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Antique artwork appraisals in Wisconsin for donations, estate tax, insurance, and divorce, prepared in accordance with USPAP and IRS requirements. AppraiseItNow appraises oil paintings, sculptures, prints, decorative arts, and antique photographs across Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay.
DEFENSIBLE, USPAP-COMPLIANT ANTIQUE ARTWORK APPRAISAL REPORTS — QUALIFIED FOR THE IRS, WISCONSIN COURTS, LENDERS, INSURERS, AND MORE.
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Owner & CEO
Joe founded AppraiseItNow to make a certified, USPAP-compliant appraisal as simple to order as anything else online. A former Bain & Company strategy consultant, Joe leads the entire team and specializes in strategy, growth, and the firm's tech capabilities.
Personal Property Appraiser
ISA Accredited Member with 30 years in the trade, from running estate sales and an auction gallery to appraising luxury apparel, furniture, artwork, antiques, and business assets, primarily for IRS tax filings.
Personal Property Appraiser
ISA Accredited Member specializing in Asian art, with a Master's from SOAS and a Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art. Ashley chairs the ISA's Antiques, Furnishings, and Decorative Arts committee and appraises for charitable donation, insurance, and equitable distribution.
Client Success Manager
Manages each engagement from the first enquiry to the delivered report, and keeps you posted at every step along the way.
International Society of AppraisersAccredited Member
The Appraisal FoundationAuthorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standardsAppraiseItNow appraises antique artwork in Wisconsin for charitable gifts, estate and probate filings, insurance coverage and divorce settlements, from one inherited oil painting to a wall of pictures assembled over three generations. Where the same household also holds silver, furniture and jewelry, that work is covered by our Wisconsin personal property appraisals and reported beside the artwork rather than in a second file.
What we value
European and American paintings, etchings and engravings, drawings, watercolors and pastels, bronzes and carved wood, portrait miniatures, and painted objects where the painted surface is what carries the value.
How it runs
Photographs of the face, the reverse, the signature and any gallery or exhibition labels, plus whatever the family holds on where the work came from, carry most Wisconsin assignments from start to signed report. We travel when scale or fragile condition makes that impossible.
Collections
Mixed holdings get grouped by what the market treats alike. The few works that carry the value are researched individually against sold results at the right market level, and the remainder is valued by category and reported that way, which keeps the fee tied to the work the file actually needs.
Most Wisconsin artwork reaches us because a document needs a number: a return, an inventory, an insurance schedule or a settlement. What changes between them is the date the value attaches to, the market the evidence has to come from, and how much of the research has to survive someone reading it closely.
Gifts and estates
A charitable gift is valued on the day the work changes hands and an estate on the day of death. A sale six months later is evidence about that day, never a substitute for it, and a report that quietly slides to a more convenient date is the first thing a reviewer finds.
Insurance
After a fire or a theft the question is what a comparable work would now cost to replace, so a policy still carrying a figure written years ago is where most arguments with a carrier begin.
Two Wisconsin rules shape an antique artwork file here more than anything in an auction catalogue: the sworn asset list a divorcing spouse has to file, and the way the state treats the gain when a long held work is sold instead of given away.
Divorce disclosure
90 days
is all the time a Wisconsin spouse has to file a sworn asset list that names antiques and art on separate lines
Every Wisconsin divorce runs through the Financial Disclosure Statement, form FA-4139V under Wis. Stat. § 767.127. The form must be filed "no later than 90 DAYS after the service of the Summons and Petition on the Respondent/Joint Petitioner B or the filing of a Joint Petition." Its asset schedule does not stop at the house and the retirement accounts: "Antiques" and "Art" each sit on their own line, beside household furniture, china and jewelry, with a column for estimated value today. The form carries its own warning that "failure by either party to complete and file this form or attachments as required will authorize the court to accept the statement of the other party as the basis for its decisions," and that deliberate failure to disclose is perjury. A round number guessed onto the art line is the weakest figure in the file, and it is the one the other side reads first.
Wisconsin Court System, Form FA-4139V Financial Disclosure Statement
Selling instead of giving
30%
of the net capital gain on a work held more than a year comes out of Wisconsin income, so selling and donating rarely land in the same place
Wisconsin does not simply copy the federal figure. The Department of Revenue states the rule plainly in Publication 103: "Wisconsin law generally allows a deduction for 30% of the net capital gain from assets held more than one year," and the deduction runs to 60% for farm assets. For an owner weighing a sale of an inherited painting against a gift of it to a museum, that state treatment sits underneath the federal one and moves the comparison. Both routes start from the same two things: a fair market value supported by sold comparables at the right market level, and a documented basis. We value the work and date the opinion; your tax preparer applies the rule.
What clients say we are known for
Across 100+ published AppraiseItNow reviews the picture is consistent: every one is from a client who paid us for an appraisal, and the three things they raise most often are that they would hire us again, how quickly we answer, and how much research is visible in the report.
The appraisal was done very well. Since he was a local artist here in Charleston, SC, they took the time to study and review Jim Booth’s art. His work has made him extremely famous, which can make an appraisal challenging, but they did a superb job and clearly explained how they arrived at the appraisal value. I highly recommend Appraise It Now and will use them again for all my artwork.
Artwork Appraisal for Insurance Coverage
AppraiseItNow did an excellent job appraising our unique art collection. Joe was always prompt and responsive, and he and his team delivered a thorough, well-supported appraisal in just a couple of weeks, even during the holiday season. I was genuinely impressed. Thank you for the great work!
Artwork Appraisal for Insurance Coverage
AppraiseItNow was amazing! My father passed with a large volume of artwork & I had no idea what it was worth. Their team was incredibly helpful and quick to respond with text and/or email to any questions as well as a status update along the way. Highly recommend!
Artwork Appraisal for Probate
I recently requested a retroactive appraisal for fine art from AppraiseItNow. I received excellent service from intake to delivery. The appraisal was delivered on time and the content of the appraisal absolutely met my expectations!
Artwork Appraisal
From the start they were very responsive, price competitive, and had a quick turn around time. Thank you so much to Joe who was very sweet in responding to my emails; I am looking forward to utilizing AppraiseItNow for many years to come.
Very thorough and professional — great communication and outstanding service. Highly impressed with their work!
Given the USPAP-compliant nature of AppraiseItNow’s appraisal reports, we prepare our deliverables for major legal, tax, and financial reporting purposes for individual and commercial clients.
Popular uses of our appraisal reports include:
No, confusing asking prices with sale prices is one of the most expensive mistakes owners make. Asking prices show what sellers hope for; appraisals rest on what comparable works actually sold for, in the correct market level for the assignment. Using retail gallery prices when the assignment calls for auction-level evidence badly skews the number.
Yes, the appropriate value definition depends on the assignment, and mixing definitions is a common source of error. An insurance replacement figure, a fair market value for tax purposes, and a marketable cash value net of selling costs can all be correct for the same work in different contexts. The report must state which definition it applies.
Fair market value as of the date of death: what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, not replacement cost or a retail asking price. Wisconsin's inventory reports these values for each asset, and the clerk uses the total, artwork included, to set the inventory filing fee, so inflated figures cost the estate real money.
No. Under Wis. Stat. § 858.13, assets whose value is readily ascertainable can be listed without appraisal, and the court may accept satisfactory market evidence, such as documented auction results for the artist. Where judgment is required, the court appoints one or more disinterested appraisers. Antique artwork is rarely self-evident in value, so a documented appraisal usually becomes the evidence that satisfies the court.
