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Gun appraisals in Michigan for donations, estate tax, divorce, and probate, prepared in accordance with USPAP and IRS requirements. AppraiseItNow appraises handguns, rifles, shotguns, antique firearms, and collectible guns across Michigan, including Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing.
DEFENSIBLE, USPAP-COMPLIANT FIREARMS APPRAISAL REPORTS — QUALIFIED FOR THE IRS, MICHIGAN 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.
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Third-generation auctioneer and CAGA Certified Appraiser with more than 20 years valuing machinery, equipment, vehicles, business assets, and estates for banks, attorneys, and trustees across the Carolinas.
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
Certified Appraisers Guild of AmericaCertified Appraiser
The Appraisal FoundationAuthorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standardsAppraiseItNow appraises rifles, shotguns, handguns, antique and military arms, and entire collections in Michigan, for probate and estate filings, charitable gifts, insurance coverage and claims, and the division of property in a divorce.
What moves value
The market pays hard for guns that remain as they left the factory, and far less for ones that do not. Matching numbered components, original finish against a later one, replaced springs or stocks, and the proof marks a piece carries are all described plainly and then priced against comparable sales.
Collections
A large Michigan holding is valued by category, and the few pieces that account for most of its worth are lifted out and handled individually. A report then stays proportionate to what is at stake, instead of giving a common shotgun the same attention as a rare one.
A firearms collection tends to be the asset nobody in the room can price, and the one most likely to be split, insured, or inherited on a guess. These are the three settings Michigan owners bring us most.
Probate
An estate values each piece as of the day the owner died, and a personal representative has to put that figure on the record. We give the value, the comparable sales it came from, and a description specific enough that nobody later has to guess which gun was meant.
Insurance
Scheduling a collection calls for what it would cost to replace comparable pieces in the retail market today. A claim after a fire or a theft asks a different question entirely, which is what the pieces were worth immediately before it happened.
Divorce
Where a collection is being divided, the value has to survive somebody else's expert reading it. We write the market evidence out, including where it is thin, so the figure stands on what the record shows rather than on an opinion of what the guns ought to bring.
One rule sets the category a Michigan piece is valued in. The other multiplies what a collection was worth once somebody else has taken it.
Antique firearms
1898 or earlier
the manufacture year behind Michigan's antique definition
Michigan's definition turns on how a gun fires and on what it fires. An antique firearm is one not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional center fire ignition with fixed ammunition and manufactured in or before 1898, including matchlock, flintlock, and percussion cap systems and their replicas; or a firearm using fixed ammunition manufactured in or before 1898 for which ammunition is no longer manufactured in the United States and is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade. Those are the same facts, the ignition system, the chambering, and whether ammunition still trades at all, that decide which market a piece is valued in.
Theft and conversion
3 times
actual damages, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees
Michigan law lets a person damaged by another person's stealing, embezzling, or converting of property recover three times the amount of actual damages sustained, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees, and the same remedy reaches anyone who knowingly buys, receives, possesses, or conceals the property. Actual damages are the figure the multiple is applied to, which means the appraised value of the firearms is the number the whole claim scales from, and the one most likely to be contested.
What Michigan clients say we are known for
Across 23 published Michigan appraisal reviews, every one from a client who paid AppraiseItNow for an appraisal, the three things they raise most often are that they would hire us again, how much research is visible in the report, and how quickly we answer.
It is a pleasure to work with Joe and his team. They communicate every step along the way and made the process simple for us to have more than 35 firearms appraised. It was all done in a timely manner and the final report is easy to understand. I highly recommend their services.
Gun Appraisal for Probate
I was skeptical at first, but the company exceeded all of my expectations. The team responded quickly to every question, and the service was excellent. They’re now my go to source for my collection. I’ve used them twice already, and I plan to use them several more times.
Firearms Appraisal for Personal Use
AppraiseItNow Inc. is the best company I was lucky to find by accident. I was looking for someone to appraise cabinets for a donation to charity. I asked for multiple referrals, called multiple appraisal services, etc., and no one could help me. I found AppraiseItNow and from the moment I started working with them, they were wonderful! Joe guided me on what I needed to send him, what needed to be done and stayed in touch with me the entire time. Their customer service is OUTSTANDING and a welcome surprise in today’s world where good customer service is an anomaly! They returned an appraisal in a timely manner, it was clear, concise, cost-effective and exactly what I needed. They followed up with me multiple times to ensure that I received it and everything was OK. My CPA is also thrilled to have them as an accredited appraisal service he can use for other clients. I rarely leave reviews, but I could not pass giving them 5 stars and I’d give 10 if possible! THANK YOU JOE AND ALL AT APPRAISEITNOW!!👊🏼
Personal Property Appraisal for Charitable Donation
I used AppraiseItNow for the first time last month and I was extremely pleased with the results. I needed an appraisal done for insurance purposes and the level of detail about each of my antique furniture pieces was thorough and very helpful in my being able to get the highest amount possible from my insurance company for the antique items that were damaged. I could see that they spent time making sure that the information she included was correct and current for my antique furniture items in the current market. The team responded to my emails timely to answer any questions I had. I would highly recommend Appraise It Now to get a thorough and professional appraisal done on antique items. I do intend to use them again for other antique furniture and jewelry that I have. Job well done! 😃🤗
Antique Furniture Appraisal for Insurance Claim
Joe made the process to have my piece of furniture appraised extremely easy, efficient and quick. My experience was great and I'd recommend AppraiseItNow to anyone looking for an appraisal.
Furniture Appraisal for Insurance Coverage
I asked AppraiseItNow to value a piece of sports memorabilia for purposes of a charitable donation. The item is rarely sold. Their research unearthed an important recent sale of a similar item, which I had not found previously, and which the first appraiser I used had not found either. AppraiseItNow was a good deal more expensive than the first service, but they crafted a detailed report in which I have much more confidence. They also helped me make sure the correct tax forms are used. Thank you!
Sports Memorabilia Appraisal for Charitable Donation
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:
Because the market pays for factory-correct guns. Serial numbers, matching numbered components, proof marks, and original finish against refinish are what separate the two, and a documented all-original piece can be worth several times an altered example that looks nearly identical at arm's length.
As of the date of death. Michigan probate estates file the Inventory (form PC 577) within 91 days of the personal representative's appointment, stating fair market value for each item, and Michigan imposes no estate or inheritance tax, so those values serve probate administration and any federal filing rather than a state death tax.
Michigan fire policies must include a statutory appraisal clause under MCL 500.2833: either side can demand appraisal, each party selects a competent, independent appraiser, the appraisers choose an umpire, and agreement of two of the three fixes the actual cash value and loss for each item, including firearms.
Within 30 days of taking physical possession. MCL 28.422(5) gives an heir that grace period to obtain the required license for an inherited pistol, and there is no broader inheritance exemption beyond it. Executors distributing a collection should pair each pistol's documented value with a reminder of that deadline.
No. The instructions to Michigan's Inventory form PC 577 state that for personal property the gross value and inventory value are the same, so liens are not deducted the way they are for real estate. A financed or pledged firearm still goes on the inventory at its full fair market value as of the date of death.
