Online appraisals are challenging. Clients need confidence. See the below testimonials.

Online appraisals of general residential contents and rare objects has taken on a new meaning and an important step into a new reality while facing the Coronavirus and it aftermath. Our world has changed forever.

Novotny has provided onsite local appraisals of residential contents in Los Angeles and Southern California since the 1990's.He has had many thanks and great reviews: "Thanks for the great appraisal yesterday. I know the beneficiaries will be pleased with the thoroughness of your work ." My signed oral appraisal report was for selected objects for equitable distribution. The trustee  sought an oral appraisal  which I provided onsite following necessary research.

I now offer a similar appraisal  online nationwide, live, remote and interactive between my home and yours. This new online residential contents or rare objects appraisal service can be just as meaningful and informative as my onsite appraisal has always been.  As far as I can tell, I am one of only a very few live and interactive online appraisers offering an online appraisal nationwide, urban or rural, using Face Time and Zoom. Please note that without a personal inspection that limiting conditions apply.

Read my many past testimonials immediately below to find out more!

7/28/23: William's knowledge and expertise in the world of art and antiques are truly unparalleled. In just half an hour, he managed to impart a wealth of information about my art piece and antique items that I brought in for appraisal. It was like a fascinating crash course in history and craftsmanship!
What sets William apart is not only his vast knowledge but also his ability to communicate complex concepts in an accessible and engaging manner. He patiently answered all of my questions and took the time to ensure I understood the intricacies of each item's history and value. Definitely recommend getting your antiques appraised by Williams!

6/11/22

Bill is awesome! Very easy to connect with, very clear in his explanations, very knowledgable. Not only helped with the specific appraisal, but taught me a few things. On top of all that, he was so very enjoyable to talk with. Great sense of humor and perspective. Can't recommend him highly enough.

2/6/2021

I really enjoyed working with William. I inherited an antique love seat and I wasn't sure what it was worth. He walked me through the whole process and put me at ease. He isn't buying furniture so you can trust his appraisals. He was able to do the appraisal over zoom that day and at a very reasonable fee. I highly recommend him.

4/22/2020

Despite the Coronavirus, Bill was very helpful and willing to do whatever he could to provide a verbal appraisal from an email description and images I sent him of many items. He was even willing to do a FaceTime or Zoom call. He was incredibly knowledgeable, thorough, informative & accommodating. I would definitely recommend Bill for anyone looking to get anything appraised.  A+ service! He made the process seem so easy as he spoke honestly about everything so I could be better informed in making decisions about the old mid-early century furniture and relics from grandparents. Good man and good at what he does.

6/2/19: 

I called Novotny appraisal as I needed some guidance on some family heirlooms. Having never dealing with anything like this I was completely foreign to cost, types of service, etc. I contacted them via e-mail and within 2 hours I received a phone call from Bill. He was very kind and detailed in explaining the different types of appraisal services he offers. Based on my needs we went with his oral service. Three days later he arrived at my fathers house and appraised everything I needed him to. Not only did he give me detailed information about some items, he was kind enough to give me a great web site for further reference on certain artifacts. I was very happy with what he had to say about each item. He truly helped me decide on what to keep, what to sell, and what to donate. A real professional with over 30 years of experience and it shows. I would highly recommend Bill to anyone for any type of appraising. Thanks Bill!

1/3/2019

Bill is incredibly knowledgeable, sweet, and extremely experienced. I had several boxes of items that had been boxed up since early 2011. It was finally time to regain that space and I simply wanted to know what I had in my possession before donating or trying to sell it all. I unpacked everything and set it all up in my garage, and Bill came by with his handy price gun, making fairly quick work of several boxes of china and housewares. He delighted in some of the more odd items (old phone equipment from the early 1900's) and gave me the peace of mind I needed to take the next step. I've referred Bill to two other people in my sphere seeing as truth and reliability are hard to come by in this kind of business. Thank you Bill!!

8/23/2018

I had an excellent experience with Bill Novotny. I am successor trustee for a neighbor's Family Trust and needed appraisals for a house full of possessions in order to do an equitable distribution to the beneficiaries of the trust. For the sake of due diligence I contacted 3 appraiser. Mr. Novotny got back to me the same afternoon, one other waited 4 days to get back to me with a proposed time and the third never came back. We settled on a verbal appraisal of everything worth more than $100.  The day of the appointment Mr. Novotny contacted me when he was about to get on the road, arrived on time, did a very thorough review, allowed us to video the entire appraisal and was done in an hour and a half complete with prices, even for some interesting items valued under $100, and with some research. All of this for a vary reasonable price (less than some other appraisers' minimum prices.  I'm very glad I used Mr. Novotny!

2/26/2018

Bill came out to my house and appraised several items I had for my Dads estate.  He was on time, knowledgeable and fun to talk to.  He spend his own time showing me how to research on the computer as well.  Genuinely a super nice guy!  I would recommend him highly for all your needs.

3/11/2017

I have two large antiques and five smaller pieces, I want to sell them but had no idea of what to ask.  Bill came out and gave me an oral/written opinion of what I should ask and what I should expect to get for each.  He drove from Glendale to Tarzana and spent about an hour here.  Turned out nothing I had was worth a fortune, no surprise to me, but made me feel better about what to ask.  His price was extremely fair, he's a great guy, and I would recommend him highly.

