This is exactly correct. Never give a value, even a "rough"
one. For those of you who have watched the History Channel's Pawn Stars,
their local museum director, the "Beard of Knowledge" Mark Hall-Patton, always
identifies what an item is and when it dates to, but NEVER gives a
valuation. Of course, he is not as informed as they present him to be as
he has the advantage of doing research before he arrives to give an opinion - it
is not off the top of his head. And even recommending appraisers can
create legal issues. When I was recommending conservators (essentially the
same as recommending appraisers) when I was on staff at the Smithsonian
Institution, we sent out a list of 50+ names we felt comfortable with, with the
explicit instructions that the owner needed to do their own interviewing and
selecting. I have seen institutions recommend a list of three appraisers,
but that seems like too few to choose from, since if the owner gets bad
information they can sue you even if they do not have a serious claim suggesting
that you were biased in your recommendations. More choices always are
better. And make the list nationwide - there is no reason that appraisers
need to be local.
Marc
From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Paul
Stromdahl