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Monday, November 14, 2016

Expanding Your Comparables Resources: A Fresh Look at Sources


By Suzanne Houck, ISA CAPP

If you’re like me, you often get stuck in a rut with your tried-and-true comparable research sites. Lately, I’ve been expanding my resources, and I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few of my finds with you. Some may be familiar yet forgotten. Others, hopefully, will be new and helpful additions to your bank of research sites.

Everything But the House (EBTH)
This is a full service online estate sale model for everything in the home but the house (hence the name!). It provides photos, and active and realized prices from estate sales around the country. It is searchable by region, category, and can be filtered/sorted by best match or prices high to low. And… it’s free!

If your appraisal services include consultations for selling items but not actual brokering (including estate sales), this might be a good resource to share with your client. They handle sorting, cataloging, photographing, payment, pickup and delivery.

Barnebys
An online auction platform similar to Live Auctioneers, Barnebys has realized prices. You can submit an item for what they call a “free appraisal,” which goes to participating auction houses (and consequently provides you with an auction estimate rather than an appraisal). Like EBTH, this is free.

Bidsquare
An online auction site with live auctions and past auction prices, this free service includes a sortable search function.

Bidsquare was launched with six renowned auction houses (Brunk Auctions, Cowan’s, Leslie Hindman, Pook & Pook, Rago, Skinner) who joined forces to provide buyers, sellers and auction houses with a place to sell high quality items. Many of their specialists are Roadshow experts; perhaps you’ve even met a few of them. I have found sales on Bidsquare that were not on Live Auctioneers, even in the case of auction houses that are represented on both sites. I’d advise checking both sites for comparables.

the saleroom
An online auction site similar to Live Auctioneers, this site is entirely searchable, has realized prices and photos (particularly of Asian items) and has a nominal fee for use.

Applications (Apps) available through your smartphones, tablets, and iPads
There are plenty of Classified Ad-type apps that may prove helpful when determining regional and local asking prices for more depreciable items commonly found in the home (washers, golf clubs, dishes, etc.). For those of you who don’t have time or desire to frequent garage and estate sales and want to see more searchable classified ads, complete with photos and asking prices, consider the following apps:

Trove Marketplace: A place to buy and sell. For sellers it has a unique social feature, in which viewers can vote between two items that developers claim helps with future pricing.

Close 5: Great for reviewing asking prices for ordinary household items. Prices included on photos for easy viewing. No prices realized.

Offer Up: “Buy. Sell. Simple.” Requires clicking on the photos to see the asking price. No prices realized.

Letgo: “Buy and sell used stuff.” A Craig-classified sales (as in Craigslist). Not as easily searchable as the others, in my opinion.

I hope you find even a few of these resources useful. If you know of others, please share them in the comments. And if this subject interests, you be sure to attend the ISA Conference, “The Architecture of Appraising,” slated for March 31-April 3 in Chicago. Pip Deeley, author of How Data Will Keep Transforming the Art Business, will be presenting “Remodeling Business for the Future: Utilizing New Tools of Technology,” covering a range of topics from apps for image capture, collection management, the impact and potential of price data, and the latest developments in 3D scanning, virtual reality and visualization. We’ll see you there!

Friday, November 4, 2016

Meet the Next Director of Education

Meredith Meuwly, ISA CAPP
By Christine Guernsey, ISA CAPP, President

On behalf of the International Society of Appraisers Board, I am delighted to announce that Meredith Meuwly, ISA CAPP, (member of ISA since 2009), has been appointed as the new ISA Director of Education, effective January 1, 2017.

Meredith earned her Bachelor's degree in Classical Studies and Art History from Duke University in 2000, and a Master's degree in Modern Art, Connoisseurship, and the History of the Art Market from Christie's Education in New York in 2001. She spent the next five years in the Christie's New York Antiquities Department as sale coordinator and cataloguer of ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Near Eastern works of art. During her time at Christie's, she worked on numerous high profile auctions, including the Doris Duke Estate, Ancient Egyptian Art from the Harer Family Trust, and the John W. Kluge Morven Collection of Ancient Art.

Meredith joined Heritage Auctions in 2007 as Senior Consignment Director in the Fine & Decorative Arts Department, overseeing two auctions each year. In January 2010, she became the Director of Appraisal Services, preparing formal appraisals for 40 specialist categories beyond fine art.

In addition to her duties at Heritage, Meredith participates as an appraiser for Antiques Roadshow on PBS, specializing in Antiquities, Glass, Silver, and Decorative Arts. She serves on the ISA Fine Art committee and is the lead instructor for the ISA accreditation pathway, Fine Art Course. Meredith is the recent past President of the Foundation for Appraisal Education and a guest lecturer at museums, institutions, conferences, and multiple civic organizations. In 2015, she was honored with the ISA Distinguished Service Award for her contributions and dedication to the field of personal property appraisals.

In asking Meredith about her new position she stated, “I'm honored to be appointed to this position. I have big shoes to fill, but I look forward to continuing Leon Castner's legacy. The entire education team is excited for 2017 and dedicated to assisting ISA members to be the top most appraisers in the industry”.

The Director of Education position for ISA is a three year rotating position. The Board would like to thank outgoing Director of Education Leon Castner for his years of service and contributions to the education of our members.