Poultry Roasting Recipe of 4 Generations
Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash
For generations, women in my family used this technique to roast poultry, including any large bird, whose white meat always comes out flavorful and succulent. All you need to do is rub some salt and spices, or some marinade, under the bird’s skin, and as far as you can reach. Another key step is to marinate your turkey 12–24 hours before you put it in the oven… And, don’t pack your bird with turkey stuffing as it’ll draw the juice out of the meat. Instead, fill it with apples.
If you’re an avid cook like I am, the paragraph above should be enough for you to make a mouthwatering turkey dinner. Or, keep reading.
My turkey is about 11 lb, and I’ll start preparing it tomorrow, Wednesday, November 22, early afternoon, for roasting it on the day of Thanks Giving.
Wash
Unpack from a plastic wrap, take out a bag with giblets from inside the bird, if any. Wash thoroughly inside and out, then pat it dry with paper towel. Set aside.
Prepare a marinade
I use lemon juice for my marinade. If you use vinegar, then marinate your bird for 6–8 hours before putting it in the oven. The longer you keep it in vinegar, the more it’d taste like one.
Heads up: you’re going to use marinade to rub it under the skin, inside the bird’s cavity, and over skin. So if you have a large turkey, consider using double the ingredients than in my recipe.
For 11-pound turkey:
1. squeeze a large juicy lemon into a small mixing dish;
2. to the lemon juice, add 4–6 large garlic cloves — chopped or squeezed;
3. add some chopped herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano) OR you may use 2 tea spoons of Italian Mix spice (maybe I’ll do that too this year!);
4. 1 teaspoon of ground coriander (I always use ground coriander for my dressings and marinades)
5. add some olive oil to the mix. I never measure how much oil I use, so I think it’s safe to guesstimate at least 3 table spoons or more;
6. mix everything well and set aside.
First salt it, then apply the marinade
7. pour some kosher salt into a small dish;
8. gently, so not to break it, lift the bird’s skin and insert your fingers between white meat and skin, separating skin from the meat. Start at the bottom of turkey breast and work your way up toward the neck. Don’t be concerned about the spine area;
9. when the skin is loose, dip your fingers into kosher salt and start rubbing salt everywhere under the skin. If your hand is small enough you may even get to the legs and thighs. Keep repeating until turkey breast and other parts (if possible) are salted well;
10. rub salt inside bird’s cavity, where the bag of giblets was;
11. rub the marinade as you rubbed salt, under the skin. Cover as much area as you can reach, and brush some of it inside the cavity too. If you brake the skin, you may sew it together or use thin and long toothpicks to hold it together;
12. cover bird’s outer skin and back with some marinade;
13. last but not least, sprinkle some salt all over the outer skin, but not too much as it’s already salted from inside.
Apples
Use any juicy variety of apples. I prefer Fuji, but that’s because they’re always available almost anywhere. You may put apples now and let them marinate with turkey in the fridge, or stuff them before you put the bird in the oven. For my size bird (11 lb), I can probably fit 1 and 1/2 apples
13. Wash, peel, remove core, and cut them into cubes or larger pieces;
14. stuff sliced apples, as many as you can fit, inside the turkey’s cavity. If you have any marinade left, you may pour it inside, into apples;
15. place marinated and stuffed with apples turkey into a deep dish (a Dutch oven or any other dish that has a tight lid) and into refrigerator for 12-24 hours.
The day of cooking
Take out the marinated turkey from the fridge an hour or so before roasting it. It’s always a good idea to warm meat up at room temperature before shocking it with hot oven.
16. I’ll roast my 11-pound turkey covered for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 350F in the Dutch oven, on convection setting. If your bird is much larger, consider keeping it covered for 1.5 hours;
17. uncover the turkey and continue cooking until it’s ready.
Package instructions recommend to cook 20 minutes for every pound of turkey. Also, I recommend squirting liquid onto turkey every hour as it’s roasting using a baster;
18. before you serve your turkey, scoop out the apples with a spoon to garnish your meal.
