How to Value A Quilt

This blog post is inspired by a content request from one of my Patrons:

I'm starting to get juried into some shows. They always ask for the value of my quilt. Since I've never had anything appraised, I don't have the least clue what the value would be, so I always just use the maximum amount you can say without getting an appraisal. I'd love to hear your thoughts about appraisals. How would one get one? When would one get one, in terms of skill level? How much do they cost? I'm not so interested in spending more on an appraisal than the quilt is even worth, but I don't know how to make that sort of assessment.

The short answer is that a quilt's value is going to be different depending on the situation or purpose. In order to go into more detail, let's break it down into parts:

Valuing a Quilt for Insurance

Whenever I enter a quilt in a show, one of the questions on the submission form is always to the effect of, "What is the value of this quilt?" Whenever I ship a quilt to the show, the shipping company inevitably asks, "Do you want to add any extra coverage beyond $100?"

The purpose of these questions is for insurance. In the event something awful happened and my quilt was damaged or lost, what payout will the insurance company give me in compensation?

As my Patron said, when she enters a quilt show she has just been filling in the maximum amount. For example, let's say the maximum amount is $5,000. So if her quilt were to be lost while at the show, she can expect a payout of $5,000...right? Not so fast.

An insurance company isn't going to just hand out money — let alone $5,000 — on the artist's say-so. They're going to want proof that my quilt is worth what I say it's worth. This is where an appraisal becomes important. An appraisal is a valuation of the quilt that functions as proof of it's worth.

What if I don't have an appraisal? Then the insurance company is going to value my quilt based on the only tangible evidence I have: the cost of materials. The amount of time I put into making it is completely irrelevant. But the materials I used have value, and I can (hopefully) produce receipts proving how much I spent on acquiring them. If I can't produce receipts, then I may only get reimbursed the cost of a generic blanket from a big box store.

It's also important to note that this goes for a shipping company's insurance as well. Even if I pay for extra insurance up front, I won't get a payout unless I have proof my package is worth what I say it's worth. And while a shipping company is happy to take my money for insurance up front, they will fight tooth and nail to avoid having to pay me in the event of an accident. For what it's worth, I personally never pay a shipping company for extra insurance. My quilts are already insured in other ways, which I'll cover later on in this post.

Valuing a Quilt for Sale

An artist has a lot more leeway to set a sale price than an insurance value. This is when I can start factoring in how much time went into making the quilt and allow that time, along with other factors, to affect the cost. When determining prices for my own work, these are the factors I consider in order of importance:

When first starting out as an artist looking to sell, I recommend coming up with a price that you would be happy to receive in exchange for your art. Use this is a starting point, but know that the price may need to change. What you think your quilt is worth and what the market thinks your quilt is worth may not be the same.

At this point in my career, I have built a name and reputation for myself and my work. As a result, my work commands a higher price because it has been proven to be worth that amount. Today, my quilts sell for 4-5 figures each. But when I first started in 2006, I had no resume to speak of. I was entirely unknown in the art world, and although I had artwork in several galleries in PA, it was selling for $50-$100 each (which equates to about $80-$150 in 2024).

Back then, if I had priced my art in the $500+ range, it would not have sold. Just because I wanted more for my art didn't mean the people considering purchasing it were willing to pay a higher price. It took years for me to build my portfolio and resume to the point where I'm now very happy with my artwork prices. But it was a long, slow process.

As a new artist, this is something that is really worth thinking about. Almost certainly the price you've thought of and would be happy to receive is too high, meaning it's unlikely to sell for that amount. When I was starting out, I felt it worth the dissatisfaction of selling my art for less than desired because I was treating each sale as a stepping stone in my career. You may not agree, and that's okay. There's no right or wrong answer here. Ultimately, you need to decide what you’re comfortable doing.

Appraisals

An appraisal is a document certifying the value of a quilt. The appraiser who does the assessment is an individual who has been trained, licensed, and certified by a national or international organization specifically to assess quilts.

There are different types of appraisals, but the kind I have always gotten are appraisals for insurance. These are appraisals specifically for insurance value reimbursement in the event something were to happen to the quilt. Another type of appraisal is for sale. As a new artist, having a sales appraisal backing up your pricing could be a very good thing for prospective buyers. (I did not know about appraisals when I first started my career or I probably would have gotten them done on my art way back then.)

If you're entering quilt shows, getting an appraisal is pretty easy. The "chain" quilt shows (AQS, Mancuso, and the International Quilt Festivals), always have appraisers at the show. If you're entering, often an appraisal request can be completed at the same time as the rest of the competition paperwork. Otherwise, you can take a quilt with you to the show and have the appraiser assess it while you're there (this may require an appointment, so check ahead of time). Getting an appraisal will likely cost in the range of $50-$100 per quilt.

An appraiser I worked with recently was Robin Koehler. Robin is an appraiser certified by AQS and she appraised my Date Night quilt while it was on display at AQS Daytona earlier this year.

This is the form Robin asked me to complete ahead of the show:

Quilt Appraisal Form
All appraisers will have a form similar to this one that will need to be completed.

In addition to this form, I provided Robin with a full resume. I received my completed appraisal a couple of weeks after the show.

Should you have your quilt appraised?

My personal opinion is yes. Especially if you're entering quilt shows or your quilts are otherwise out of your hands, get an appraisal. You'll have no control over what happens to them once they're shipped off or hanging at a venue, so having a document that proves their value goes a long way to providing peace of mind. Additionally, some quilt shows require an appraisal if you list your quilt as being worth over a certain value.

If you're just starting out with selling your work, an appraisal for sale may be a worthwhile investment. It could be a good way to reassure prospective buyers that their money is well-spent.

Quilt Appraisals vs Fine Art Appraisals

A quilt appraiser is trained to assess quilts. They will determine a price or value for your quilt by comparing it to their knowledge of all other quilts. On the other hand, a fine art appraiser will look at a quilt as a work of art and determine its value by comparing it to their knowledge of art, which is a much broader pool than just quilts. This could have an impact — be it positive or negative — on how a quilt is valued.

I have had a few of my quilts assessed by both a quilt appraiser (not Robin, for what it's worth) and a fine art appraiser. At the time, the fine art appraiser assessed my quilts appx. ten times higher value than the quilt appraiser. He told me that his estimation was in no small part because my style was unique; he'd never seen anything like it over his many decades of working with fine art.

Since the fine art appraisal was higher, does that mean the quit appraiser did a bad job? Not at all. The quilt appraiser was looking at my work through a "quilt" lens, and at the time, my work was not noteworthy when compared to other quilts. But once the lens chancged to "fine art", it was an entirely different story. Not everyone will have the same experience.

Is it worth getting a fine art appraisal? Maybe. But the cost of a fine art appraisal, at least for me, was 2-3x greater than a quilt appraisal. I personally feel that if you're working as an art quilter and have begun to build your career (made a few sales, won a few awards, etc.), then it may be worth getting a fine art appraisal. Until that point, it's much more economical and convenient to get a quilt appraisal.

Insurance Coverage

Last but not least, let's talk about insurance coverage. My insurer has told me that my quilts are covered by my homeowner's insurance even when not at my house. This is why I do not pay for extra insurance from shipping companies. (Note that if I were to ever file a claim on a damaged quilt, I would still be liable to cover my deductible.)

However, an unusual quantity or value of artwork is not something generally assumed to be included in most homeowner's policies. I wanted to be completely up front with my insurance company, so I provided my appraisals to them and purchased an additional insurance rider specifically to cover my artwork. This may be something you want to consider doing as well.