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Almost every sizeable estate contains something nobody can quite place: the paintings in the living room, the watch collection in the safe, the bronzes in the garden, the boxes of prints in the cellar. For the executor, the lawyer or the heirs this is not initially an art problem but a procedural one. Before anyone moves, gives away or sells a work, three things need to be settled: what is actually there, what it is worth, and who decides.
This article sets out the order in which those questions are best answered, which mistakes keep proving expensive in practice, and where an independent adviser genuinely takes work off the professional’s desk.
First: inventory before valuation, valuation before distribution
The most common shortcut in an estate is also the most expensive one: the heirs agree “who takes what” before anyone knows what the individual objects are worth. A year later it turns out that the unassuming drawing in the hallway is worth more than all the furniture together, and the agreement is back on the table.
Hence a fixed sequence. First a complete inventory: every object with photograph, dimensions, signature, condition and location. Then a valuation for the purpose it is actually needed for. Only then the distribution, the sale or the transfer to a foundation. Anyone who keeps to this order ends up with documentation that stands up to tax authorities, co-heirs and, if it comes to that, a court.
Second: which value is meant
Three values are regularly confused in an estate. The insurance value is the replacement value: what it would cost to replace a comparable work at short notice through the trade. It is almost always well above what the market will pay. The market value is the price realistically achievable in a sale within a reasonable period. And the tax value follows the rules of the relevant cantonal tax administration, which generally relies on market value but has its own formal requirements for the report.
For dividing an estate, market value is what counts. Anyone who uses the old insurance policy as the basis overvalues the estate, and the heir who takes over the art pays out the co-heirs on a basis he would never achieve in a sale. Conversely, a rough estimate “off the cuff” leads to queries from the tax authority and a stalled procedure.
More on this distinction: Having pictures and paintings valued.
Third: the valuer must not want to sell
Auction houses and dealers often offer estate valuations free of charge. That is not a gift but an acquisition tool: the valuation is the first step towards consignment. For the executor this creates a conflict of interest that he will later have to explain. A report produced by the party that subsequently earns from the sale is open to challenge in a dispute, even if the figures were right.
An independent appraiser has no inventory, no auction mandate and takes no commission from the other side. His fee comes from the client, based on the work involved and agreed in advance. That is what allows him to say what a seller would not: that a work is better kept in the family, that the market for an artist is weak at the moment, or that a supposed masterpiece is a workshop piece.
Fourth: clarify provenance and authenticity early
In an estate, the person who knew where a work came from is often no longer there. Invoices, exhibition catalogues, correspondence with galleries and old insurance inventories are therefore worth more than many of the paintings. Anyone who throws them out during the house clearance may, in the worst case, lose the very evidence that makes a work saleable at all.
For works traded in Europe before 1945 and for non-European objects, questions of provenance and export come into play. These can usually be resolved, but not under time pressure. They belong at the start of the process, not on the day of consignment.
Fifth: keep, sell or donate is a family decision
Only with the inventory and market values on the table can a sensible decision be made. Often the result is a mix: individual works stay with the heirs who keep the house, part goes into a discreet sale, part is donated or placed with a museum on long-term loan. Each of these routes has tax, insurance and logistical consequences that the adviser works through together with the lawyer or trustee.
If a sale is decided upon, the choice of sales channel is the next decision. More on that in Selling a collection: off-market, private sale or auction?
What the professional adviser actually receives
- A complete, photographically documented inventory that serves as an annex to the estate inventory.
- Market values in a form accepted by cantonal tax administrations, banks and insurers.
- A written recommendation per object: keep, sell, donate, investigate further.
- On request, support through the sale, without the adviser ever acting as buyer, dealer or consignor himself.
- A single point of contact who talks to the heirs so that the lawyer does not have to.
How I work with lawyers, executors, private bankers and family offices is described on the page For professional advisers. A short enquiry is all it takes for a first confidential conversation.
