The readership of Maine Antique Digest would benefit, I believe, from a better understanding of what to expect when they have their antiques valued. I would like to clarify a few basic things about appraisals, appraisers, and the appraisal profession.

The type of appraisal one needs is directly related to the intended use of the appraisal. If one is merely trying to satisfy curiosity, I suggest first perusing the World Wide Web or price guides available in bookstores or the local library. If that fails to satisfy, then consult with an active collector or specialist of the class of objects in question. Collectors and specialists are most likely to have current knowledge specific to what one is attempting to value. Most of the time, curiosity can be satisfied through one of these sources.

There are circumstances, however, when the above recommendations do not satisfy the intended use of the appraisal. These include appraisals for charitable donations, estate planning, or insurance scheduling. For these important needs, a personal property appraiser certified in the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) is required. To find an antiques appraiser, look on the World Wide Web or in the phone directory under appraisers or antiques.

When one engages the services of a professional appraiser, one must be aware of the role that the appraiser is required by the USPAP to play. Appraisers are identifiers and witnesses, not advocates; advocacy is the function of lawyers. An appraiser's primary obligation is to reach complete, accurate numerical results regardless of a client's wishes or orders.

The USPAP are in effect any time value is the ultimate conclusion, and they apply to both written and oral reports. To help explain what USPAP are and why they are so important, here is the history of the USPAP.

The USPAP are fairly recent standards. They evolved out of the savings and loan fiasco of the mid-1980's. At that time there were significant inconsistencies in real estate appraising because there were no uniform professional standards, ethical or procedural.

In reaction to the economic turmoil at that time, Congress began looking for the causes of the financial crisis. To head off what appeared to be inevitable government intervention, one Canadian and eight American appraisal associations collaborated in 1986 and 1987 to form the Appraisal Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The Appraisal Foundation subsequently established the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB), and the ASB developed the USPAP.

Rather quickly, Congress recognized the good work on the part of the Appraisal Foundation. In 1989 Congress passed what was known as the savings and loan bailout bill, correctly called the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA). FIRREA required the Federal Reserve Board and other federal agencies to issue regulations regarding, among other things, appraisers. The appraisal profession henceforth would have a uniform set of rules where none had been before. Title XI of FIRREA recognized the USPAP as the generally accepted standards of appraisal practice and identified the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation as the authority for the promulgation of those standards.

It is important for people to realize that a well-defined, enforceable set of rules regulating the appraisal profession exists, and that practicing appraisers, as well as those who engage them, are held accountable to those rules. In today's litigious environment, only appraisal reports written in accordance with the USPAP can meet the requirements demanded by the courts or the IRS.

What should you do when hiring an appraiser? First, ask what the appraiser's qualifications are and what training he or she has had recently. Has the appraiser taken and passed the USPAP exam? Is he or she a member of a professional association? What are the ethical standards of that organization? If the appraiser is not a member of a professional society and has not taken the USPAP test, he or she may not know the minimum requirements necessary to satisfy legal scrutiny, and you could be placing yourself at risk by hiring this appraiser.

You may have had an appraisal performed for your antique personal property items in the past. Take the time to review it. If it was done recently by a USPAP-certified appraiser, the report will have 17 specific components that are required by the USPAP. These components are:

1. Title Page,

2. Table of Contents,

3. Executive Summary,

4. Purpose of the Report,

5. Intended Use of the Report,

6. Definitions of Value,

7. Approach to Value,

8. Limiting Conditions,

9. Liabilities,

10. Signed Certification,

11. Literal Description,

12. Narrative,

13. Photographs,

14. Exhibits,

15. Glossary,

16. Bibliography,

17. Credentials of the Appraiser.

The format and the extent of a professional appraisal report will vary widely, but the 17 components must be there. If they are not in an old report, then the methodology used is probably outdated or the writer was not trained in the USPAP. Get another appraisal. With what you now know you will be able to tell if the person you are about to engage is a certified professional appraiser.