Antiques & Fine Art Valuation Specialists

Approved Antiques Valuers for Probate, Inheritance Tax, Insurance, Fire and Flood Replacement Purposes

Malcolm Green has been valuing antique clocks and fine antique furniture for 40 years, specialising in the 18th and 17th century periods. He has experience across the antiques spectrum, from antique furniture and major works of art to ivory sculptures.

 We can advise you where to get the best price for your items at auction.

 I have reported recently in recent blogs how you really have to check and have your items looked at properly before putting them into auction. Below is an example. Last week, a chap whose mother was in a nursing home was told to take a collection of what was considered to be costume jewellery in a small basket into the local auction room to see how much they were worth. They were given an estimate of £50. Somehow though, either prospective buyers looking at the jewellery or whether the auction house now had enough time to look at them, Considered they might be worth rather more. Luckily, the jewellery with an estimate of £50 made £600,000 If we can help you assess your items before going into auction, please contact us by our website and email address.

Valuation of Antiques for Probate and Insurance Purposes

We can offer help and valuation advice and guidance for individuals with antiques or fine art collections to make sure their articles are properly insured for the correct and proper value, and expert advice for executors who are not quite sure how to proceed regarding a house or property contents valuation for probate or inheritance tax purposes.

 Very often when somebody dies there are a lot of items that one has to clear from the house. Knowing whether to sell these items prior to probate or not is often a bit of a quandary for most people. We can advise you when and where to sell the items and how to get the best price at auction .

We freely offer advice on how to undertake a proper contents valuation when winding up an estate.

If your solicitor is not sure how to proceed with the valuation please ask them to contact the Law Society practical advice service.

One very important tip is not to sell any of the items from the estate until  the contents are valued and the probate is settled otherwise it could be thought by HMRC that one is trying to hide certain items. 

We can also advise you after the probate valuation is undertaken where if you wish to get the best price for the items within the estate as we are completely unbiased with our valuation processes as we are not affiliated to any one auction house or dealer therefore we can advise you where to acquire the best price for your items.

We are fully approved to  HMRC standards and therefore we can offer guidance to avoid the pitfalls of tax a office investigation, to act as an expert witness, and to help you by informing you of the correct way to proceed.

Our services are often sought by auction houses, solicitors, and insurance companies. We are capable of valuing across the whole antique spectrum, from single antique pieces of a particularly valuable nature, to whole estates.

When we are valuing for probate or inheritance tax we will prove the value of the item as low as possible with a photographic hyperlink to a database, to prove its value. Conversely, when we are valuing for insurance replacement, we will do the same to prove the highest price in terms of replacement.

For insurance replacement purposes we can advise you how to maintain and secure your antique items in the case of a claim.

Malcolm Green has been restoring and valuing antiques for 50 years in the restoration and valuation business  where he has gained a wealth of experience and professional contacts that allow him to accurately assess the value of any antique.

When undertaking a valuation or probate one has to do of course undertake to proper job and to make sure it's undertaken correctly, but also try not to pay HMRC too much money it's necessary to have the things valued correctly.

The valuation is undertaken by a professional who is competent across the spectrum meaning some valuers will be good at valuing art, so will be good at valuing furniture and so will be good at valuing other items such as silver.

We are broad-spectrum valuers and can undertake the valuation on items such as particularly fine works of art we also are competent valuers of modern and collectables such as cigarette cards.

Some cigarette cards are worth a few pence but some are worth rather more such as the cigarette card in the photograph.

This cigarette card of baseball pitcher Rube Marquard circa 1912 was initially valued at auction at £3-£400 when it was sold it actually made £12,100 at auction, which meant of course, that if the individual that acquired the item was not aware of its value it would have made £3-£400.

 When somebody dies, it's always really hard to know what to do or which way to turn particularly if you've been left as the executor of the estate.

 We are quite willing to help you with that also at that time, it's knowing the best place to put things.

 Do I sell them? Do I keep them? Generally speaking, you're not supposed to sell things until probate has been settled, unless it can be agreed with HMRC or your solicitor. 

Our process for probate is to value things as little as possible to submit to HMRC, and then when probate has been granted, to advise you on the best auction to sell things. 

In the photographs, you can see a selection of items that were sold in auction and the estimates that were given by the auction. 

This means that they weren't really too sure of their value.

 Luckily, there were buyers there who were capable of knowing this, so the items made their true value.

 When selling things from probate or otherwise, we can advise you which auction is going to get the best price as we are not affiliated to any auction house as we are independent valuers. 

This circular yacht table by Soane of Britain was  put into the auction with an estimate of £800-£1,200. Luckily two people were there to bid against each other to buy it, otherwise it would have made £1,200. In fact, it made £18,000.

We aim to correctly value items so they make as much as possible when sold, but also to prove if necessary for probate the price of such an item in terms of general value which of course would be £3-£400 this is done by providing a hyperlink to an auction house that has sold a card somewhat rather similar at the lowest price provable.

Recently inherited a family heirloom? Become executor of an estate? Curious about the value of a particularly fine piece of furniture or art? Contact Malcolm Green, or call on 07377 473661  for reliable advice.