I am not a certified appraiser nor a member of an appraisal related association or group, all of my knowledge comes from 'field' work, I am out in the shops, reading publications, doing research for myself and others pretty much on a daily basis. I was raised around antique dealers and have been an active dealer for 30 years. While I do get paid for doing appraisals and my appraisals have been recognized by insurance companies, moving companies, courts of law, etc.
With that said, I want to warn folks about antique and personal property appraisers and how not all of them know jack about what they are seeing or saying. Due to my professional affiliations, job and interactions I have found a substantial amount of mis-information being given to people by "certified" appraisers.
I frequently do paid appraisals for people and also free appraisal services for non-profit groups and some non-profit thrift stores. The reason I felt the need to write this post is based on a recent experience I had assisting a group preparing to have a big boutique sale of donated item. I have worked with this group for about 20 years in helping them price items for their sales but this one in particular floored me.
