# What Is My Art Worth: Indicative Estimate Versus Formal Appraisal

> Source: LLB Auction (https://www.llb-auction.com/insights/the-market-in-motion/selling-and-consigning/what-is-my-art-worth-indicative-estimate-versus-formal-appraisal)
> Author: LLB Auction
> Published: August 15, 2026

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Owners who type what is my art worth into a search engine are usually asking two questions at once, and the market answers them with two different documents. An indicative auction estimate is a free, non binding opinion of the price range a work might reach in a stated sale. A formal appraisal is a paid, signed report that carries evidentiary weight with an insurer, a tax authority or a court. Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams all issue the first at no charge and bill for the second through separate valuation departments. This guide sets out the difference, explains why instant photo valuation tools fail on living and emerging artists, lists what a house needs before it can answer what is my art worth with precision, and shows how to read the range you receive.

> **Key takeaways:**
> - The free answer to what is my art worth is an indicative auction estimate. Bonhams states its initial valuation is "completely free and confidential with no obligation to sell" and carries no guarantee of the price achieved.
> - A USPAP compliant written appraisal bills between $150 and $500 per hour, according to Lindsey Owen Appraisals in July 2026, and the fee may never be a percentage of the value found.
> - Public auction sales rose 9% to $20.7 billion in 2025 while the segment below $50,000 fell 2% in value and volume, per the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report 2026.
> - Erica Barrish of EAB Fine Art Services cites a young artist's work estimated at $10,000 to $15,000 at auction carrying a retail replacement value near $100,000.

## Two Documents, Two Purposes: What Is My Art Worth in Practice

The market answers the question with two instruments that share almost nothing beyond a number. An **indicative estimate** is an auction specialist's opinion of the range a work would fetch in a stated sale, issued free and carrying no guarantee. A **formal appraisal** is a signed written report prepared to a professional standard, billed by time, and drafted so a third party can rely on it. Meagan Kelly Horsman, managing director at Christie's in the Middle East, told Artsy that "while these terms are often colloquially used interchangeably, they do represent different functions".

Artsy's definition is precise: "while an appraisal is a formal process that results in a certificate or judgment and can be legally binding, valuations are more akin to approximations". Vocabulary shifts by geography: Sotheby's runs a Valuations Department rather than an appraisals department.

| Criterion | Indicative auction estimate | Formal written appraisal |
| :- | :- | :- |
| Cost | Free at Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams | $150 to $500 per hour, billed by time |
| Standing | Opinion, explicitly not a guarantee | Signed report, can be legally binding |
| Accepted by | The saleroom proposing the consignment | Insurers, tax authorities, courts, executors |
| Basis of value | Expected hammer range in one stated sale | Fair market value or retail replacement value |
| Issued by | An auction house specialist | An accredited appraiser (ASA, AAA or ISA) |

The basis of value is the sharpest divide. An auction estimate predicts a hammer price in one sale on one date. An appraisal states **fair market value**, defined by the Internal Revenue Service in [Publication 561](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p561) as "the price that would be agreed on between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with neither being required to act, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts", or **retail replacement value**, the cost of buying an equivalent work at retail. Owners who ask what is my art worth and receive two very different numbers are usually looking at those two bases of value.

## Why the Free Auction Estimate Costs You Nothing

Salerooms issue estimates without charge because the estimate opens a consignment conversation. Bonhams states it plainly on its selling page: "Does this initial valuation cost anything? No, it is completely free and confidential with no obligation to sell." The house recovers the specialist's time from the seller's commission and the buyer's premium once the work is consigned and sells.

The disclaimer attached is the part owners skip. Bonhams warns that "auction estimates are a statement of Bonhams' opinion as to what an item may achieve if consigned for sale at auction and are not a representation or guarantee of the actual value or potential selling price". No insurer treats that sentence as evidence, and no probate registry does either. Sotheby's describes the same sequence: a specialist supplies a price range, the seller signs "a consignment agreement setting out the terms of sale", and after the sale "you're paid once the buyer settles", typically about a month later. The full mechanics appear in [consigning a work, step by step, from enquiry to settlement](/insights/the-market-in-motion/selling-and-consigning/consigning-a-work-step-by-step-from-enquiry-to-settlement).

## When a Formal Appraisal Is the Only Document That Works

Five situations require a signed report: insuring a work, settling an estate, dividing property in a separation, substantiating a charitable donation, and defending a value to a tax authority. Each demands a document an outsider can audit.

