Art valuation
What a work is likely to achieve if it were sold, and where it would do best. No charge, and no obligation to proceed.
How the figure is arrived at
- Comparable results
- What closely similar works have actually made, drawn from a specialist art price database rather than from asking prices. A gallery's price and a saleroom's result are different numbers, and only one of them tells you what a buyer was willing to pay on the day.
- Condition
- Judged against what the work should look like for its age and medium, not against perfection. Restoration, fading, damage from earlier framing and trimming all read through to the estimate, and a condition issue found late in a consignment costs more than one found early.
- Edition and format
- For prints and multiples: which edition, what size, whether it is a numbered impression or a proof, and whether it is signed. These distinctions separate markets that look identical from the outside.
- Provenance and paperwork
- Where the work has been since it left the artist, and what documentation travels with it. A clean chain of ownership removes questions a specialist would otherwise raise, and unanswered questions come off the estimate.
- Where and when it sells
- The same work does not make the same money everywhere. A category can perform better at a regional saleroom than an international one, and sale dates, settlement periods and the composition of a sale all move the result.
What we cover
Contemporary and Post-War, Modernist, Impressionist, Old Masters, photographic art and street art — the six categories the practice works across, with over fifteen years behind them. Banksy and the wider urban contemporary market have a page of their own, because the paperwork question there is specific enough to need it.
If you decide to sell
The choice is between auction and a private sale, and it is worth making deliberately. Selling at auction sets out every fee that comes off the hammer price and how we negotiate them; private sales covers the quieter route, where discretion or timing matters more than the competition of a saleroom.
Common questions
What does a valuation cost?
Nothing, and it carries no obligation to proceed. If a sale follows, our fees are typically 0% — on rare occasions a commission applies where the sale is complex, and because we negotiate reduced seller rates on your behalf the overall cost usually stays the same or lower.
What should I send?
A photograph and a few details are enough to begin. Images of the front and reverse, the signature or edition marking if there is one, approximate dimensions, and any paperwork that came with the work.
Is this a formal valuation for insurance or probate?
No. This is a view on what a work is likely to achieve if it were sold, which is the number that matters when you are deciding whether and where to sell. A formal written valuation for insurance or probate is a different document with a different purpose.
What happens after a valuation?
Nothing has to. If you do decide to sell, the choice is between auction and a private sale, and the right answer depends on the work, the timing and how much certainty you want. Both routes are set out on this site.
Write to info@whitebankfineart.co.uk or use the contact page. A photograph and a few details are enough to begin.