Appraisal and evaluation of manuscripts requires expertise and experience in antiquarian books and manuscripts as well as the textual studies of this field. Proficiency in visual and physical features of an item along with the knowledge of the styles, schools, materials and techniques of a work alone is not sufficient for an accurate evaluation. Knowledge of textual content of the book, proficiency in widespread fields of study like literature, history, mathematics, philosophy, religion, occultism, astronomy, etc as well as languages such as Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Indian, Urdu and Kurdish are crucial for a legitimate evaluation and appraisal. Of course, all these important skills are only practically significant when they are accompanied by years of experience in observation and handling millions of related works.
An initial consultation about whether the services of this department are appropriate for your needs is available for free. Please contact us for more information.
Fraud, forged and fake items have been around since the beginning of time. As long as there are valuable items and collectors, forgery will exist, so the ability to authenticate a work of artistic or historical value is extremely important. All throughout history, forgers and con artists have strived to make a fortune with manipulation of the original pieces by adding or removing certain features, or creating imitations from scratch. Occasionally, some of the imitation works were as good as the originals, and sometimes even from the same period, especially when the author of the work was famous in his lifetime. These rare cases make the authentication process very challenging and complicated.
An expert must have a clear understanding of, and experience in, detection of all kinds of typical forgery in each period and location as well as the techniques of forgery.
In our department of appraisal and evaluation, the authentication of every work is done by a team of experts rather than individuals working alone, in order to minimise the possibilities of any error. The final verdict will be issued in full detail in our certificate of authenticity.
An item with historical or artistic value has different valuation depending on the purpose of appraisal such as inheritance, family separation, insurance, auction, personal curiosity, retail, collecting, liability settlements, etc. Another factor that may change the valuation of an item is time. Any certificate of appraisal and valuation issued has a date which is a very important part of the certificate as the valuation may change even in a short episode of time depending on market demand and variables. For example, any big collector acquiring many pieces of a particular type, or an impending museum exhibition, will cause a sharp increase in demand, thus sharply elevating the prices. Therefore, we issue our official Certificate of Appraisal and Valuation based on the written request of clients specifying the exact purpose of their requirement, so that we can provide them the most precise and pragmatically useful certificate.
Important factors in the valuation of any manuscripts are: binding, illumination and decoration, calligraphy, illustration, date, signature, author, calligrapher, subject, size, and provenance. The quality and rarity of each and all of these influences the valuation of an item significantly, as does the overall condition of the item.
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