The Valuation of Fine Art and Design A Handbook for Professionals

The Valuation of Fine Art and Design provides a detailed analysis of the art and science of valuation, focussing on the process of assigning monetary values to artworks. The book sets out to educate art-world stakeholders in the nuances of pricing in the broadest sense. Construction of appropriate values requires an understanding of the international art market infrastructure in which these values will be applied; for this reason, the book explores the major sales venues in some detail. Additionally, it requires the appraiser to establish the importance of the work in question; to this end, the book presents fine and decorative-arts research sources. Finally, all value conclusions are based upon evidence derived from previous sales of similar items. The book concludes by demonstrating, through case studies, the impact on an artwork's value of factors including authenticity, style, artist’ s stature, publication and exhibition record, medium, rarity, and inclusion of related works in museum collections.

Ann-Marie Richard is Director of Sotheby’ s Institute of Art, New York and was previously Executive Vice President at the art advisory firm Gurr Johns.

Introduction; Section 1: Research: Researching Art and Design; Finding Data; Section 2: Markets: Primary Markets; Secondary Markets; Online Primary and Secondary Markets; Section 3: The Process of Valuation; Finding Sales of Comparable Works; Contextualising Research Data