Disclaimer: the limits of an estimate

Last updated: 21 September 2026

Estimation Objet gives an order of magnitude, not a certified value. It is not an appraisal. An estimate is not valid for insurance, for an estate, for a tax return, or in court.

This page says plainly what the app can and cannot do. It is worth five minutes of your time: it will spare you a disappointment, and perhaps a bad decision.

1. What Estimation Objet is not

It is not an appraisal. An appraisal is the work of a professional who holds the object, opens it, measures it, compares it and puts their own liability on the line. The app looks at photographs.
It is not a certificate of authenticity. The view on authenticity says what the photos suggest, with the clues taken into account and what is missing to decide. It guarantees nothing and must not be presented to a buyer as a guarantee.
It is not an official valuation. No authority, no insurer, no notary and no judge has to take account of an estimate produced by the app.
It is not a promise of a price. Nobody undertakes to buy your object at the price shown, and no sale is guaranteed.
It is neither legal, tax nor investment advice. The app does not tell you whether to sell, when, or what to declare.
It is not a marketplace. The publisher buys nothing, sells nothing, introduces no one to anyone and takes no commission on your sales.

2. Why the result may be inaccurate

The estimate is produced by an artificial intelligence system that identifies the object and then compares it with sales of objects deemed similar. Either step can go wrong.

A photo does not show everything. A hallmark, a signature, a serial number, a repair, a chip on the back: what usually decides the value is what a picture does not show.
Copies are made to deceive. A careful counterfeit, a reissue or an object made "in the style of" are hard to tell from an original in photographs.
Comparables are sometimes missing. For a rare object, a little-known artist or a narrow market, there are not enough recent sales to anchor a price. The app signals this with a lower confidence level.
An asking price is not a price paid. Live listings show what the seller hopes for, not what a buyer paid.
Markets move. Prices rise and fall, fashions pass, and one exceptional sale distorts an average.
The price depends on where and how you sell. The same object is not worth the same at a flea market, in a consignment shop, in an auction room or on an international platform, nor from one country to another.
An artificial intelligence system can be confidently wrong. It can misidentify an object, invent a lineage or a date, and write it with assurance. The confidence level shown is a help, not a guarantee.

That is why the app returns a range rather than a single figure, shows a confidence level, displays the sales it used for comparison, and asks for details when they genuinely change the result. Answering those questions narrows the range. It never makes it certain.

3. What you must never do

Throw away, give away or destroy an object because the app values it at little. A human opinion rarely costs much, and a destroyed object cannot be recovered.
Pay a high price on the strength of an estimate alone, especially in a sale where you are being pushed to decide.
Declare a value to an insurer on this basis, whether to insure an item or to support a claim.
Divide an estate or draw up an estate inventory from these figures.
Complete a tax return (inheritance, gift, wealth tax, capital gains on works of art) using an estimate from the app.
Produce an estimate in court or in a dispute, as evidence of the value of an asset.
Assure a buyer that an object is genuine, old or signed, on the strength of the app's answer. A seller answers for what they claim.
Sell without checking the rules: ivory and protected species, taxidermy, weapons, cultural goods subject to export licences, counterfeits. What the app says on these points is indicative and may be incomplete.

4. When to see a professional

As soon as more than curiosity is at stake, have the object seen. That is true if it looks valuable, if it is signed, if it comes from an estate, if it needs to be insured, divided or declared, or if a buyer insists on taking it off your hands right now.

An auctioneer for a valuation ahead of an auction sale.
A judicial officer for an estate inventory or division, usually alongside the notary handling the estate.
A specialist expert for the authenticity of a work, a watch, a piece of jewellery or an instrument, in particular experts listed with the courts of appeal or members of a recognised professional body.
An artist's committee or rights holder where one exists: for many artists, only they issue the certificate that counts on the market.

Many auction houses offer a first valuation from photographs, free of charge. The app is a good way to find out whether that is worth doing.

5. Legal scope

This page is provided for information. It supplements, without replacing, the terms of use and sale, which prevail legally, and in particular their articles 10 and 11 on the nature of the estimate and on liability.

This is a translation provided for convenience. In the event of any discrepancy, the French version prevails.