That’s it.
Bon appétit!
Tips: The sky is a limit with the type of spices you can use for any bird at any time. Try Chinese 5-spice mix, or Garam-Masala, or mix your own curry to suit your taste buds.
Disclosure: I’d never written cooking instructions before. My family keeps pushing me toward sharing my recipes with the world as, apparently, I cook very well both vegan and non-vegan meals, and my dishes are fusion of flavors and techniques of Central, Eastern, and Western Europe. The problem is I never measure anything (except when making pancakes and desserts). So I hope this recipe and technique works for you. I’d appreciate any comments.
Yours truly,
Aida
To All The Pet Owners
A friend of mine and an artist, Michelle Fulton, painted Charly’s portrait a year before his passing.
I put my dog, Charly, to rest on February 2, 2023. He was thirteen and a half years old and couldn't be operated on to remove his cancer. Couldn't be treated with chemicals either. His heart was too weak for any procedure. But not feeble enough to hold a world of love for me and my family.
You may or may not expect your parents or loved ones go away as they get old or sick. But there is always a cushion of space between you and them, as you may not see them every day until their end comes, or they demand a private space of their own, pushing you away with your 'unnecessary' feelings. You can throw your sadness into that space, toss your doubts, purge your feelings as if it's a void. That space is an extra room that allows you to wait for the end, come to terms with the inevitable. It's a place where you can ask forgiveness and hear that you're forgiven.
But your pet can't push you away, and there is no space between the two of you. There is not even a slit or a fracture where you could stuff your grief into. You can ask forgiveness all you want for things you may not even remember doing, and you will never hear that you're forgiven. Dogs can't speak.
But when you hug your dog, sobbing into his warmth, he manages to wriggle his frail body out of your embrace and start kissing you all over. “There is nothing to forgive,” Charly's tail wiggles, “only everything to love.”
Aida
3 Things You Need to Know About Donating a Property
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
With the tax season around the corner, many of you may be considering to donate a property, which is tax-deductible, to a relevant institution.
If you had never before made a noncash charitable contribution, you should know the following.
1. Related Use
Whether it is an art, books, cars, or a farm equipment, you'd be surprised how many people assume that a donee––an organization receiving the gift–– wants the donation and would use it as intended. If you're gifting rare and valuable American fiction to a university, for example, check with the English Literature department on how they'd benefit from your donation.
Your gift must be relevant to the organization. And, the higher the value of your donation, the more IRS will scrutinize your case. What happens if IRS decides that your donation doesn't satisfy related use rule?
At best, you may claim the costs of acquiring your objects, which could've been a long time ago and at low prices.
My suggestion: get a written letter from the donee on how they would benefit from your gift. Attach that letter (it can be a printed email with an electronic signature) to the Noncash Charitable Contributions Form 8283.
2. When to fill out Noncash Charitable Contributions Form 8283
The first page of the form is used to reflect the gifts' amounts. Section A for $5,000 and less; Section B for over $5,000.
Generally, if you're donating a property that is over $5,000 in value, you must complete 8283 form and attach the form to your tax return––use Section B.
If you're claiming deduction of many smaller gifts, and which amount to over $5,000 value, I'd still suggest filling out the 8283 form, Section A.
If you're donating to several organizations, you must fill out and attach to your tax return a separate 8283 form for each donee.
If you're donating art objects, the IRS prefers that you list them by medium and not by the artist. Group your paintings together, oils first, then acrylics, then watercolors, gouache, and pastels. Your next listings will be sculptures; then prints––etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, then photographic prints.
My suggestion: if you have various, unrelated to each other items, regardless whether they're art or farm equipment, list each type of object in a separate form. Same goes for the groupings. For example, if you have two similar cars––both in type and value––that you wish to donate to an animal shelter, list both vehicles in one form. Use as many 8283s as you need to list your donations in an orderly and clear fashion.
And, if you're donating different things to different charities, then make separate stacks of 8283s for each charity.