The Internal Revenue Service sets explicit thresholds in Publication 561, revised December 2025. A qualified appraisal is required for noncash charitable deductions above $5,000. Art valued at $20,000 or more must have the appraisal attached to Form 8283. Art appraised at $50,000 or more may be submitted for an IRS Statement of Value before the return is filed. European owners face parallel evidentiary demands from insurers and probate authorities without an equivalent published ladder, which puts the weight on the appraiser's credentials.

The professional standard is **USPAP**, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, a framework covering ethics, scope, record keeping, competency and judgment that Artsy reports is now "widely accepted" across the trade. Accreditation runs through the American Society of Appraisers, the Appraisers Association of America and the International Society of Appraisers. Lindsey Owen Appraisals, writing in July 2026, puts the going rate at between $150 and $500 per hour "for a USPAP-compliant art appraisal" and adds the rule that protects the owner: "an art appraiser's fees should never be based on a percentage of the value of the artwork". A single work report running three to four billable hours therefore lands between $450 and $2,000.

## Why Instant Photo Valuation Tools Mislead

Photo valuation services promise a figure in sixty seconds from an uploaded image. They perform acceptably on artists with dense auction records and degrade sharply everywhere else. Three structural gaps explain the failure.

**Data scarcity.** An algorithm extrapolating from sparse datasets returns a guess dressed as a figure. **Market opacity.** The Art Newspaper puts the second gap flatly: "Dealer sales, on the other hand, are confidential and those trying to make sense of what is going on in that sector of the art world have to rely on anecdotal evidence." Primary market prices, which set a living artist's level, never enter a public dataset. **Condition blindness.** A photograph records neither craquelure nor lining, retouching, planar distortion, or a failed mechanical component.

Phillips met the third gap with Jeff Koons's Two Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (Spalding Dr. J Silver Series) from 1985, whose basketballs float in a solution that must be sourced and maintained. Rachel Atkinson Marrin, director of professional and advisor services at Phillips, told Artsy that "such maintenance issues and future costs affect the valuation of a work that is different than a painting on your wall". Lindsey Owen Appraisals lists what multiplies research time: "unknown artists, illegible signatures, minimal sales data, dubious provenance, and authentication", none of which a JPEG records. An owner asking what is my art worth from a photograph alone is asking a question the image cannot support.

![The reverse of a canvas with a gallery label, a certificate, an invoice, a loupe and a measuring tape laid out for valuation](https://renderings.laboetie.io/media/eYJQ4glSafLhyP4zEIE8x/w2560)

## Thin Records: What Is My Art Worth When an Artist Barely Trades

A **thin market** is one where too few public transactions exist to establish a reliable price level, and most living contemporary artists sit in one. The Art Newspaper's June 2026 market analysis illustrates the gap with two painters who studied together at the Royal College of Art. Caroline Walker's works "have sold for more than £900,000 at auction", while Anna Freeman Bentley "has had little secondary-market exposure". At London Gallery Weekend in June 2026, at least half of Bentley's exhibited paintings found buyers or reserves "for prices from £10,000 to £70,000, a price point that has become a sweet spot for emerging artists". A gallery price of £40,000 coexists with an empty auction record because the two figures measure different markets, a distinction developed in [primary or secondary: the two markets every collector straddles](/insights/the-market-in-motion/reading-the-market/primary-or-secondary-the-two-markets-every-collector-straddles).

The segment matters commercially. The Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report 2026, compiled by Arts Economics, records public auction sales rising 9% to $20.7 billion in 2025 while "sales below $50,000 declined, with both value and volume falling 2%". Sales above $10 million grew 30%. Marc Straus, the New York gallerist who founded his dealership in 2011, described the correction in ultra contemporary names to The Art Newspaper: "The prices went up absurdly. Pretty much all of that has collapsed."

### What is my art worth if the artist has no auction record?

With no secondary results to anchor the range, a specialist builds it from adjacent evidence: gallery list prices for comparable sizes and dates, the artist's exhibition record, institutional acquisitions, the standing of the dealer representing them, and results for artists of a similar cohort. The range comes out wider, often a factor of two or three between low and high rather than the tight spread typical of a heavily traded name. A wide range on a thin record describes genuine uncertainty in the evidence. Single results deserve equal caution, as [what a record price actually tells you, and what it hides](/insights/the-market-in-motion/reading-the-market/what-a-record-price-actually-tells-you-and-what-it-hides) sets out in detail.

