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Appraised Auction
Description Value Price
Oriental rug (Rams) $200 312.50
Chinese silk rug (Banzai Trees), 34 x 56 inches 300 200.00
Chinese silk rug (Dragons), 49 x 86 inches 300 312.50
Chinese silk yellow rug, 56 x 28 inches 300 37.50
Chinese silk yellow rug, 68 x 98 inches 150 150.00
Chinese silk yellow rug, 49 x 74 inches 300 137.50
Chinese silk yellow rug, 56 x 28 inches 150 37.50
Indian rug, 55 x 86 inches 400 250.00
Chinese silk red and yellow rug, 62 x 36 inches 300 125.00
Chinese silk rug (Tabriz design), 72 x 106 inches 600 3725.50
We give little regard to this “appraisal”. We do not
believe that an astute, strong-minded, self-made multimillionaire
like the decedent, who indisputably collected only the finest and
most valuable gold coins, gemstones, and items of jewelry, and
who received enormous pleasure from flaunting his possessions
before others, would purchase assets with such minimal values as
listed by Butterfield.28 Nor does the appraisal state the
rationale underlying its low values; it merely recites a brief
general description of the asset with its proffered value. We
also know little about the appraiser (e.g., her credentials) or
the terms or conditions underlying the appraisal. We do know,
however, that the appraiser generally walked through the
decedent’s home, eyed most of the items in the home, and
28 We also find that many of Butterfield’s listed values are
considerably low when compared to the actual price for similar
assets per the receipts. Although we understand that some of the
items appraised by Butterfield ultimately sold at prices near the
appraised values, we do not know who bought the items at those
prices (e.g., dealer or consumer). Nor do we know whether
Butterfield had been instructed by the coexecutors to sell those
items for at least a set minimum value.
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