Sometimes works of art will fetch enormously high prices and such works cannot be appraised like any other product because they are unique. The value of a work of art can vary according to the following:
How much a person wants to acquire a particular work of art is unique to that person and this can easily affect the selling price. This is just one of the many variables that make getting an exact valuation rather difficult. Among others are format, subject matter, background and style but these are by no means all of them..
Works of art are subject to the unforeseeable forces of supply and demand and their value can go up or down. Because each work of art is unique the valuer has to go into a great amount of detailed research before making a fair judgment of value. As much accurate information as possible has to be collected. It should be be borne in mind that valuing an artist’s work has to be carried out within a framework of economic realities: galleries, brokers, agents, auctions, artists’ studios or workshops and, increasingly influential, websites. They are all part of the broader picture which must be taken into account. We are talking here about official, invoiced sales that can be checked..
First of all, it is most important to have widespread sources of information. Many investors only form an idea of the value of works by looking at auction house sales.