How We Charge For Appraisals

We offer a virtual appraisal for a limited number of items.  You can provide us with a photograph and a complete description of a mineral specimen, including size, any damage, and any unique characteristics that may affect the value, and we will research and provide the current Replacement Value (Insurance) or Fair-Market Value (Donations).  By providing us with most of the information we would gather during an on-site examination, you eliminate our costs for travel, examination, and documentation.  This reduces our appraisal tasks to identification, research, valuation and report preparation.  We pass these savings to you.

We charge the following fixed costs for a virtual appraisal:

•   $75 each for up to the first five mineral specimens, and
•   $50 per mineral specimen, for over the first five specimens.
•   If you have more than 10 specimens, we suggest that an on-site appraisal may save you money.

You will be e-mailed a typed, signed, certified appraisal report as a PDF file within seven business days of our receipt of the item information and payment.  If an IRS appraisal is required, an additional $50 charge will apply due to the greater documentation of value required for these reports; we will also prepare a signed IRS form 8283 for you.   We accept payment by check, and by credit card or other electronic payment via PayPal.

Our appraisal fee is a flat rate of $250 per hour of on-site examination, which includes examining, describing and photographing your mineral specimens.  This is the only amount you will be charged for the appraisal report.  You will not be charged for any of our off-site work, such as the time necessary to research the market value, and for compiling and preparing the appraisal report.  For example, if we spend one hour at your site photographing and describing your specimens, and then spend four hours on research and report preparation, you are charged for only one hour.  We have a minimum charge of one hour, which includes one hour of on-site examination, and all the subsequent research and appraisal report preparation. Any additional services, such as revisions of prior appraisals and creation of additional reports is charged at a rate of $100 per hour.

This flat-rate fee approach allows you to control the total cost of the appraisal.  You can decide to end the on-site examination at any time based on your budget.  Before the appraisal begins, you can tell us the total amount you wish to spend for the appraisal, and we will adjust the number of mineral specimens we describe to fit the time.  We can generally give you an estimate beforehand of the amount of time we believe it will take to examine a collection.  We offer lower rates and negotiated rates for less complex appraisals, or for repeat appraisals where we have access to valid descriptions and photographs of the items.

Remember, if the appraisal is for a mineral collection that you are donating to a charitable institution, and the fair-market value is expected to exceed $5,000, you must provide enough budget so that we have adequate time to fully examine the collection and prepare a defensible certified appraisal per IRS regulations.

You will be e-mailed a typed, signed, certified appraisal report as a PDF file typically within 2 to 4 weeks following the on-site examination, depending on the size of the collection and the complexity of the appraisal.  If an IRS appraisal is required, we will also sign your IRS form 8283, once it is made available to us.  We accept payment by check, and by credit card or other electronic payment via PayPal.

We charge one-way travel expenses at our hourly flat-rate fee for appraisals within our normal travel area (approximately 2 hours travel distance).  Additional travel charges, such as hotel and airline tickets, limited to our costs plus a 10 percent markup, may be incurred if your appraisal is located outside our normal travel area.  We will tell you at the time you make an appointment if such additional travel charges are required.

At any time during the examination period, we can provide you with a written fee agreement that states the number of hours spent during the on-site examination.  This agreement guarantees the total appraisal fee for the appraisal.  You will never owe any more than the total fee stated in our agreement.