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01:00 AM EST on Sunday, November 13, 2005

BY ANNIE GROER
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Chris Tsucalas carried an old wooden traveling desk to an antiques appraisal session on Capitol Hill in September, seeking such basic details as its age, origin and, of course, value. Reid Dunavant, head of the Washington office of the Manhattan auction house Doyle New York, spent less than a minute looking it over before spinning a probable history of the brass-hinged box: George III. Made between 1790 and 1820, probably English. Used for storing documents, ink, pens and paper by those journeying between London and the countryside or writing outdoors.

Despite its impressive age, such desks are "exceedingly plentiful," meaning they typically bring $500 or less at auction, Dunavant told Tsucalas, a real estate agent. Although it would have been lovely if the little desk had been worth $5,000 or $10,000 -- as Tsucalas and his wife had allowed themselves to hope -- he walked away happy. He had gotten a quick bit of history and a written "preliminary estimate" of what it might fetch at a public sale.

That is what professional personal property appraisers do: bring their education, experience, research skills and a network of specialists to evaluate the worth and marketability of furniture, art, tea sets, jewelry, carpets, books and other household objects.

Some are independent consultants, with no direct ties to antiques shops, auction houses, museums or insurance companies. Others represent firms eager to acquire and resell the very goods they examine. Some are accredited by such professional organizations as the American Society of Appraisers or the International Society of Appraisers.

AN ASSESSMENT of value can be as cursory as a free, 30- second glance at an inexpensive framed print during a walk-in appraisal day ("decorative" is a euphemism for pretty but not worth much) to a painstaking, $300-an-hour in-home study of a fine Federalist chest-on-chest to confirm the cabinetmaker's identity and check for damage or repairs.

Appraisal experts often are summoned at "life crisis" moments, said Virginia Weschler, vice president of Adam A. Weschler & Son, Washington auctioneers and appraisers since 1890. A marriage crumbles and property must be divided.

Grandparents bequeath silver candlesticks and framed oil portraits to their (frequently squabbling) offspring. An old man enters a nursing home and the sale of cherished belongings might buy him a few more months of care. A house is damaged by fire or storm -- or ransacked by burglars -- and requires a documented inventory of its contents for insurance claims.

As Hurricane Katrina so horrifically demonstrated, appraisals are not just for the wealthy. They are for anyone who needs to protect or replace all the stuff of daily life, which can add up quickly. "Things that ordinary people might have had that were not worth huge money when they were made are now worth far more," said Dunavant, who has been a guest appraiser on the PBS hit program Antiques Roadshow. Such appreciating items include the more interesting pieces of mass- produced furniture from the 1950s and 1960s and early Barbie dolls still in the box.

NOT ALL appraisals are created equal. The most rigorous and expensive is a formal written document required by insurance companies before they write policies on jewelry and decorative and fine arts. "I come in, photograph, measure and then do research," said Sandy Tropper, who chairs the personal property committee of the American Society of Appraisers. "You get a document that gives the identity and description of the property. It says: 'I contacted an art gallery, an antiques dealer, searched the Web for auction prices.' "

She told one client that her "Rembrandt" engraving was fake, but a group of prints were genuine works by Daumier. "In that insurance appraisal, it was clear I saw them in good condition, and if a year from now she has a fire, I act as a witness. You testify to the fact that things are in good condition, that there was no smoke or water damage."

A less rigorous evaluation is the "walk-through," said Benedict Hastings, vice president of the Washington area chapter of the International Society of Appraisers. "In the walk-through, [clients] take paper and pencil, and I look at pieces of furniture, silver, porcelain, glassware, art, carpets. I can do approximately 20 items in an hour."

This exercise includes "turning the piece of furniture upside down, taking the painting off the wall, giving at least a thumbnail sketch of each piece," said Hastings, who charges $125 an hour. "I give them an idea of the basic age and a current market value at auction. 'Current' is a key word: It's what's hot today." Appraisal organizations were set up to credential experts with extensive experience in museums, antiques shops and galleries who have passed difficult exams, produced peer- reviewed appraisals, and agree to a code of standards and ethics. But virtually anyone -- from avid collector to canny entrepreneur -- can call himself a personal property appraiser, although their evaluations may not be accepted by insurance companies or estate and divorce lawyers.

Those seeking an appraiser should consult a reputable appraisal society, auction house or antiques dealer, said Huntington Block, retired founder of the venerable insurance firm still bearing his name, which has written policies for museums and art collectors for six decades. He considers some dealers and auction house staff "as good as recognized appraisers because they are appraising every day.

Tropper warns against using appraisers who charge a percentage of the value of the goods because the higher the total, the more commission they make. By contrast, an arm's- length, flat-fee appraisal allows the consumer to decide whether to buy, sell, donate or insure a piece. "It's the same with a dealer who sold you the item. They don't want you to know it went down in value or hasn't gone up," she said.

Estimates can vary widely, and an appraised value is no guarantee of what an item will fetch at auction or on the open market. Some pieces sell well above their estimates, some below.

Consider the ceramic Beatles statues that Curtis and Xiamora Mason brought to a television shoot in Baltimore in June for the Discovery Channel's planned appraisal show, Pop Nation: America's Coolest Stuff. Guest appraiser Chester Prudhomme, a rock music collectibles expert from Port Townsend, Wash., pegged the Fab Four figurines made by Esco to the 1960s. He estimated that they could go as high as $8,000 to $12,000 in a Pop Nation/eBay auction.

But another expert invited on the show to try to buy various pieces from their owners, offered the Masons just $500 on the spot for all four. Bill Huggins, an owner of Huggins & Scott, a telephone and Internet auction service in Silver Spring, Md., insisted that these Beatles were made in the 1980s.

Prudhomme was philosophical, calling his first appraisal "the result of no research" and the influence of a misinformed colleague. In the real world, he said, "I would spend two or three days calling people who really know Beatles Esco ceramics. I would charge $50 to $100 and give them a certificate of authenticity." He later amended his appraisal, saying the figures were probably made in the 1970s and worth about $3,000. But only to someone willing to pay the price."