Provenance. Value. Confidence.
Independent appraisals and provenance research for collectors, estates and their advisors.
Jean-Antoine Houdon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Marble, Salon of 1789
The work
Quality. Provenance. Connoisseurship.
In 2019 a pair of marble busts arrived for cataloguing. A leading New York auction house had already appraised the estate and recorded them as copies. A 1932 record in the Frick Art Reference Library identified them as signed works by Jean-Antoine Houdon: portraits of Rousseau and the Comte de Buffon, shown at the Paris Salon of 1789 and long counted among the sculptor’s lost works. The identification had been on file for eighty-seven years. The pair sold for $1.475 million.
There was nothing to compare them with. Houdon’s autograph marbles are in museums, and what trades commercially are reductions made after the master, so a bust at reduced scale is presumed to be a copy. No comparable sale would have said otherwise. Only the carving could. Getting it right took an eye for quality, the provenance to support it, and the connoisseurship to hold the two together. Those are the qualities an appraiser is engaged for.
Parsons Fine Art Advisory appraises fine art, decorative arts and antiques for insurance, estate settlement, charitable donation, gift tax, equitable distribution and loss claims. Every report is prepared in accordance with the principles of USPAP.
Services
Appraisals by purpose
The purpose of an appraisal sets the standard of value, and the standard sets the number. Start with what the report is for.
Realized by two signed Houdon marbles, long counted as lost and catalogued as copies in an earlier appraisal.
As an auction-house specialist in fine and decorative arts: research, cataloguing and valuation.
Estimates set against live auction property, so the values in these reports follow the market as it trades.
Who the practice serves
Collectors across New York State, and the people who advise them
Private collectors, executors and heirs, trusts-and-estates counsel, matrimonial attorneys, CPAs, trust officers, insurance carriers and brokers, museums and donee institutions.
Much of the work arrives through lawyers. Instructions on art and personal property matters have come from trusts-and-estates, tax and matrimonial counsel at firms in Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse. References are available on request.
Counsel need three things from an appraiser: a report whose methodology survives scrutiny, a schedule that meets the filing or court date, and someone who does not need supervising.
How an engagement begins
Before any work starts
A ten-minute conversation, by telephone or video, at no charge. If an appraisal is not needed, you will be told so.
A written scope and fee range, usually from photographs alone. Fees are hourly, published in full, and never based on the value of the property.
An engagement letter stating purpose, intended use, fee and timeline, signed by both parties before the inspection is scheduled.
Common questions
Is a designated appraiser required for an IRS filing?
No. Treasury Regulation §1.170A-17(b)(2) provides two routes to qualified-appraiser status. A designation is one; the other is coursework in valuing the type of property together with two or more years of experience valuing it.
How much does an appraisal cost?
Rates are published in full on the fees page: $225 an hour for standard appraisal work, $275 for estate, gift and charitable donation assignments, $350 for litigation support and $175 for provenance research. Insurance appraisals are priced by the item, from $350 for a single object. There is no project minimum. Fees are never based on the value of the property.
How long does it take?
Two to three weeks for a standard report; four to six weeks for IRS-compliant reports for donation or estate use, where the documentation burden is heavier. Rush work is available.
Where does the practice travel?
Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Ithaca, Corning and the Finger Lakes are routine, and Greater New York City is visited regularly. Travel beyond fifty miles of Rochester is billed hourly. Provenance research requires no visit and is undertaken for clients anywhere.