Resources: the 8283 form; the instructions to 8283 form
3. Fair Market Value
In your 8283 forms, you must report your donations using Fair Market Values. According to IRS, "fair market value (FMV) is the price that property would sell for on the open market." Which is an auction market.
Perhaps, you know how much your donated items are worth––because you work in that market or you follow it closely. But if you don't and may need to do some valuation research using various auction sources (which is my next appraisal article), IRS requires that your values are current and they must contain buyer's fees (or buyer's premiums).
Buyer's fees vary from auction to auction. Generally, it's anywhere from 5% (for a high-priced objects) to 23% that is added to a hammer price (when an auctioneer's gavel strikes a sound block).
How do you know which percentage to use?
Find an auction venue that sells similar objects to the ones you're gifting. Call them or learn from their website what their buyer's fees are. Use that percentage to figure out a final FMV.
For example, if the hammer price was a thousand dollars and the buyer's fees at that auction is 18%, then the final fair market value is $1,180. Or, $1,000 x .18 = $1,180
My suggestion: keep records of how you figured out your values and which auctions you looked at.
If you're researching art, there are several online databases to which you can subscribe to for a month or longer to do your research. Below is a copy of a record from Askart price database, where the reported sales prices already include buyer's fees.
But if you're using your own values, again, remember to add buyer's fees to your numbers.
Resources: IRS Publication 561: Determining the Value of Donated Property
Yours truly,
Aida
Are Anxiety, Depression, and Dementia Related?
My theory is that anxiety triggers depression and, consequently, dementia.
image by Milad Fakurian onSplash
I always wondered what happens to our brain if we repeatedly make decisions based on fear or in a state of anxiety––via the amygdala, a fear processing hub.
Someone in my family is now suffering from dementia. When I talked to his caretaker and recalled his habits and lifestyle, I discovered that he always made his decisions out of fear––a fear of tomorrow governed by a dangerous dependency on 'what-if'.
It starts with little things and small decisions. Like being afraid of spending money on basic, high-quality whole food because it's more expensive, and instead buying processed "buy-one-get-one-free" deli, which is hardly a delicatessen, let alone nourishing. What if I need these extra few dollars I just "saved" tomorrow.
Or staying home for vacation because of a plethora of reasons, all of which had to do with what-ifs. What if I get stuck, what if there is a delay, what if my hotel room is given to someone else, and I don't want to spend my discretionary income, because 'you never know'.
My relative was a building maintenance technician and a very good one, but he always had unsubstantiated fear of being let go from work, and for that reason never asked for a raise. Going to work every day was a nerve-wracking experience, because "what if today is the day they fire me" or "what if I can't fix something and they fire me".
When he came from work, he would eat, and then take a nap. A two- or three-hour nap. He didn't read, didn't socialize, at most, he’d sometimes watch the news. He felt he was safe sleeping. Nothing bad could happen while he snoozed. Then, he ate his dinner, watched his news, and went to bad.
Then the dreadful morning would come.
Was his life-style an indicator of depression? I would think so. But he never complained to a doctor. People who are depressed rarely do. And, as far as the doctor was concerned, his patient was healthy and fine.
When we learn a new skill, we create new pathways in our brain between our neurons. This process is called neuroplasticity. The more we do the same task, the less we have to think about it. The action becomes automatic, as repetition establishes strong neurological pathways. That's how we become skillful.
That's why it's important to never stop learning, occasionally do things outside our comfort zone, and keep engaging other parts of the brain with new experiences. New knowledge lights up our brain with activity, builds new connections, and can even secure old ones.
Solving puzzles is equally good for the health of our brain, as well as our emotional stamina, as it instantly gratifies us with the joy of seeking and finding solutions to problems.
My relative did solve mechanical and electrical problems, and there were many moments when he was, and probably felt, joyful. But with time, untreated depression and never-ending anxieties, his fear of life suppressed his reasoning, firing the amygdala repeatedly, but slowly extinguishing the light from the rest of his brain.
