Valuation (Schätzung)

Three different kinds of value

The market value («Verkehrswert») is what a sale would actually realise today — that is the figure that counts for a purchase and for dividing an estate. The replacement value («Wiederbeschaffungswert») is what an equivalent new item would cost and is used by insurers. The collector's value («Liebhaberwert») is what one specific collector would be willing to pay.

These three figures can be worlds apart. A fitted wall unit with a replacement value of CHF 4,000 often has a market value of zero. Conversely, an unremarkable-looking watch can carry a collector's value far above the ordinary market price.

When you need a specialist opinion

For watches, jewellery, precious metals, art, antiques, musical instruments, rugs, stamp and coin collections and militaria, an expert appraisal is worth arranging. For ordinary household goods it is disproportionate.

For items in those categories we bring in specialists. It costs time, but it stops a valuable piece leaving at the price of ordinary household contents — a mistake that cannot be undone afterwards.

The market has changed

Anyone applying values remembered from decades ago will almost always be too high today. Dark solid-wood furniture, period-style furniture, collectible porcelain, crystal, pewter and encyclopaedias have lost value dramatically over the past twenty years. Prices have risen, by contrast, for design furniture of the 1950s to 1970s, mechanical watches, vintage hi-fi and certain collecting fields.