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Artwork appraisals in Connecticut for donations, estate tax, insurance, and divorce, prepared in accordance with USPAP and IRS requirements. AppraiseItNow appraises paintings, sculptures, prints, photography, and mixed media across Connecticut, including Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford.
DEFENSIBLE, USPAP-COMPLIANT ARTWORK APPRAISAL REPORTS — QUALIFIED FOR THE IRS, CONNECTICUT COURTS, LENDERS, INSURERS, AND MORE.
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Owner & CEO
Joe founded AppraiseItNow to make a certified, USPAP-compliant appraisal as simple to order as anything else online. A former Bain & Company strategy consultant, Joe leads the entire team and specializes in strategy, growth, and the firm's tech capabilities.
Personal Property Appraiser
ISA Accredited Member with 30 years in the trade, from running estate sales and an auction gallery to appraising luxury apparel, furniture, artwork, antiques, and business assets, primarily for IRS tax filings.
Personal Property Appraiser
ISA Accredited Member specializing in Asian art, with a Master's from SOAS and a Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art. Ashley chairs the ISA's Antiques, Furnishings, and Decorative Arts committee and appraises for charitable donation, insurance, and equitable distribution.
Client Success Manager
Manages each engagement from the first enquiry to the delivered report, and keeps you posted at every step along the way.
International Society of AppraisersAccredited Member
The Appraisal FoundationAuthorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standardsAppraiseItNow appraises Connecticut art collections for estate and gift reporting, charitable donation, insurance scheduling, and division on divorce. Connecticut collections commonly mix a few significant works with a larger body of decorative pieces, and a report has to be clear about which is which.
Estates and gifts
Estate reporting looks to the date of death and a gift to the date it was made. Both are retrospective questions, answered from the sales that had closed by then rather than from where the market went afterwards. Where a work was bought at the top of a market that has since moved, the retrospective figure is what the filing needs, not the invoice.
Donation
A donated painting takes the fair market value it held on the day of the gift, with the comparable sales, the condition and the appraiser's qualifications set out in the report the return relies on.
Insurance
A schedule is written to what replacing the work would cost in the market a buyer would actually have to go to, which for a Connecticut collector is often New York rather than a local gallery. Scheduling at the purchase price is the usual error, and it leaves anything that has appreciated underinsured.
The market pays for a documented chain of ownership and marks down a repaired surface, and the size of each is a matter of evidence rather than opinion. The furniture and silver around the art can be covered at the same time.
Provenance
Exhibition history, publication in a catalogue raisonne, earlier invoices and auction entries each add something a buyer will pay for. A gap in the chain costs, and the report says how much and on what evidence. Attribution is a separate question from ownership history, and we are explicit about which of the two the market is paying for.
Condition
Relining, overpaint, fading in a work on paper and a repaired bronze all read in the comparable set. We adjust against sales of works in comparable condition instead of applying a flat discount.
Connecticut runs a state estate tax and a state gift tax, and both ask for the figure before they ask whether anything is owed.
Estate filing
Six months
after the date of death to file the Connecticut estate tax return with the probate court, taxable or not
The return for a nontaxable estate goes to the probate court within six months of the date of death, and the court has to physically receive it by then. Where the gross estate is at or below the Connecticut exemption, the filing carries schedules reporting the values of all of the decedent's assets.
It is a separate filing from the inventory, and it is the one that puts a figure against each painting whether or not the estate is anywhere near taxable.
Gift tax
April 15
of the year after the gift, when the Connecticut gift tax return is due
Connecticut levies a gift tax of its own, and the return is due on or before April 15 of the year following the year the gifts were made. A gift of a painting is reported on the schedule at its value on the date of the gift.
The return also asks the filer to check a box and attach an explanation where the reported value includes a discount for blockage, lack of marketability, a minority interest or market absorption, giving the basis for the discount and its amount. Blockage is an art question before it is anything else: a group of works by one artist put on the market at once would not each bring the price of a single lot.
What clients say we are known for
Across 80+ published AppraiseItNow reviews the picture is consistent: every one is from a client who paid us for an appraisal, and the three things they raise most often are that they would hire us again, how quickly we answer, and how much research is visible in the report.
The appraisal was done very well. Since he was a local artist here in Charleston, SC, they took the time to study and review Jim Booth’s art. His work has made him extremely famous, which can make an appraisal challenging, but they did a superb job and clearly explained how they arrived at the appraisal value. I highly recommend Appraise It Now and will use them again for all my artwork.
Artwork Appraisal for Insurance Coverage
AppraiseItNow did an excellent job appraising our unique art collection. Joe was always prompt and responsive, and he and his team delivered a thorough, well-supported appraisal in just a couple of weeks, even during the holiday season. I was genuinely impressed. Thank you for the great work!
Artwork Appraisal for Insurance Coverage
AppraiseItNow was amazing! My father passed with a large volume of artwork & I had no idea what it was worth. Their team was incredibly helpful and quick to respond with text and/or email to any questions as well as a status update along the way. Highly recommend!
Artwork Appraisal for Probate
I recently requested a retroactive appraisal for fine art from AppraiseItNow. I received excellent service from intake to delivery. The appraisal was delivered on time and the content of the appraisal absolutely met my expectations!
Artwork Appraisal
From the start they were very responsive, price competitive, and had a quick turn around time. Thank you so much to Joe who was very sweet in responding to my emails; I am looking forward to utilizing AppraiseItNow for many years to come.
Very thorough and professional — great communication and outstanding service. Highly impressed with their work!
Given the USPAP-compliant nature of AppraiseItNow’s appraisal reports, we prepare our deliverables for major legal, tax, and financial reporting purposes for individual and commercial clients.
Popular uses of our appraisal reports include:
Provenance records, condition reports, exhibition and publication history, and prior sale invoices or auction catalog entries. Ownership history evidences authenticity and can add measurable premiums, while condition documentation supports the adjustments an appraiser makes against comparable sales.
No. Auction estimates are non-binding opinions designed partly to stimulate bidding, while a formal appraisal is a documented report that can be relied upon when a legal, tax, or insurance standard of value applies. Substituting an estimate where a formal appraisal is required is a common and costly mistake.
Yes. Connecticut levies a state estate tax on taxable estates above its exemption threshold, calculated on all Connecticut-taxable assets including personal property such as art, though there is no separate inheritance tax on heirs. Collections in larger estates need documented fair market values for the state filing.
Two months after the fiduciary accepts appointment, under CGS section 45a-341, with a possible court extension to four months. The statute requires inventoried property to be appraised at fair market value, so paintings and antiques need documented values quickly once probate opens.
Yes. For a nonresident decedent, the Connecticut ancillary inventory reaches tangible personal property situated in the state, so a collection hanging in a Connecticut residence or sitting in Connecticut storage must be inventoried and valued there even though the owner lived elsewhere.
