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Why People Don’t Know How Much Their Art Is Worth

As the art market has contracted, publicly reported sales have thinned out, making the value of artworks increasingly difficult to determine.
Art handlers adjust "David with the head of Goliath" by Artemisia Gentileschi at Sotheby's ahead of Old Masters Sale in London.
Art handlers adjust "David with the head of Goliath" by Artemisia Gentileschi at Sotheby's ahead of Old Masters Sale in London. (Getty Images)

Depending on your perspective, the verdict delivered by art services and technology company Winston Artory Group was either very good or very bad. A print that had recently been appraised for $1 million was, the company determined earlier this month, now worth just $300,000—a 70 percent decline in possible value. These were happy tidings for the insurance company that requested the appraisal, and potentially devastating for the print’s owner. “The insurance company loved it,” says Winston Artory’s Co-Executive Chairman Elizabeth von Habsburg. “The client, maybe not so much.”

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