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October 5, 2004

Dear Sir or Madam:

A Classic Plains Indians (Sioux) Beaded and Fringed Hide Women’s Dress,

Late 19^th to early 20^th century

WOW! I haven’t appraised one of these in a while.

The market for Native American Indian property is very strong right now with prices realized generally exceeding auction estimates. It is my opinion this dress would do the same.

The values stated below are from a fairly recent Sotheby’s Auction estimate for a somewhat similar dress – although no two are ever the same.

History

The Plains Indians lived in the area from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to Mexico. The most important tribes were the Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, and Comanche. The plains area was hotter than 100 degrees in the summer, and could drop to 40 degrees below zero with heavy snows in the winter. The region was so dry that when it rained it often flooded. The rolling land was covered with grassland and a few mountains. The Black Hills was high and steep. Few Indians lived on the Great Plains before white men brought the horse in the 1600’s.

The women made their clothing from buffalo hides and deerskin. Boys wore nothing until the age of 10 then they began wearing breechclouts. A breechclout was a deerskin stretched between the legs and fastened to by a leather belt in the back and the front. In cold weather the men put on robes and high boots made from buffalo hides. The young girls wore breechclouts. When they reached adolescence they began wearing loosely fitting, long-sleeved dresses stitched together with deerskin and decorated with fringe, beads, and small pieces of metal.

Both men and women painted their bodies, faces, and scalps with brightly colored paints made from clay and juices of berries and fruits. The men pierced their ears. Men wore their hair long and separated it into two braids that were decorated with strips of fur, leather, or a single feather. The women cut their hair much shorter than the men.

Source: http://www.mce.k12tn.net/indians/reports4/plains.htm

This is an online appraisal report prepared on and with the above-indicated effective date. This appraisal has been conducted on the client’s behalf at the request of whatsitworthtoyou.com herein after called the appraisal management company who forwarded me information provided by the client regarding the property that is the subject of this appraisal report. Use of this appraisal report is subject to the Terms of Service as listed on the www.whatsitworthtoyou.com web site.

By agreement between the appraisal management company and the client, the scope-of-work for this appraisal assignment has been limited to providing an estimate of market value for the function of contemplated sale or purchase, or personal planning including insurance. This appraisal is invalid if used for any other purpose. This is a restricted-use appraisal report that can be used only by the client and no one else. The appraiser’s opinions and conclusions set forth in this report cannot be understood properly by anyone other than the client without additional information in the appraiser’s work file. Due to the requirement for anonymity, this appraiser is unaware of the identity of the client, but assumes the client to be a private party.

Value conclusions are based only on client-provided written descriptions and digital images of the property, and not on a personal inspection of the property by the appraiser. Accordingly, this appraisal may have made use of extraordinary assumptions, any one of which if inaccurate could render the value conclusions inaccurate. The appraiser has determined that this appraisal process is not so limited that the reported results would tend to mislead the client or intended users. The client is aware that the resulting value conclusions may be less reliable than had the property been personally inspected.  For greater reliability and for appraisal uses other than that listed above, it is suggested that the client submit the property to a qualified appraiser for a personal inspection.

This appraisal report offers an opinion of market value, which is defined as the most probable amount of money a buyer would pay, and a seller would receive for an item within an identified market. The appraiser has used what s/he considers to be the most common market for the subject property, and assumes a willing buyer and a willing seller — neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of all relevant facts. Values given do not take into account expenses that might be incurred in selling or purchasing the property such as sales commissions, finder’s fees, shipping, photography, or insurance costs.

In this appraisal, value has been established by the sales comparison approach. This method of valuation involves comparison of the property with similar items, which have sold within the wholesale and retail market that I considered most common for the subject property. This approach makes use of data obtained from professional art databases, the market including sales at retail stores and live/online auctions, price guides, opinions of other experts, or other personal observations. Unless otherwise noted, markets explored appeared to be balanced and stable.

The condition of the property being appraised is as noted above. Condition is based on client-provided descriptions and from what is apparent from examination of the image(s) provided. Unless otherwise stated, the appraisal is based only on the readily apparent identity of the item being appraised. No further guarantee of authenticity, genuineness, attribution or authorship is represented.

