Qualifications of Appraisers
*The two important qualifications for an accurate appraisal are the ability to identify the objects to be appraised and a thorough knowledge of the antiques market.
We have over twenty-five years of combined experience as appraisers of antiques and fine arts. Furthermore, we have individually been serious collectors of antique European and American decorative arts, furniture, paintings and prints, as well as Asian decorative arts, for over thirty years. These professional and collecting interests give us an intimate familiarity with the art and antiques market (auctions, antiques shows, dealers, private and institutional collectors) and the scholarly research that informs it.
Osborne Mackie
Founding Executive Director and Director Emeritus of Tudor Place (house and garden), Georgetown
Attorney, member of the Virginia State Bar, with a special interest in trusts and estates
Author, The Massie Saga, the chronicles of generations of a Virginia plantation family (to be published), based on an extensive collection of nineteenth century manuscripts (chiefly the James Pleasants Massie Papers)
Advisory Council, Woodlawn Plantation and the Pope-Leighey House (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), owned by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, with primary responsibility for collections
Memberships include: The Decorative Arts Trust, the Washington Decorative Arts Forum, the American Ceramic Circle, the Philadelphia Athenaeum
Certificate, The Attingham Summer School, England (for the study of the British Country House)
Degrees: English Literature (A.B., Princeton University), Architectural History (M.A., the University of Virginia); and Law (J.D., Washington and Lee University)
Ben West
Antiques dealer for over 20 years, currently exhibiting at the Delaplane Antiques Center (Virginia)
USPAP certified (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice)
Trained as an auctioneer
A record of attending over 200 auctions per year (plus on-line previews)
Formerly in international business, Washington, D.C., New York and Rome
Degree: English Literature (B.A., Case Western Reserve)
