Liquidation appraisal value is value determined when an owner decides to convert jewelry items into immediate cash. The sale can be held under forced or limiting conditions and when there are time constraints, such as under court order or bankruptcy. Liquidation is the lowest measurable market, and results in the lowest net return to the client.
Since liquidation appraisals need research to determine what the client might expect to receive in a quick cash sale, the appraiser must obtain bid prices from several dealers who are in the business of buying and selling items similar to those being appraised. Executors and individuals seeking to liquidate usually have no idea what the items are worth; the appraiser is employed to identify, examine, inventory , and give a bottom-line figure (or estimate range) for which the items can be sold. One market to research is the auction market. This represents the net sales price an item would probably realize at auction, minus fees and commissions. If the client has consigned goods to auction, he or she must also pay other charges: approximately 1 percent of the reserve price (the lowest for which the item can be sold at auction) to insure the jewelry while it is in the hands of the auction house; and two-hundre d and fifty dollars for color photographs, or approximately one hundred dollars for black-and-white photos of the item, to be used in the auction catalog. Most auction representatives concur that the reserve price can be figured at about 80 percent of the lowest presale catalog estimated price. This becomes handy information for the appraiser, who can then figure the lowest possible price an individual would take for an item.