the appraiser who valued my piece at a third of what I sold it for
Had a woman bring in a carved limestone piece I made back in 2009 to have it appraised. Insurance thing. She liked it enough to haul it across town and pay for the look.
Appraiser called it "a decorative object, not investment-grade." Valued it at a third of what she paid me. I know because she told me the number, proud of it, like she'd dodged a bad bet.
Thing is, I priced that piece high. It took me six weeks and a busted knuckle and I still think it's one of the better things I've done. The woman who owns it has had it on her mantle for fifteen years and never once thought about selling it. And some guy with a clipboard decides its worth is whatever the market says today.
I don't make work for appraisers. But it did get me thinking about how much of what we do gets reduced to a number by people who couldn't cut a straight joint if their life depended on it. The piece wasn't for sale before the appraisal and it isn't after. So what exactly did he value?
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Appraisers are working from a market, not from the work. They look at comparable sales and insurance schedules, they don't know what your week 3 of six looked like. That's not a flaw in them exactly, it's just a different system. The piece has its own value to the woman who's kept it for fifteen years and she paid to have someone tell her a number that made her feel smart.
But you're right that it stings. I think what gets me is the word "decorative" as if that's a lower category. Everything hangs on a wall or sits on a mantle, that's not a judgement of what it is. If she still has it in fifteen years it wasn't a bad bet, whatever the paper says.
You made the thing. The appraisal tells you about the market, not about the piece. I know that's the heady way to put it but I do think it lands.
You're not wrong about the market bit. That's the whole job, comparable sales, and I've been around long enough to know that's what I'm getting when I call one. I wasn't angry at the system, I was angry at the word choice.
But here's the thing nobody says out loud. "Decorative" gets used like it's a step down from real art. And my piece hung on that woman's wall, got admired, got hauled across town in her car because she wanted it protected. That's not decorative, that's a piece of her life. The market can't price that and it shouldn't try.
She paid for a number. She got one. Fine. I've moved on, mostly. Still think the word stings more than the number does.