Question: What's my jade (or any art) really worth?

Answer: What someone is willing to pay you.

That isn't a smart aleck answer.  Let me explain.

Generally when you get something appraised, the appraiser is estimating the maximum price most people would be willing to pay.  The way he does this is via comparisons to past sales for what he considers similar items.

The problem is no two pieces of art are the same.  It's not like doing a valuation on a used car where you have the same year, make, model and then simply adjust for mileage and condition.  

So let's say we are talking about jade sculptures.  You cannot show me two jade sculptures that are exactly the same.  First, the jade they are carved from are always going to be different, which effects the value.  Second, no two carvings are the same in terms of quality and what is considered "beautiful" is completely subjective.  Third, there are other factors which make something more or less desirable include the subject matter at hand (for one person this is better, for another it's something else), the size (some people like really big and grand, some people like small and delicate), etc.

Now actually some of the things I said about jade sculpture comparisons can be applied to appraisals for homes and cars too.  The difference is that cars and homes are generally purchased through bank loans, and the bank is very unemotional and conservative with their appraisals.  Also, the appraisals follow a certain formula that tempers price fluctuations; this is how you can compare a blue colored Ranch style 2500 sq ft house in one zip code with a white colored Colonial style 2300 sq ft house in the same zip code and be pretty confident in the numbers.

Think how different that is to a buyer in a store emotionally attached to some work or in a competitive bidding war with the B across the room with cash or credit card in hand and no need for a loan.  It's a totally different ballgame. 

So I'm not saying that appraisals are useless, but keep in mind that for such a thin and emotional based market, they aren't the most reliable.

I want to just share some God awful appraisals I've experienced personally out of sheer ignorance.

Sotheby's and Christie's only sell antique Chinese art, so I contacted some mid sized auction houses in Beverly Hills and Manhattan for some jadeite sculptures I had.  They were pretty clueless.  One person on their team assessed a sculpture I had at $3,000.  I told the guy, "This sculpture is 26 pounds and a translucent lavender and green jadeite.  Even 26 pounds of raw jadeite for people to cut into cabochons would sell for more than that".  He reluctantly agreed, but didn't want to raise his appraisal.

That piece sold for $55,000 via another auction house.

I had another jadeite piece that I wanted to sell quickly.  I thought eBay might be a good way to go because I saw many pieces of jadeite on there.  However, I found out that because I had no experience on eBay, I wouldn't be able to list my item starting at $10,000; it would have to be much lower.  

Later, I happened to meet someone who sold a variety of "Asian antiques" on eBay.   I thought that he could list it for me and I would give him commission.  Again he wasn't too knowledgeable on the subject.  He was another one of those, "Only Antique 'Asian' items are valuable.", type of guys.  He did a quick search on eBay for what recently sold and he valued my piece at $2,000.  He was simply going by the size.  Not even the weight or volume, just the height.  He saw a piece of comparable height that was listed as "jade" and that's how he got his number.  Lukcily the piece was also jadeite, but it was gray, opaque, and the carving looked like it was done with a hammer.  I didn't even bother to explain the difference with my piece. 


That piece sold for the price I wanted through a private sale.