## What a House Needs Before It Can Answer What Is My Art Worth

Sotheby's instruction to sellers is short: share "images and what you know about the object", including "its history, any paperwork, where it came from". Bonhams is more specific about photography, asking for "images of the front and back or top and bottom" and adding "don't forget to include any signatures and certificates of authenticity". Sotheby's specialists then evaluate property "based on characteristics such as artist or maker, country of origin, provenance, date of execution, materials, dimensions, rarity, subject matter or type, and condition", alongside "comparable sales and past performance of works by the same and similar artists". Ten items carry that assessment.

1. **Artist and full title.** The catalogued title, with any spelling variants or pseudonyms.
2. **Medium and support.** Oil on linen, acrylic on canvas, pigment print, bronze with patina; the support changes the comparable set.
3. **Dimensions.** Height by width by depth in centimetres, unframed and framed.
4. **Date of execution.** The year, and the series or body of work it belongs to.
5. **Signature, inscriptions and numbering.** Where the signature sits, what the verso carries, and the edition number over the edition size.
6. **Provenance.** Every owner since the artist or the gallery, with dates. Estate and single owner provenance often creates a fresh to market effect.
7. **Certificates and documentation.** Gallery invoice, certificate of authenticity, studio confirmation, foundation registration.
8. **Exhibition and publication history.** Shows the work has been in, catalogues raisonnés that reproduce it, museum loans.
9. **Condition, photographed honestly.** Raking light images of the surface, the verso, the edges and any damage.
10. **Location and export status.** Where the work sits, and whether any cultural property or export restriction applies.

Missing items widen the range rather than stop the process. Missing provenance on a work by a heavily documented artist stops it entirely.

## Reading the Estimate You Receive

The range is a bidding instrument before it is a valuation. Angelo Madrigale, senior specialist in fine art at Doyle, describes the calculation to Artsy: "We have to think about the end user perceiving the object's value and the number that they would feel comfortable bidding on." A low estimate set beneath the specialist's true expectation attracts bidders. The **reserve**, the minimum the seller will accept, is agreed separately and normally sits at or below the low estimate, recorded in the consignment agreement alongside the seller's commission. A work never offered publicly is described as **fresh to market**, a condition specialists price positively because no unsold public result shadows it.

Hammer price and net proceeds diverge. Take a canvas carrying a €6,000 to €8,000 estimate that sells at €7,000 hammer. At LLB Auction's published 10% seller's commission, €700 is deducted, leaving €6,300 before shipping and any resale royalty. Where the **artist's resale right** applies, DACS reports that a royalty falls due on every resale at or above £1,000 involving a gallery, auction house or dealer, ranging from £40 to £12,500 per sale. The buyer separately pays a premium, 20% at LLB Auction, on top of the hammer.

Read the range against market conditions. Scott Reyburn reported in The Art Newspaper that in May 2026 "a record 79% of the turnover at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips's evening auctions was generated by lots covered by guarantees from third parties", according to the London analysts Pi-eX, and that "thanks to guarantees, sales are predictable, but few lots sell over estimate". An unguaranteed work in the €800 to €50,000 band competes without that floor, so the low estimate is the realistic planning figure. The seller side path from first enquiry to settlement is mapped in [how to sell art through a house, from first valuation to final hammer](/insights/the-market-in-motion/selling-and-consigning).

## FAQ: Estimates, Appraisals and the Answer You Get

### What is my art worth if I only have a photograph?

A photograph supports a preliminary opinion and nothing firmer. Bonhams asks for front and back images plus signatures and certificates precisely because a single face on shot hides the evidence specialists rely on. Expect a wide indicative range, flagged as provisional, and expect it to move once the work is inspected. Anyone answering what is my art worth from one image is quoting a comparable rather than valuing your work.

### Will an insurer accept a free auction estimate?

No. Bonhams states that its estimates "are not a representation or guarantee of the actual value or potential selling price", which removes their evidentiary standing. Insurers work from retail replacement value. Meagan Kelly Horsman of Christie's notes that insurance figures are "designed to cover the full cost of an artwork's replacement, including taxes, shipping, and premium". Commission a USPAP compliant appraisal for that purpose.

### How much does a written appraisal cost?

Lindsey Owen Appraisals reported in July 2026 that USPAP compliant work bills between $150 and $500 per hour, with the rate set by the appraiser's experience, location and specialisation. Fees may never be a percentage of the value found. Cost scales with the number of works and the intended use, since tax and estate reports require the most comparables.

