Frequently Asked Questions

Value and Authenticity
Commissioning an Art Appraisal
Post-Appraisal Services
Appraisal Fees

1. Value and Authenticity

Is My Art Worth Anything?
The only way to know the value of your Chinese art work is to commission an art appraisal. A professionally-written art appraisal will answer most of your questions, since it will discuss the artistic aspects of your work, its historical significance, and its current value on the market, and refer to comparable items currently on the market (Please read the Content of Our Art Appraisal for more details.) . This kind of research and analysis puts you in a good position to decide whether to sell your art now or whether to hold onto it. In recent years the market for Chinese art has been volatile and unpredictable; advice from our Chinese art adviser will equip you with insider's knowledge you need.

Is My Chinese Art Work Authentic? Can You Authenticate It for Me?
Ultimately, neither we nor any other honest appraiser can guarantee 100% the authenticity of your Chinese art (although not all appraisers will admit this). Even the successful sale of a piece of art does not prove its authenticity. It is important to understand the inherent limitations of any art appraisal before paying for one.

Is My Art Worth the Money I Will Spend on an Art Appraisal?
The simple truth is that you cannot know with certainty whether your art is worth the money you will spend on an art appraisal, so you must be prepared for at least some uncertainty. Commissioning an art appraisal from an experienced, highly trained professional is the only way you can find out with assurance what your object is worth. Owners are sometimes disappointed to learn the fair market value estimated in a report, but ubiased, expert analysis will ultimately help you, not matter what the range of figures provided for your art. An honest, carefully-calculated fair market value will prevent you from wasting your money, time, and energy in pursuing (and paying for) an unrealistic or unsuccessful sale.

As professional appraisers, we are required to analyze objects according to objective standards and weigh our judgments following professional guidelines and code of ethics. Whether you use our services or those of another appraiser, we urge all owners to make sure that a professional appraisal, using standard techniques, is conducted by a qualified appraiser.

Can You Give Me a “Ball Park Number” for My Chinese Art?
It would be dishonest and unprofessional for us to provide even a ball-park figure for how much you might make by selling your Chinese art object. A dependable estimate requires close analysis of the object, research in Chinese-language sources, and a thorough study of comparable objects recently sold on the market worldwide. This research cannot be conducted unless you are prepared to pay for an appraisal. If you ask for a quick estimate, you are likely to receive what you are seeking: a careless, unprofessional guess that shortchanges you. No matter how many objects an appraiser has seen and no matter how experienced s/he is, a dependable appraisal can only be made after research and study.

Don't be fooled by offers to do a quick appraisal based on a quick viewing, years of experience lacking in formal education, and intuition. The Chinese art specialists at WEI YANG CHINESE ART have Ph.D.'s and many years of hand-on experience on Chinese art objects in the field. They take seriously the obligation to analyze your art closely, study its history, and conduct thorough research on qualified comparables on the current Chinese art market before present you a value conclusion.

2. Commissioning an Art Appraisal

How Can I Have My Chinese Art Work Appraised? Where Should I Start?
This is how a formal appraisal works: After reviewing photos you send, first, we will recommend an appropriate art appraisal package based on your Chinese art work, the purpose of the appraisal and your goal. Second, with your approval and payment of a retainer (appraisal fee), we then conduct the various types of research. Sometimes we need further photographs, and we always ask you to fill out a questionnaire. Third, we make an appointment for inspection. Fourth, once we receive the requested information from you, we are able to complete most appraisals within two to three weeks. The final appraisal report is sent to you via USPS after we receive the balance of the appraisal fee.

How Do I Know Which Art Appraisal Package to Choose?
You need different art appraisal report to achieve your goals. For example, a Summary Appraisal (Level II) is suffiicient for insurance claims but not accepted by IRS for tax deduction. You need a Self-Contained Appraisal (Level III) if you are considering donating an art work to a non-profit organization and receive tax credits from IRS. A Summary Appraisal Report helps you make an informed decision and provides a reasonable amount of information, but not in great detail, in a form that can be shared with a third party.

A Self-Contained Appraisal is the gem of our professional consulting and appraisal services: it is comprehensive, informative, and provides the highest level of detail about both aesthetics and the marketplace. It is designed for those who want to understand the nature of their art work, its cultural background, style and aesthetics, as well as its potential value and its most appropriate market place. The current Chinese art market is complex, and if you need professional help in dealing with it, this level of appraisal is probably right for you.

A Self-Contained Appraisal is ideal for serious Chinese art collectors and dealers. This level of appraisal report equips you with the information you need to appreciate and present your art work with the knowlege and confidence of an expert. Most assignments in this category concern high-quality art not well attested in the usual sources: it might lack a track record in auction or sales, it might be difficult to document in the historical record, or the artist or workshop that created it might be hard to assess. It offers the best of both worlds: our Chinese art expert conducts extensive research on the artist or workshop and analyzes your art work in its historical and artistic contexts, while our knowledge of the market is used to propose a value conclusion that makes sense in the real world. The fee for a Self-Contained Appraisal varies, depending on the nature of the assignment, the scope of research, and the time needed to complete the assignment

If you need further assistance with the sale of your Chinese art object, a Summary Consultation Appraisal for Sale will meet your needs. Our Chinese art specialist will provide you with a market analysis and selling strategies for the sale of your Chinese art object. Please read more about the Levels of Chinese Art Appraisal provided by WEI YANG CHINESE ART.

