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Antique artwork appraisals in Iowa for donations, estate tax, insurance, and divorce, prepared in accordance with USPAP and IRS requirements. AppraiseItNow appraises oil paintings, sculptures, prints, decorative arts, and folk art across Iowa, including Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport.
DEFENSIBLE, USPAP-COMPLIANT ANTIQUE ARTWORK APPRAISAL REPORTS — QUALIFIED FOR THE IRS, IOWA 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 antique artwork in Iowa for charitable donations, estate and probate filings, insurance scheduling, and divorce division. Attribution, condition and provenance are established from the object and its records first, and only then is the work priced in the market the assignment actually points to.
Donations
A donated painting is reported at the price it would bring in the market where works like it actually sell, on the date of the gift, supported by realized results rather than by a gallery's asking price. A charity's receipt records the transfer, never the value.
Estates
A personal representative needs date of death values a beneficiary can follow, each work on its own line, with the comparable sales attached. Older Iowa estates and the inheritance file behind them are retrospective work, reconstructed from what the market was doing then rather than now.
Insurance
An insurer needs the cost of replacing a work with another of like kind and quality, a different and usually higher figure than the one an estate reports. Scheduling at the wrong number costs either in premium or at the claim. Cabinetry and case pieces in the same house belong on our Iowa antique furniture appraisal page.
One object, two numbers, and neither of them wrong. The market a value is drawn from is chosen by what the figure will be used for, and a report that does not say which market it used cannot be checked by anyone who comes after it.
Consignment and sale
A work left with an Iowa dealer for sale carries a stated value in the written agreement, and that figure is what the dealer is answerable for if the work is lost or damaged. It is worth setting from current evidence, because nobody revisits it until something has gone wrong.
Contested values
Estate and division figures get challenged. Each work is described closely enough for another appraiser to follow the reasoning, with the sales relied on named and the adjustments made to them explained, so a disagreement lands on an adjustment rather than on the whole report.
Two Iowa rules decide who puts a number on a painting and what that number then binds. A third one catches the work nobody listed.
Intestate estates
Three appraisers
competent and disinterested, appointed by the court before an intestate Iowa estate with a surviving spouse is settled, unless the spouse and all the heirs waive the appraisal
Prior to the settlement of every intestate estate in which there is a surviving spouse, and in which appraisal has not been waived by the surviving spouse and all the heirs, the court appoints three competent disinterested appraisers to appraise the estate and report to the court, unless it finds further appraisal unnecessary. Objections to that report are filed within ten days after the date fixed for filing it, and are tried to the court as in equity.
The figure matters well beyond the file. After those proceedings, the surviving spouse selects property from what was appraised, at its appraised value as fixed in that report. A painting carried too low or too high changes what the rest of the estate gives up.
Consignment
Stated value
is the figure an Iowa art dealer is responsible for if a consigned work is lost or damaged while the dealer holds it
When an Iowa art dealer accepts a work of fine art for sale or for exhibition and sale to the public, the delivery is a consignment, and the agreement between artist and dealer has to provide that the dealer is responsible for the stated value of the work if it is lost or damaged while in the dealer's possession. Stated value is defined as the amount agreed to be paid to the consignor.
The work is held in trust for the consignor and is not subject to claim by a creditor of the dealer, the sale proceeds are held in trust as well, and a contract term by which the dealer waives any of this is void. That one agreed figure is the whole of the protection, which is why it is worth supporting with a current value rather than a round number.
After the inventory
30 days
to file a supplementary inventory once property no inventory mentions comes to the personal representative's knowledge
Whenever additional property not mentioned in the inventory comes to the knowledge of a personal representative, a supplementary inventory of it is filed within thirty days after the discovery. For a death occurring on or after January 1, 2025, nothing in the probate code requires estate property to be appraised at all unless the court orders it, and an inventory or appraisement that is filed may be given in evidence but is not conclusive, with other evidence admissible to vary its effect.
So the value put on a work that surfaces late is both the number the file carries and a number a beneficiary can answer with evidence of their own.
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:
Artist attribution, title, date, medium, dimensions, signatures or inscriptions, marks and labels, plus condition evidence including damage, restoration, and framing. High-resolution front and back photos, with raking light or UV images where appropriate, let the report describe the object thoroughly enough for another appraiser to follow the reasoning.
Property in the gross estate is valued as of the decedent's date of death, and post-death appreciation or depreciation is generally ignored unless an alternate valuation date is properly elected. Retrospective art appraisals reconstruct the market as of that date rather than using today's prices.
No. Insurance schedules carry retail replacement value, which is intentionally higher than fair market value, and using the wrong market level for the assignment is a classic and costly error. Estate work requires fair market value support from realized sales in the appropriate market.
Yes. Iowa Admin. Code r. 701-900.9 lets the estate or any person beneficially receiving personal property appeal a disputed value to the director of the Department of Revenue under Iowa Code section 450.94(3), with judicial review available under chapter 17A. Because that record can be reopened, we document attribution, condition, and the specific comparable sales behind each work rather than stating a bare number.