There might be underlying causes for his attitude toward life and predisposition to anxiety and depression. He was born prematurely during the WWII. His parents died soon after, and he was raised by his grandparents and aunt. There was little food on their table, and the family lived in constant fear of Stalin's regime, which instilled dread and hopelessness in most of the population.
These conditions might've shaped him into what he's today. But most importantly, he had no one to guide him out of his anxieties, until it was too late.
The age is key here.
More and more, young people start experiencing anxiety in their teen years. This is something to worry about as the anxiety can set off a depression, and vice versa.
The National Library of Medicine: National Center for Biotechnology Information references Depression and Risk of Developing Dementia article, which states that "earlier-life depression or depressive symptoms consistently have been shown to be associated with a 2-fold or greater increase in risk of dementia."
Anxiety is a taxing and toxic burden that no one should carry. As I observed myself and my relatives, I discovered that when we do something that goes against the grain of our philosophy, moral standards, or our soul, we start feeling uneasy and jittery. I think, that's how it starts. After all, an action produces an emotion, and emotions are anxiety triggers.
What are your triggers?
Yours truly,
Aida
Impossible Relationship
A satirical tale about mathematical relationship
Minus and Zero, w/c on paper, by Aida AZ
I snatch a drink from an open bar and quickly head to the corner of our big conference room. By the time I get to my favorite spot my drink freezes. It always happens when I hold it for too long. I put it aside on a little table next to me to let it thaw and observe the crowd.
The conference room fills up with digits from every department. There are a few big numbers here as well. Apparently, our company is celebrating a profitable end-of-quarter tonight. I had no idea. No one told me. They were probably hoping I wouldn't show up to jinx the success. But I overheard someone in the elevator this morning about the party. So here I am, having a free drink.
I catch a few digits staring at me with an even glare, rubbing their arms theatrically.
“Yeah, the chill follows me. Have some vodka,” I yell to them. But, in the big room, they are too far to hear me. What are they complaining about, anyway? At least their drinks are actually liquid, mine will be thawing for god knows how long.
None of the digits or numbers are ever happy about me being around. But I couldn't care less about their feelings. I know who I am and my place in the world. What are they going to do, fire me? I'll always be a part of the “team” whether the management wants it or not. Without me there would never be any improvements about how things are run, because I'm brutally honest about everyone's business affairs. They can't function without Minus. How else would they know that their business is about to go south.
My drink had finally thawed a little so I sip some of it through a paper straw, quickly swallowing the content before it freezes in my mouth. I would've ordered a hot cider, but shouldn't indulge in high-temperature liquids. Doctor's orders.
Showing up at the corporate events is never about a free drink anyway. It's about seeing Zero, catching her gaze now and then.
When I met Zero for the first time, an eternity ago it seems, I thought I was going to lose my mind. We were at the open bar, shoulder to shoulder, getting drinks. It was one of those end-of-fiscal-year corporate celebrations. My drink took no time to make because it was just a spiked coffee, hers was cynosure martini. I took my drink but didn't leave. As Zero patiently watched bartender struggle with keeping an anise star submerged and right in the middle of the liquid, I watched her. Then, she looked at me. Her big, round eyes were mesmerizing; their gaze was hypnotizing and pulling me into its dark void where a bottomless existence felt like home, comforting and serene.
cynosure martini, w/c on paper, by Aida AZ
Suddenly my drink burst into small shards of glass and frozen coffee. Of course, Minus, you're an idiot, I scolded myself, you forgot to set your glass on the bar. My misfortune seemed to amuse her, and she almost smiled. I took an advantage of her unflappable reaction and introduced myself.
"My name is Minus," I said, "what's yours?" I hoped my question would ignite a conversation, but she kept looking at me, almost-smiling. My temperature rose, positively turning me into one of those up-curves who tend to move toward Infinity. (How was it even possible?) Then she stopped almost-smiling and whispered that her name was Zero, and we gazed at each other for a moment. She was about to say something to me, perhaps comment on my mishap with my drink, but some hunky Ninety-Seven, in his prime, swept her away from me. He didn’t even let her wait for her drink. What an asshole! I was about to slam into him, but realized that I'd be freezing everyone to death. I'm the good guy here, I reminded myself, and let Ninety-Seven be.