When dealing with works of art on paper, regardless of age, with very few exceptions, condition is a critical factor. In order to be considered in good or better condition it must be free of any tears, creases, wrinkles, folds, foxing (mildew spotting), fading, staining, toning (paper discoloration), laid (glued down), or trimmed. Any of the aforementioned will diminish the value accordingly usually determined by a fine art dealer and/or auction house.

For appraisals being done for contemplated sale, the appraised value is based upon the whole interest and possessor interest of the owner, undiminished by any liens, fractional interests or any other form of encumbrance or alienation. However, this appraisal is not an indication or certificate of title or ownership.

The value conclusions expressed herein are based on the appraiser’s best judgment and opinion and are not a representation or warranty that the items will realize those values if offered for sale at auction or otherwise. The values expressed are based on current information as of the date the appraisal was made. 

I certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief:

• Statements of fact contained in this report are true and correct.
• The reported analyses, opinions, and conclusions are limited only by the reported extraordinary assumptions and limiting conditions, and are my personal, impartial, and unbiased professional analyses, opinions, and conclusions. I have no undisclosed past, present or contemplated future financial interest in the property that is the subject of this report, and no undisclosed personal interest with respect to the parties involved.
• I have no bias with respect to the property that is the subject of this report or to the parties involved with this assignment.
• My engagement in this assignment was not contingent upon developing or reporting predetermined results.
• My compensation for this appraisal is not contingent upon the development or reporting of a predetermined value or direction in value that favors the cause of the client, the amount of the value opinion, the attainment of a stipulated result, or the occurrence of a subsequent event directly related to the intended use of this appraisal.
• This appraisal has been prepared in conformity with The Appraisal Foundation’s Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), and with the Appraisal Report Writing Standards and Code of Ethics of the Association of Online Appraisers.
• My inspection of the property that is the subject of this appraisal was limited to client-provided descriptions and digital images and/or photographs. In my opinion, this limiting condition did not prevent me from preparing this report in a complete and professional manner.
• Unless noted elsewhere, no one provided significant personal property appraisal assistance to the person signing this report.
• Value of an item is affected by many factors including but not limited t condition of property, geographic region, present economic and market conditions.
• The authenticity and merchantability of the property is not guaranteed.
• Alterations to the appraisal report unless by addendum shall render the entire report invalid.
• Artwork is appraised with no consideration to the value of the frame.
• When artwork, or other property is unsigned (unmarked), or the signature is indecipherable (unclear) the statement of value is based on professional opinion, and experience with similar property. Further research to determine the name of the artist or maker requires many hours of additional research, which is too costly considering the nominal fee received for the online appraisal. In certain instances the client may wish to have the property examined and appraised first hand. Fees vary from appraiser to appraiser but generally begin at $100.00 an hour.  

Possession of this report does not carry with it the right of publication. Furthermore, no change to this appraisal shall be made by anyone other than myself. In accordance with the terms of service, I regard information concerning this appraisal as confidential. My qualifications to conduct this appraisal are listed http://www.richardschlom-antiqueappraiser.com

This appraisal is kept in the whatsitworthtoyou.com archives. During the time it remains in their archives the Client can verify the appraiser's electronic signature by contacting http://www.whatsitworthtoyou.com

Sincerely,

Richard Schlom

http://www.richardschlom-antiqueappraiser.com & http://www.tyler-galleries.com

This online appraisal is an expert's opinion of the item(s) depicted above based solely on images and information supplied by our customer. Additional information, not shown on this certificate, may have been taken into account for this online Appraisal.

Please Note: Our service strives to include the best international authorities in their respective fields. While the appraiser may be an expert in rendering the valuation, please understand that they may not be completely fluent in English.

* Current Fair Market Value is the amount someone might receive when selling their item to a dealer or at auction. It is also the amount most government tax agencies (IRS, Revenue Canada, Inland Revenue, etc.) recognize as the tax deductible amount were the item donated to a charitable organization.

** Replacement Cost is the retail amount one might reasonably pay to purchase the item from a dealer, gallery, store, etc. It is also the amount for which one may want to insure an item.

For currency conversion go to http://www.xe.net/ucc/full.shtml

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