### Can an estimate change after the house inspects the work?

Yes, routinely. Condition assessed in person moves the range in either direction, and documentation problems stop the process entirely. Mari-Claudia Jiménez of Sotheby's describes the discipline this way: "If there is an obviously missing or conflicting element, we stop the process and tell the client the work may not be made by who they believe is the artist."

### Who is qualified to write a formal appraisal?

Membership of the American Society of Appraisers, the Appraisers Association of America or the International Society of Appraisers is the practical filter, since each requires coursework, examination and USPAP compliance. For United States tax use, the appraiser must also meet the qualified appraiser test set out in IRS Publication 561, which turns on demonstrable experience with the specific property type.

## How LLB Auction Answers the Question

LLB Auction issues indicative estimates on modern and contemporary work and does not produce USPAP appraisals; owners needing an insurance, probate or tax document are pointed to an accredited appraiser.

**Indicative estimate on a curated intake.** Typical lots run from €800 to €50,000 across four sales committed through 2026. Roughly 40% of submissions are declined at intake, so an estimate arrives on a work that already cleared a threshold.

**Documented due diligence.** Certificate verification, ownership history and conservation records are checked lot by lot, and every consigned work ships with a three page condition report that governs the description.

**Disclosed economics.** Seller's commission is 10% and the buyer's premium 20%, published before consignment, with timed online sales running 7 to 14 days. The Contemporary Art Spring 2026 sale on 26 May 2026 offered 25 lots, sold 23 of them, for roughly €39,480 in gross hammer.

Owners weighing the question what is my art worth in an auction context can [request a valuation](/sell) with images, dimensions and whatever documentation exists. The reply is a range, the reasoning behind it, and a straight answer on whether the work suits a sale.

## Conclusion

Two documents, two costs, two uses. The free indicative estimate reports what one saleroom expects one sale to produce. The formal appraisal costs between $150 and $500 per hour and produces a signed report an insurer, an executor or a tax authority can rely on. Instant photo tools sit outside both, serviceable as first orientation on heavily traded artists and unreliable across the thin records that describe most living contemporary practice.

Decide what the number is for, gather the ten items a specialist needs, then ask the house that actually sells work like yours. Answering what is my art worth well takes provenance, condition and comparables together, and any figure produced without all three deserves scepticism.

**Also worth reading:**

- [From first valuation to final hammer: how to sell art through a house](/insights/the-market-in-motion/selling-and-consigning)
- [Consigning a work, step by step: from enquiry to settlement](/insights/the-market-in-motion/selling-and-consigning/consigning-a-work-step-by-step-from-enquiry-to-settlement)
- [What a record price actually tells you, and what it hides](/insights/the-market-in-motion/reading-the-market/what-a-record-price-actually-tells-you-and-what-it-hides)
- [Primary or secondary: the two markets every collector straddles](/insights/the-market-in-motion/reading-the-market/primary-or-secondary-the-two-markets-every-collector-straddles)

**Sources:**

- [How are estimates determined?](https://help.sothebys.com/en/support/solutions/articles/44002297435-how-are-estimates-determined-) : Sotheby's, 2024
- [How to Sell with Sotheby's](https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/editorial-how-to-sell-with-sothebys-a-step-by-step-guide) : Sotheby's, 2024
- [Sell with Bonhams](https://sell.bonhams.com/) : Bonhams, 2026
- [Why one season of successful auctions won't transform the art market](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/06/29/why-one-season-of-successful-auctions-wont-transform-the-art-market) : The Art Newspaper, Scott Reyburn, 2026
- [Auctions, Art Market Report 2026](https://theartmarket.artbasel.com/auctions) : Arts Economics for Art Basel and UBS, 2026
- [How Are Artwork Appraisals, Valuations, and Estimates Different?](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-artwork-appraisals-valuations-estimates-different) : Artsy, 2024
- [Publication 561, Determining the Value of Donated Property](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p561) : Internal Revenue Service, 2025
- [How much does it cost to get art appraised?](https://www.loappraisals.com/chicago-art-appraiser-collector-resources/how-much-does-it-cost-to-get-art-appraised) : Lindsey Owen Appraisals, 2026
- [Artist's Resale Right](https://www.dacs.org.uk/for-artists/artists-resale-right) : DACS, 2026