This has been a very interesting discussion.  I share some of Candace Perry’s discomfort, and, on my part, I suspect it’s a non-renewable Cultural Resources training thing that museums should not promote emphasis on monetary value, but rather on historic significance or other non-monetary value, and that to emphasize monetary value leads to loss to the marketplace (where they may lose their historic connections) of historically important artifacts.   I wonder if that could be mitigated by simultaneously having someone from the museum provide ‘verbal comment’ on what the artifact represents culturally / historically. 

 

On the other side of my argument, of course, is that there are lots of duplicate items out there, and museums can’t and shouldn’t try to collect them all, so for many items, providing valuation assistance to the public isn’t inappropriate at all.

 

Lucy Sperlin

Butte County Historical Society

Oroville, CA

 

 

We’ve been doing an event like this for going on nine years. It is one of our more successful fundraisers. We avoid using the word appraisal in any of our literature since technically speaking the appraiser should have done research into the market value of each item and provide a written report. Instead we call them “verbal statements of value.”

 

In the past we have tried the local collector exhibits and also some hands on techniques (such as gilding) but found that most people were more interested in the experts (we don’t call the appraisers because most of them are not trained in appraising but are dealers or affiliated with auction houses) are saying and what others have brought in.

 

We set up our bookstore at the event and the local conservator’s guild has a booth that is staffed by conservators that can provide information on caring for and preserving items. We have the event in the courtyard of a local mall which has been very good for access and for spontaneous participation (people see the event, go home and bring things back).  We average about 15-17 “experts” in various fields including some generalists so it is very much like the Antiques Roadshow. We don’t have the room to hold it at our museum and I like the fact that it is separate so people don’t think they can bring their things in anytime and get a statement of value from us – which we don’t do for any reason at any time.

 

We see the event mainly as a fundraiser and not necessarily a method of getting people to join or visit our museum or research center. What ever new members or visitors we get we see as a nice byproduct plus it is another way to get our name out into the community.

 

 

We have done an Appraisal Day for the last four years.  The first two years it was just a fundraising special event.  The appraisers donated their time and we charged for the appraisals which were for insurance value only.  The past two years we have added a Collector’s Showcase component to the appraisals, where we invite local collectors to display their collections and share their collections with the public.  This is more educational than the appraisals and has been quite popular with our attendees.

 

We have found the Collector’s Showcase and Appraisal Fair attracts people who have never been to the museum before.

 

Susan English

Executive Director

Joliet Area Historical Museum

204 N. Ottawa St.

Joliet, Illinois  60432

(815) 723-5201 ext. 222

www.jolietmuseum.org