I want to give a sample of my network. I often say the value of an appraiser is their network. My network is golden.
Recently, I wrote an appraisal report for insurance coverage of an approximately 3’ x 5’ Thai, Buddhist devotional painting, with pigments on cotton. The owners were a military family, serving this country the last 19 years around the globe. It is not my business to ask clients questions, but from information given, they believed of Thai origin and of some age.
My first contact was the curator of S. E. Asian art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco to establish origin. Yes, client was correct, the painting was Thai, 19th c, and I was given links to examples in the AAM collection and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The curator commented on age, quality elements and where to look in marketplace.
My next contact was a fellow Asian Art appraiser with over five decades of experience looking at Asian Art. Comments were addressed to the quality elements as well as value elements, such as very few examples on market in last ten years. Condition was discussed at length, a common problem among pigment paintings on cotton that can flake off or come off when rolling up for transport. Most comparable examples had condition problems.
The third person I contacted to assure my due diligence was a PhD scholar from UC Berkeley that studied under one of the imminent scholars of Asian Art, James Cahill. It was explained to me how one third of the bottom of the painting had been cut off, maybe to adjust to a more easily displayed work of art on the wall. Maybe condition had been a problem for a while. The central figure of the triad was explained as the Buddha, with an attendant on either side. This was an example of Buddhism portrayed in Thailand, from hair style to dress and body shape.
After collecting and comparing the information all three people gave me, I approached the marketplace from a more informed environment. All three of these sources are golden and I have corresponded with each over my twenty-year career as appraiser of Asian Art. I felt quite confident mentioning in my report, the rarity of large devotional Buddhist Thai paintings although not of great value.
With museum collection examples and the retail property offered in the open marketplace, I could see the quality and value elements for comparison. This professional help given me, reduced the hours of my research considerably. In the end, this translates to saving money for my client too. But that is balanced with my fifty years of experience in Asian Art and thus my fee is higher than most appraisers too.
I also want to mention, this report took less than my minimum of eight hours for written work. Because of the time saved from ‘my experts’, I offered a significant discount to this military family, by six hours. Generally, I do this for someone serving for my country. I also can extend this random discount to educators, they serve my country in a different way. But all this is because my network of experts is golden, saving everyone time, and time is money.