9/9/2014

Super helpful, extremely polite, very knowledgeable in antiques. Will definitely recommend.

2/16/2013

I contacted Mr. Novotny after my mother died.  I am Trustee of her estate.  Mom has a houseful of mostly junk, but with some antique treasures hidden in the chaos.  I was facing a potentially contentious legal situation with a family member...Enter Mr. Novotny.  His professionalism has been outstanding since our first telephone conversation.  He spend a long time in our initial contact explaining how to best prepare for him to efficiently provide me a verbal appraisal of my mother's household property and antiques.    

On the day of the appraisal, Mr. Novotny arrived exactly on time, fully prepared, with a written contract that spelled out exactly what services he would be providing me.  I had labeled and numbered every item in my Mom's house on his advice.  There were close to a thousand items!  Amazingly, Mr. Novotny was able to give me a verbal appraisal of every item within a three hour period.  He then called me later, after the appraisal, to give me further information about one of the items he had evaluated.  

I am now prepared to hold an estate sale to liquidate the items in my mother's house.  I feel confident that I will be pricing everything fairly.  I can't say enough in appreciation of Mr. Novotny's knowledge of every aspect of property and antiques appraisal.  Aside from his knowledge and efficiency, Mr. Novotny is a delightful person to work with.  My husband and I enjoyed every minute of our three hours with him and learned a lot, too.  It truly was like having our own private Antiques Roadshow!  

Mr. Novotny's professional services were reasonably priced and worth every penny.  I recommend him highly for anyone who has the need of antique and personal property appraisal services.

5/11/2020

Clearing out my mother-in-law's house, we knew little to nothing about her possessions. We knew most items were from the 1960's and many things are in pretty good condition for their time. We knew we needed to figure out fair pricing to be able to liquidate. 

I called Bill... and he provided good information over the phone, and was willing to come out to the residence, following COVID-19 protocol, to provide us the verbal liquidation appraisals we needed since the residence was empty for many months and it was only my husband and I were going to clean it out. 

Bill was very ... honest about the reality of what he could get through in an hour. Depending on items and various other things he could get through 15 to 100 items in an hour. He said it  was to our advantage to lay all items out clearly for him to see and tag anything we wanted appraised. I had prepared a spreadsheet the night before with each item listed and space for me to write fair market value along with other descriptive and identifying information provided by Bill. I was ready to write quickly and had all items in order in each room according to the spreadsheet, following Bill's advice from his website instructions. 

Upon Bill's arrival, with gloves and mask on, he quickly identified and appraised each item. He provided good information we needed to do further research to confirm the appraisal value he provided. unfortunately, there were items he valued that disappointed us, but were in the end happy to know the realistic value. To our delight, Bill got through all of the items we wanted appraised within the hour and even had some minutes to spare to do some additional. 

We were able to record during the process so that anything that did not get captured in writing we had on audio.
I would definitely recommend Bill and would use him in the future.

Life must go on with some normality during this pandemic. Clients have many reasons for seeking an oral or formal appraisal and in many, if not most cases, Bill Novotny can help them solve their valuation problems, and answer all of their question online using video conferencing on Zoom. 

When I conduct a physical inspection onsite in Los Angeles with the client present, rather than remotely on Face Time as an online appraiser, there are frequently limiting conditions, extraordinary assumptions and disclosures that must be disclosed. These conditions also apply, plus more, when I conduct an online appraisal of your residential contents during a nationwide video conference.

06/11/2016

My mother's house is about 6,500 square feet.  Mr. Novotny arrived ahead of schedule, went through her possessions with care and efficiency and appraised everything valued at $50 or more, per our request.  (He can start appraisals at any dollar figure one chooses.). We had asked for an oral report only, which he recorded on his smartphone as we numbered each piece, along with any pertinent details.  He also does written reports and legal docs for different fees. Mr. Novotny is exceptionally knowledgeable in all fields:  English, European, Asian, American, antique, contemporary, etc., and for any type of item you may have.   My mother and I were impressed with his breadth of knowledge on so many different fronts.  He readily looked up any anything he wasn't sure about online to confirm or revise an appraisal. As an example, my mother had a Tiffany curved bowl serving spoon that Bill originally valued at around $150..  After deciding to look at the spoon again and take a quick trip to the Internet, he reappraised it between $750 and $800!   He was amazing. What we thought would be a tedious chore turned out to be a captivating, very informative and helpful afternoon. We highly recommend him to anyone looking for a professional, fair, fascinating person to appraise your treasures, or just your 'stuff'.  He knows  everything about everything!

DESCRIPTION OF WORK  Mr. Novotny appraised most of the furniture, oriental rugs, sterling silver, crystal,  china, clocks,  paintings, collectibles and a grand piano for my mother's estate.

04/06/2016

DESCRIPTION OF WORK  Mr. Novotny completed an appraisal for my Mother-in-law's estate. He advised me before hand how to have everything organized and prepared so the process would be efficient yet thorough. He was very pleasant and knowledgeable. I would definitely use him again.