Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Need SF area certified appraiser for Petroliana

I can't answer what makes a "certified appraiser" in California. But, in your case, if you are the estate's personal representative in California, you would fill out an Inventory and Appraisal form DE-160 and Attachment DE-161. If you have an attorney, he or she can help you with this. You list the items and descriptions and then submit to the probate referee. There are two appraisal categories: 1) Personal Representative appraisal and 2) probate Referee appraisal. Just keep in mind that you only have four months from appointment as personal representative to submit these forms.

The appraisals would be based on fair market values. So, if you are not knowledgeable in the items, you can use an independent expert in the field. That could be a collector who is knowledgeable through their education, experience, and training. The referee could accept a collector's appraisal as long as you can show that the person can be considered an expert in the field. This person does not necessarily have to be certified. Oldgas is a good resource for knowledgeable collectors.

With some items, you can list them collectively and give them a single value. This would be for something like smalls or oil cans that individually don't amount to much or if you have a small collection. For example, you could say "Petroliana Collection - $5,000.00" or "Vintage Oil Can collection - $1,000.00". But for items that are considered "unique, artistic, unusual or special item of tangible personal property", you should list those items individually. Typically, that would be a collector car, coin collection, and unique antiques.

Again, consult with your attorney on how you should assign a value to the collection to be sure. By the way, this isn't legal advice. The information can easily be accessed from Santa Clara County Superior Court website.