a thousand paintings. We distributed them to the Federated Department stores throughout the Midwest and down to Atlanta. I sold to antique dealers and interior designers in between the stops at the big stores. We also had a retail gallery in Columbus, my home town and where I earned a B.A., History of Art at OSU. I was exposed to art and art business on many levels and in many places.
Audrey and I moved to Chicago in 1977 where I took a sales position at Merrill Chase Gallery. On Michigan Avenue in the opulent Water Tower Place, it is a vertical shopping mall attached to the Ritz-Carlton. It was there that I learned about fine prints. Ivo Kirschen, head of the print department, shared his knowledge of and passion for fine prints that inspired anyone in his orbit. His library of fine print catalogues was second to none.
With many shoppers coming off the elevator from the Ritz, there was enough demand to justify the stockof the best and most expensive prints by Durer, Rembrandt, Renoir, Lautrec, Picasso, Chagall, Miro, Calder, and others. We routinely had months of $300,000 sales in 1977. I learned a lot from Ivo, and it was his knowledge and enthusiasm that kept everything humming. I became the top producer inthe nine-store chain within a year.
After two years I joined Samuel Stein Fine Arts in the legendary 620 N Michigan Building in Richard Gray’s former space. Sam, like Ivo, had been a representative of London Arts, a company out of Detroit that was and early pioneer in introducing Americans to fine prints. Sam’s territory on the road was the Midwest and included Chicago, he had in his portfolio cases the latest editions from artists such as Calder, Vasarely, Miro, Chagall, Appel, and Peter Max. After a particularly good Picasso sale, Sam took over the Richard Gray space and convinced Paul Jenkins to show with him.
We had an established business in Modern fine prints by Chagall, Picasso, Miro, Calder and others. We also were dealing in Pop Art and became a major source for Tom Wesselmann prints. I developed the careers of several new artists chosen from the many who applied to the gallery.
I fielded many calls from art appraisers who asked me for replacement values of whatever prints they were evaluating. This happened many times over the years. When Sam retired in 1991, and I bought the gallery, I started appraising for a fee.
Over time, I also began getting asked to authenticate Modern fine prints. I had a contact who later was convicted for selling counterfeit prints. He traveled in that shadowy world, and when he showed us a Miro or Chagall or Picasso we would just laugh and tell him to get lost. But we always wanted to see his wares for then we knew which prints to avoid in the future. I could call him and ask about a print that seemed OK. He would know where it came from and who was passing it around. He would say something like.”Oh that’s Jimmy’s from Florida”. I always told him to stop what he was doing and that I would not lie to protect him . He did a lot of time as a guest of the Department of Corrections.
The appraisal associations like to portray themselves as the only ones qualified to write appraisals compliant with the rules for courts and tax deductions. They insist on selling applicants courses on the proper formatting etc. They also make sure their members have not been caught in any unethical behavior. These are important things, of course. There are things that one cannot do. One cannot appraise something low, then buy it and resell it for a profit, for example. Common sense, right. An appraiser must have a clean record. My record is clean, although some might question a lawsuit I filed and lost. I stand by my decision to file. We lost largely due to the $3million and 14 lawyers it took the defendant to convince the judge. Much more on this subject will come out in the form of a book.
My education and expertise allow me to write legally binding appraisals. One does not become an expert by taking a fifteen-hour course online. Years of touching thousands of artworks and seeing money change hands for them is what makes an expert.
A $35 booklet called USPAP, perfectly gives step-by-step instructions on the acceptable format for appraisals. Anyone can buy it and follow it if they have the expertise in the art they are appraising.