Art appraiser in Milan

Milan

Milan is the centre of the Italian art market and the city in which my practice took shape. I am a registered expert in modern and contemporary art with the Milan Chamber of Commerce and a court-appointed technical consultant at the Court of Milan, as well as an Accredited Member of the Appraisers Association of America (AAA), of ICRA and of CRSA. In Milan I examine works at the client's premises, at the offices of the professionals advising them, or wherever the works are held.

My reports follow the USPAP and IVS standards and are written to be read by people who are not in the art trade: judges, notaries, private bankers, trustees and insurance adjusters. Every figure is reasoned, tied to a date and to a stated purpose, and accompanied by my statement of independence: I hold no interest in the works and receive no commission linked to the value appraised. Reports are issued in English or in Italian.

Court appointments and party-appointed expert work

In civil proceedings concerning works of art, the judge may appoint a technical consultant to establish the facts. I am on the register of court experts at the Court of Milan and have been appointed by other Italian courts as well, carrying out those instructions with impartiality and within the procedural rules.

I also act for private clients and law firms as a party-appointed expert, attending the expert's examinations alongside the client and testing the method and the soundness of the other side's conclusions. The two roles are kept strictly apart and never overlap in the same proceedings.

For professional advisers and wealth structures

In Milan the request for a valuation often comes from those who administer significant assets rather than from the owner: private bankers, family offices, fiduciary companies, accountants, notaries and insurance brokers. The recurring instructions are the determination or the updating of values for insurance cover; the valuation of collections in estates, divisions between co-heirs and family arrangements; due diligence on documents, provenance and price before a purchase or a sale; and the inventory and valuation of corporate and institutional collections.

Each appraisal answers one stated purpose and says so: an insurance replacement value is not a fair market value, and a report prepared for one purpose does not transfer to another. Tax, succession and contractual matters remain with the professionals who handle them, to whom the appraisal provides a clear and documented technical basis.

Method

Every work is examined in person. The report sets out the identification of the work, an assessment of its condition, the reconstruction of its exhibition history, literature and provenance, the analysis of market comparables and the reasoning behind the methodology adopted. The assumptions on which the valuation rests, and any limits to the enquiry, are stated openly. Delivery times and fees are agreed in writing before the instruction begins.

Beyond Milan

My studio is in Como, at via Lambertenghi 41, and I work across Lombardy, Switzerland and internationally. For Lake Como and Ticino, see the page on the art appraiser in Como.