Joshua Baer: Qualifications as an appraiser of Antique American Indian Art
Joshua Baer is the managing partner of Joshua Baer &
Company, a private gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Joshua Baer & Company specializes in the appraisal, purchase, resale, and restoration of Navajo blankets and Navajo rugs. Joshua Baer & Company is a New Mexico Corporation and has been in business since October of 1987.
To get an appraisal, please click here or call 505 699 4711.
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Appraisal experience
Since 1985, Joshua Baer has performed more than two thousand appraisals of Navajo blankets and rugs. During this period, Joshua Baer has acted as a consultant to auction companies dealing in Navajo blankets, including Bonham’s of San Francisco, Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Christie’s of New York, and Sotheby’s of New York. Individual appraisal and consultation clients have included Tony Berlant, David Cook, Donald Ellis, Steve and Laurene Jobs, Ralph Lauren, Arthur Levitt, Hal Riney, Gerald Peters, Helen Schwab, Jack Silverman, Mark Winter, and other private collectors. Between 2003 and 2004, working on a pro-bono basis, Joshua Baer authenticated and appraised all of the classic and late classic Navajo blankets in the collection of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Joshua Baer & Company has advertised its appraisal and consultation services in the Santa Fe Yellow Pages, in American Indian Art Magazine, in The Magazine Antiques,and online at westernpictures.net and at navajoblanketappraisals.com,. Joshua Baer has appraised Navajo blankets which were later donated to the Navajo Cultural Museum in Window Rock, Arizona; the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe; the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe; the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado; and El Rancho de las Golondrinas in Santa Fe. Joshua Baer has also appraised works of Native American ceremonial art which were later repatriated to the Acoma, Apache, Hopi, Jemez, and Navajo tribes.
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Court case testimonials and tv appearances
In 1996, Joshua Baer testified as an expert witness in a civil suit involving the commercial values of Navajo blankets (Burke vs. Harmon; Lincoln, Nebraska, June, 1996). Joshua Baer has appeared on CNBC (January, 1997), on NBC (January, 1997), and on CBS (October, 2000) as an expert on the market for Navajo blankets and rugs. In the January 14, 1997, edition of USA Today, Joshua Baer was featured as an expert on Navajo blankets. Between February, 2000, and February, 2001, Joshua Baer performed online appraisals as the Native American art specialist at auctionwatch.com.
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Education and publications
In 1974, Joshua Baer graduated magna cum laude from the University of California at Santa Cruz, with bachelor’s degrees in Art History and English Literature. Joshua Baer is the author of three books: Collecting The Navajo Child’s Blanket (1986), Twelve Classics (1989), and The Last Blankets (1998). Joshua Baer is the author of numerous magazine articles on Native American art, some of which have appeared in Hali Magazine, The Magazine Antiques, Tribal Art Magazine, and the Santa Fean Magazine. Joshua Baer has also written articles about Navajo blankets and prehistoric Southwestern pottery for auctionwatch.com.
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Curatorial experience
In 1986, Joshua Baer was the curator of an exhibition of Navajo child’s blankets at Morning Star Gallery in Santa Fe. In 1992, he was guest curator of a major exhibition of classic Navajo chief’s blankets at the Monterey Peninsula Museum in Monterey, California. In 1998, he was the curator for The Last Blankets, an exhibition of nineteenth and early twentieth century Navajo double saddle blankets. The Last Blankets appeared at Joshua Baer & Company in Santa Fe, and at the Winter Antiques Show in New York. In 2001, in cooperation with the San Francisco Folk Art Museum, Joshua Baer was the guest curator for The Rio Grande Serape, an installation of nineteenth century Mexican, New Mexican, and Navajo serapes at the Tribal and Textile Show at Fort Mason in San Francisco.
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APPRAISAL POLICY
Joshua Baer & Company appraises works of antique American Indian art.
Verbal appraisals
Verbal appraisals are free. To receive a free verbal appraisal of a Navajo blanket or rug, send pictures to newmexico@newmexico.com. Make sure to include the dimensions of the blanket or rug along with your name and telephone number. After he receives your pictures, Joshua Baer will call you with a free verbal appraisal.
Email appraisals
E-mail appraisals are billed at the rate of $50 per blanket. E-mail appraisals include a circa date for the blanket, attribution of the blanket (i.e., Navajo, Pueblo, or Mexican), and the blanket's current fair market value. For more information regarding e-mail appraisals, call 505 699-4711.
Written appraisals
Joshua Baer charges $250 per hour for written appraisals. His minimum day rate for an on site collection appraisal is $500. Appraisals fees are calculated according to these rates. Appraisal fees are never based on the values of the Navajo blankets or rugs being appraised.
Standard Appraisals include the Replacement Value of the Navajo blanket being appraised. Custom Appraisals include Replacement Value and Fair Market Value of the Navajo blanket being appraised, along with recommendations of how, when, and where to sell or donate the blanket.
Joshua Baer is available for consultations regarding auction consignments, auction estimates and reserves, bidding representation, and long-term management of private or corporate collections. Consultation fees are based on the nature of the consultation, the hours involved, and the collector's ability to pay for the consultation.
Written appraisals in paper include:
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A picture of each item appraised
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The date of the item
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The tribal attribution of the item
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The item’s Fair Market Value
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The item’s Replacement value
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Suggestions and recommendations regarding cleaning or restoration (if necessary)
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Consultation with Joshua Baer regarding the best ways to realize the highest price for the appraised item.
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There are several common sense ways to reduce the cost of a multiple item appraisal. Many of our appraisal clients provide photographs and schedules of the individual items in their collections. After making sure each item is properly listed and described, we list the replacement and fair market value for each item, and then sign and date each photograph. Working that way, we have appraised as many as 10 items an hour.
Many collectors, institutions, banks, and insurance companies have used our written appraisals for loans, insurance claims, charitable donations, and IRS matters. We stand by our written appraisals, in that we can demonstrate to any bank, insurance company, or government agency that the values we assign to any item we appraise can be verified by comparable sales either at public auction or through private sales.
Joshua Baer reserves the right not to appraise any items submitted for appraisal. While almost any item can be appraised from a good photograph, an item of extraordinary value and rarity will usually require examination in person as part of the appraisal process.
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Appraisal fees
Joshua Baer charges $250 per hour for written appraisals. His minimum day rate for an on site collection appraisal is $500. Appraisals fees are calculated according to these rates. Appraisal fees are never based on the values of the Navajo blankets or rugs being appraised.
Standard Appraisals include the Replacement Value of the Navajo blanket being appraised. Custom Appraisals include Replacement Value and Fair Market Value of the Navajo blanket being appraised, along with recommendations of how, when, and where to sell or donate the blanket.
Joshua Baer is available for consultations regarding auction consignments, auction estimates and reserves, bidding representation, and long-term management of private or corporate collections. Consultation fees are based on the nature of the consultation, the hours involved, and the collector's ability to pay for the consultation.
Consultation and other services
Joshua Baer is available for consultations regarding auction consignments, auction reserves and estimates, bidding representation at auction, and long-term management of private or corporate art collections.
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