Rosemont Art Advisory was peased to interview Rachel Doerr, Art Valuer at Doerr Valuations. Having worked within the Art & Antiques industry for the last 25 years and over the past ten years she has been responsible for looking after both clients and professional advisors with their valuation needs. Rachel and her team offer an independent service to provide valuations of fine art, antiques, jewellery, watches and classic cars, as well as a full range of other art related advisory services.
This interview is part of series of artist interview, released every month in our newsletter, to receive it, please contact Karolina Blasiak
How did you become an art valuer?
I set up Doerr Valuations Ltd in 2016 after working in the auction industry since 1989. I wanted to create a truly independent and niche business, with such a degree of personal attention that clients could be completely confident in the service we offer.
Today the business is thriving and I am enjoying every moment of it. Owning and building your own business is very special but I couldn’t do it without the amazing team around me. My team includes some of the most renowned and internationally recognised valuations specialists, including those in Art, Antiques, Jewellery, Watches, Cars and other valuable collectables. I have huge support from insurers, brokers, wealth managers and others within the industry for which I am hugely grateful. My vision is to be the only independent valuation business in the UK that is not connected to an auction house – a vision that is becoming more and more real every day.
What determines art value? Do you practise benchmark value?
We value for Insurance; Probate; Divorce and Market Value. Value depends on the purpose of the valuation.
If we are valuing for replacement purposes, one of the most important things is to establish with the client where they would choose to replace, if we don’t understand their buying history we can value. Values can differ on where a client replaces. The secondary market; how artists are preforming at auction and auction records over a period of time will assist in the research being completed. We would then look at Galleries who sell recognised artists and what they are selling for in a retail environment. But, size; medium; signed; fashion; who the artist is; provenance… all affect value! You always need to see a piece to appraise the work to provide a valuation.
What are the main challenges in valuing old master versus contemporary art?
These are two very different areas of the market…. And two very different specialists… we have a wonderful team of picture specialists but it depends what the collection is to determine who attends site and it could even be 2 or even 3 specialists…
The requirements and information needed to appraise an Old Master is very different to a Contemporary work… mainly down to age; condition; provenance.
David Dallas is our Old Master specialist, he has over 50 years working in this field and when he started his career Old Masters were seen as the pinnacle of the market and what clients wanted to collect. In 1969 when Dave worked for Christie’s the Old Master sales accounted for 37% of their turnover and today Dave would suggest it is 1% .
For more information, please contact Karolina Blasiak, our Art Advisor at k.blasiak@rosemont-mc.com
Credits Pictures:
Rachel Doerr
Other pictures http://www.doerrvaluations.co.uk/