I could never get to her that evening. Or any other evenings for that matter. She seems to be always “guarded” by a bunch of those always positive-looking digits and numbers. As if I'm contagious; as if saying a word or two to me would shift the earth out of its orbit. I overhear some say that Zero is “too sophisticated and industrious for a loser like Minus”; or “just last quarter, she worked hard to pull so many numbers out of dangerously freezing zones.”
They're wrong. Not about Zero being sophisticated and industrious but about us being together. Maybe I'm too full of myself to think that, but Zero and I could be great for each other. For her benefit, I know that she likes gazing, and not everyone can handle her stare as long as I can. For my benefit, Zero is resistant to cold and could never freeze to death while being around me. That and I feel she really likes me. Why else would she glance in my direction every time we're at these stupid events?
But I also know that a public opinion is far more important to her than our relationship. No one likes to be belittled. Any number, let alone a digit next to me is immediately viewed in a negative light. And Zero... She wants to shine. And she does when she's with the right numbers, because her presence adds value to any relationship.
Perhaps, one day Zero won't care about what others may think of her when she is in my company. Until then I'll be religiously showing up at our corporate events, hoping that today is the day.
Yours truly,
Aida
Fruit Fruit Fruit
The great warriors for battling tinnitus, and more.
a study of an apple, watercolor on paper, by Aida AZ
I'm not a medical professional. I'm a patient, just like you. I visit my physician on a yearly basis to make sure my health is in check. My doctor performs her usual routine then lectures me about cholesterol and the importance of a regular exercise, among other things. All is great, except none of the doctors I'd seen could explain my tinnitus and the afternoon fatigue. I took a ton of vitamins specifically designed for treating tinnitus but the ringing in my ears never went away. After getting tired of the high-pitched orchestra playing in my ears 24/7 and realizing the limitations of western medicine––with all due respect, I decided to do my own research and become my own experiment.
Determined to solve my tinnitus problem and the afternoon fatigue, I turned to alternative medicine—Ayurvedic medicine, as I was referred to an Ayurvedic doctor, who was also a Tibetan medicine practitioner.
From my Ayurvedic doctor, I've learned the world about the human body, its functions, and how resilient and vulnerable it is––all at the same time. For example, antibiotics weaken kidneys, and as a result, this may affect your lower back, and as a result…on and on, and on. I'm not against antibiotics. They help when truly needed. But after you finish taking them, you need to take care of your kidneys, but that's an article for another day.
But my paradigm had truly shifted when I experienced a dramatic change in my health for the better as a result of adjusting my eating habits. The meaning of you are what you eat finally sank in, making me realize that food can really be a medicine.
Hopefully, for many, or even most of you, this may not be anything new. But I'd rather not assume you know it all and share some of what I learned.
a study of a persimmon (sideway), watercolor on paper, by Aida AZ
As I cannot refer you to my Ayurvedic doctor—he's no longer practicing his craft, I can reference a book, which I spotted in his bookcase during one of my visits. It was written by a medical medium Anthony William. Although being a skeptic about medical mediums and anything that's not empirical, I did find the book informative: "Liver Rescue: Answers to Eczema, Psoriasis, Diabetes, Strep, Acne, Gout, Bloating, Gallstones, Adrenal Stress, Fatigue, Fatty Liver, Weight Issues, SIBO & Autoimmune Disease".
The book also contains lots of dietary information, some of which was recommended by my Ayurvedic doctor for my daily routine.
Long story short, tinnitus might be caused by a distressed liver that got deprived of nutrients––the liver needs to have daily meals too, or someday it'll quit on you.
