I have spent fifty years as an appraiser, so I will say this plainly: the appraiser is the keystone of nearly every fraud in these pages. The forger needs someone to bless the object. The auction house needs someone to certify the value. The estate predator needs someone to write the low number. Remove the corrupt or careless appraiser and most of these schemes collapse. That is why I saved this case for last.
The structural conflict
The trouble is built into the business. The person most qualified to value an object is usually also a dealer who would like to buy or sell it. The moment an appraiser has a financial stake in the number — as buyer, seller, broker, or referral partner — the opinion is no longer independent, whatever the letterhead says.
The conflicts that corrupt the number
- The appraiser who values a piece and then offers to buy it
- Contingency fees — a percentage of the appraised value, which rewards inflation
- Being paid by the seller while presenting as the buyer's expert
- Referral kickbacks between appraisers, dealers, and auction houses
- Authentication boards with a financial stake in their own attributions
A fee should never be a percentage of the value found. The day an appraiser earns more by finding a bigger number is the day the appraisal stops being an opinion and becomes a sales tool.
What an honest appraisal looks like
A clean appraisal states the standard of value being used, discloses every relationship the appraiser has to the object and the parties, charges a flat or hourly fee unrelated to the result, and cites verifiable comparable sales. It reads like evidence, not like a pitch. If you cannot tell whose side the appraiser is on, you already have your answer.
Protect yourself
- Never use an appraiser who wants to buy, sell, or broker the object
- Refuse any fee tied to the value found — pay flat or hourly
- Demand written disclosure of every conflict and relationship
- Use a credentialed appraiser bound by a professional code, and verify the credential