What Do You Mean by “Customized Appraisal?”
A customized appraisal package is designed to meet your individual needs. If you have additional appraisal needs not covered in the standard appraisal packages posted at our website, we are happy to prepare a customized appraisal report that answers your specific concerns. Sometimes we recommend a Customized Appraisal Package for those who own more than one Chinese art object, or for people who are unable to take photos of their object, or those whose object needs to be seen in person in order to complete an appraisal. We encourage our clients to discuss their specialized needs with us; we promise to suggest a package customized to your requirements and we pledge not to pressure you in any way. We are dedicated to educating our customers, taking them step-by-step through the appraisal process, and approaching every job with integrity, patience, and courtesy.

Can You Conduct an On-site Inspection of My Chinese Art Object?
We strongly recommend that you arrange an on-site inspection of your property before you commission an appraisal. This approach will brings you two benefits. First, you receive an accurate value estimate from a professional rather than an extraordinary assumption of value via photos. Second, you don't need to proceed with the appraisal if your art property is of limited value. This method involves some extra charges beyond the fee for the art appraisal report, but it is worth it. If you are interested, please explain your concerns, and we are happy to make a detailed proposal explaining the procedure, the timing, and the fees.

Why Do I Need to Respond to the Appraisal Questionnaire?
It is important to respond to the questionnaire we designed for your art work because it is relevant to the value of the subject property. The questionnaire asks about any details you might know concerning the provenance (the history of ownership) of your Chinese art object, including how the object entered your possession, as well as its recent history since then. All of these details are important to help our Chinese art specialists judge the provenance of the art work and its current condition, and to document these facts effectively in the appraisal report. These factors have a strong influence on the fair market value of the art work. Our Chinese art specialists are often able to help owners better document their art work and thus increase the object's value.

How Do You Conduct Your Art Appraisal?
Normally after a brief exchange of correspondence about the art object, we prepare a custom questionnaire for the owner. The owner answers the questions and also sends us high-quality photographs (usually digital photos sent by e-mail attachment, but prints are also acceptable) according to our specifications. As a first step, we depend on copious photographic documentation of the object, either provided by the client according to our specifications, or taken by our Chinese art specialist while inspecting the piece in person. Secondly, we conduct research on the history of the particular kind of object, utilizing the best scholarship in Chinese, Japanese, and European languages, in order to understand the genre of the piece, its content, style, and likely provenance. Third, we conduct a thorough review of the current market for this kind of art work, utilizing a variety of sources, the most important and sizeable of which are records (written in Chinese) of recent sales and current offerings in the Chinese-run auction houses and galleries worldwide. In suggesting a date and proposing a value, we always provide a few comparable pieces and discussion of their similarities and differences from the piece under consideration.Then we study the current Chinese art market and prepare the final written appraisal.

A formal art appraisal report conducted by WEI YANG CHINESE ART will explain to you what you own, estimate the likely performance of your art in the current Chinese art market, help you to appreciate your art, and answer other specific questions you may have. We can also tailor the report to your specific appraisal needs, whether you concern insurance claims or valuation, sale, museum donation, or estate distribution.

Can You Appraise My Chinese Art Work by Photos?
It is possible with our art expert's prior approval, although we don't recommend it to our clients. For some types of art, this method is acceptable. However, you need to be aware of the specific responsibilities associated with this request. For example, you need to hire a professional photographer and provide us with a set of high-quality digital photos of the object for a photo inspection.You need to work closely with your appraiser to insure the photographs conform to her specifications. You need to follow your appraiser's instructions and conduct a series of hand-on experiments on her behalf. You need to respond to a custom-designed questionnaire to the best of your ability. If you think you can handle these details, let's talk about this option. We treat each Chinese art object, whether we inspect it in person or through photographs, with equal respect and attention.

What Kind of Photos Do You Need for Appraisal Research?
Please read the instructions for photography at Photo Instructions for Appraisal before taking any actions. In general, the photos should be in as high a resolution as possible. If you are sending many large files, it is also more convenient to burn them on a CD and send it by U.S. mail rather than by e-mail attachment, since it will exhaust my mailbox space and make the communication difficult.

How Long Does It Take for You to Complete an Appraisal Report?
After you send us a retainer (partial appraisal fee plus the inspection fee), the questionnaire, the requested photos of your art object, and with the completion of the inspection, our Chinese art specialist will begin research, conduct value calculation, and draft the appraisal. It usually takes us two weeks to complete one appraisal. At that point we will send you a final invoice and request final payment. Once we receive it, we will send you a hard copy of the appraisal report via USPSl (or a faster delivery method at your cost).