So, what does the liver eat?
a study of a nectarine, watercolor on paper, by Aida AZ
Glucose. It needs glucose and vitamins from fresh fruit to function properly. But the liver can't absorb the good stuff when it's working hard to process your oily meal. The best time to eat fruit is on empty stomach, a couple of hours after your meal. Have an apple, grapes, dragon fruit, any fresh fruit or berries. And, after you eat your fruit wait at least 30-40 minutes to eat your next meal. The Liver needs time to process that glucose and store it.
According to Anthony William, when your body gets deprived of vitamins, the liver, being a storehouse and distributor of vitamins and minerals, will borrow from your own body to keep you alert throughout the day if its repository is empty. By the time we are in our forties (for some, even thirties), the liver's vitamin storage could empty.
This leads me to a question: If the liver, indeed, borrows from our own bodies, does this mean we start aging quicker?
According to the book, when having enough of glucose and vitamins in its storage, the liver starts giving the minerals and vitamins it borrowed back to the body.
That's what I've learned so far.
Back to my own experiment. I used to eat some fruit every other day at best, and usually after the meal. After committing to the daily fruit eating routine, I felt a world of difference. Not only ringing in my ears is now a rare occasion (knocking on my head, gently), my energy is through the roof. It took about two months for my tinnitus to diminish, and about a week to feel higher levels of energy.
a study of a banana and garlic cloves, watercolor on paper, by Aida AZ
ALSO, fruit contains a lot of fiber, which is not only great for your gut, but your brain. One of many scientific sources site: "Researchers found that higher levels of dietary fiber are associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia," and Alzheimer's!
Yours truly,
Aida
Retail Replacement Value
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
How it is used and what elements it consists of.
Just as there are wholesale and retail prices (and countless pricing strategies), appraisers must use the right value for a specific appraisal report — the purpose of appraisal. Think of purpose-of-appraisal as a particular life situation. In this case, insuring your personal property like a painting or über-expensive sneakers or a historical piece of furniture. If you have a home-owner insurance policy, most of the household items may already be included in the policy. But every time you purchase a valuable object, you should contact your agent and add that object to the policy using Retail Replacement Value (RRV).
RETAIL REPLACEMENT VALUE
Let’s decipher what Retail and Replacement stand for.
Retail:
Within a plethora of values, the Retail Replacement Value is the highest value because it resides in retail markets. If you purchased an artwork at an art fair (where prices are very high) or a gallery, your retail replacement value may be found on a gallery market.
Why the retail prices are so high?
Because the dealer who owns the gallery and who carries the artwork that you purchased, had just paid import tax on it; and, restoration, conservation, and framing costs; and, the costs of running and maintaining bricks-and-mortar; and, the costs of marketing, advertising, and public relations; and, the costs of insuring inventory while the piece is in the gallery (or during its transport); and, the costs of participating at art fairs, which is how you found your unique, signed photographic print in the first place . . . You get the idea. All these costs and expenses that a dealer has to cover are included inside that value.
Replacement:
When you lose a unique, personal object (in your case, a signed photographic print) that has also a sentimental value, and, perhaps even a historical value, it is nearly impossible to find its replacement. Although, you may be successful at finding a replacement for your photographic print, or an etching, or a stone lithograph, or a woodcut print, to name a few replicate types of media, if its negative or an etched plate or a stone or even a digital file still exists. But what if the print you own was printed and signed by the photographer who is now deceased, and none of his signed prints exist on the market? Yours was the only one.
That’s when you replace your lost art with a similar and not exact piece.
In other words, an appraiser would research the galleries who deal the type of art you own or used to own.
The official definition of RRV reads: Retail Replacement Value as the highest amount in terms of US dollars that would be required to replace a property with another of similar age, quality, origin, appearance, provenance, and condition within a reasonable length of time in an appropriate and relevant market.
Here you have it.
But you may be interested in answering this question: Since RRV is the highest on the market, can I sell my artwork using Retail Replacement Value?
No. You may not, because RRV is not a resale value.
Think of this concept in a context of purchasing a new car. As soon as your new wheels leave the dealership’s lot, your not-so-new car drops in value by at least 15% (various sources offer different opinions on that) and is now worth closer to a wholesale value.
Why? Because dealer has to re-market that car and pay insurance on it, to name some expenses, not to mention that the car now comes with some milage.
Also, let’s recall the concept of Value ≠ Price.
A value becomes price when a value offered by a seller is accepted by a buyer. When you purchased the car, you agreed with the seller and paid the price. When you return the car, you become a seller, and the dealer, who is now a buyer, would not appreciate (pun intended) the value at which you’re selling your car back to the dealership.
What does it have to do with selling a painting at RRV?
It is a similar concept. At the time of appraising your painting for insurance purposes, my research indicated that to obtain a similar item to yours on today’s market would require $20,000. That is, I valued your painting at $20,000 RRV. That is, to buy a new car, you’d have to spend $20,000.
Instead of keeping it insured, you decide to sell it at $20,000. You contact an auction house to consign your painting, but the auction refuses to use your estimate. Instead, the auction offers you the highest fair market value estimate (the type of value used at auctions) of only $12,000.
You take your painting to a dealer, who carries similar items in their inventory. When hearing your offer of $20,000, the dealer’s eyebrows fly up so high, you feel your livelihood may be at stake. Because, the dealers have to make money on your painting to be compensated for all the costs they’re accruing while running their business (refer to the retail part of RRV definition above). And, the gallery (just like the auction house) is now a buyer of your painting, and they disagree with $20,000 value you’re proposing. Instead, the gallery gives you a counter-offer of $10,000.
Are there any cases where RRV could be used as a selling price?
Only when an appraiser didn’t do his/her due-diligent research, grossly underestimating your property.
Yours truly,
Aida
What Is a Difference Between Price and Value?
What's a Difference Between Price and Value?
And, why should you care.
A price is a data, something that already happened and is now a part of history. Value, on the other hand, is a calculated judgment, an opinion. Another way to look at it is to imagine a transaction between a seller and a buyer. What seller proposes to the buyer for his/her objects is a value, a hypothetical price, at which these objects may be sold. When the buyer purchases the object, the value, becomes a price, a fact, a piece of historical data.
How would this knowledge apply to your situation?
If you contacted your insurance provider to add a painting to your home insurance policy, your agent would insure your art at a value that used to be a price, or many prices, as the value can be comprised of several pieces of data.
Huh? you might say, scratching your temple.
Yes, prices are pillars of statistics and facts, which tell us the financial status of your artwork on today's market, but equally important is quality of your painting, and its condition, and its size, and who owned it before you purchased it, and… One of many tasks, an appraiser has an ability to do—through training and experience—is to choose and compare several, similar to yours, artworks sold on today's market to derive a reasonable value.
By the way, insurance policies, charitable donations and estates (or any other IRS related reporting), assets dissolution(in a dissolved partnership or business), to name a few, all require a value in their reports, not a price. And, those values differ from one type of reporting to another. This is called a purpose of appraisal (a bit more on that in other articles).
What do I mean when I say 'artwork sold on today's market': today or recent are the key-words here. If you purchased your painting a week ago, it is still considered to be a recent purchase, and you may not need an appraiser to evaluate it. Just submit your proof of purchase along with COA––certificate of authenticity, if one is required, to your insurance company. This information should suffice for updating your policy. You're giving your insurance a proof of purchase on today's market.
So, what is not today or recent?
Depending on the type of art, and how volatile its market may be, three months ago may not be today any more. But if you purchased a painting by a 19th century American regional artist six months ago, its price may still be considered recent, and you may use this price as a fact for your insurance value.
Disclosure: The art markets are not normally volatile, as art is not a commodity. I simply wanted to demonstrate a point. For some art, prices stay within the same plane for years, for other they may fluctuate every other year. That's a whole another discussion––stay tuned.
In general, the field of art valuations is complex, but in the end, all goods including art, are sold on the market. Market is where the information resides. In my future articles, I'll discuss where to find that information and how to interpret it, as well as many other appraisal and art related topics. If you have specific questions, shoot me an email. I’d be happy to write article about it.
Yours truly,
Aida