Blessed or cursed (depending on the day you asked us) with a cache of antique furniture, china, silver, art, textiles and collectables a savvy friend suggested we photograph/catalogue our stuff to sell on eBay. Mission complete, we realized we had absolutely no idea what any of it was worth, zero, zip, nada which put us back to square one and that was impeding our remodel plans. Bottom line our stuff, minus the pieces we knew would blend well with the modern look we wanted to achieve, had to go before we could start. We were to say the least overwhelmed! Same savvy friend suggested we contact personal property appraiser, antiques appraiser William M. Novotny ISA AM https://www.novotnyappraisal.com/ who had recently assisted a friend of hers preparing an estate sale. We made an appointment with Mr. Novotny. His consultation fee was $200 and because we were out of his business radius, a travel fee of $100 was added. Money well spent though as he honestly, professionally advised us that what we had was basically "brown furniture", not of much value with a few noteworthy pieces (the ones we intended to keep). So, my always thinking, sweetie, asked how might we get rid of all our stuff? Mr. Novotny referred us to Abell Auction Company http://abell.com/ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/classichollywood/la-ca-mn-classic-hollywood-20160221-story.html (review to follow). As Mr. Novotny's website proclaims, "When value is in doubt - find out!" We're SO glad we did. read more

I bought this bar cabinet a while back for really cheap but didn't know how much it was really worth. Bill did great and provided a lot of information to me about the piece - name, its approximate price, where I could go and find out more information. Overall really impressed with his knowledge, would highly recommend to a friend! read more

I recently went to an Estate Sale that this company appraise, in which I had a really bad experience with the man in charge of selling the items in home. I saw a really nice sofa that had a price tag of $50. I offered $20 but he said $25 but let me ask my client. His client accepted the offer, so I I was happy. But as I was going to pay, with money in hand all of a sudden he said never mind client declined offer. He really made me feel bad and embarrass. I don't think it is work ethic that this company accept offers and then last minute they decline it. He said to me after that his client wants $60 and in the sofas price tag it read $50. I would not recommend this company to appraise people homes. I will never be going back to any of their Estate Sales. I don't know his name but he was at Estate Sale 2340 S Dunswell Ave Hacienda Heights read more

Novotny Appraisal Services - Appraisal Services Near Me - San Gabriel, California

We had Bill come and appraise antique furniture and other items for my Mother's home. He was very pleasant to work with and informative. He also went through the house with ease and organization. We learned alot from listening to Bill's explanation about his appraisal for each item. I highly recommend Novotny Appraisal Services for a thorough, concise, pleasant and interesting appraisal read more

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. read more

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. read more

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 tsake the next step (in this case I'm working with another yelp find to have them pick everything up and includ it in an estate sale). I've referred Bill to two other people in my sphere as well seeing as truth and reliability are hard to come by in this kind of business. Thank you Bill!! read more

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. I highly recommend him. read more

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 on a Friday and had a conversation with him, not necessarily knowing that he was the right person to be contacting, both because of our location and needs. 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 going to clean it out. We were able to arrange a Saturday appraisal which worked nthe best for us. Bill was very upfront with his rate and how he charges. He was also 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. We were very hopeful for closer to 100, but clearly understood it was all a variant. He urged us to carefully review as much information as we could on his website prior to his arrival. It also was to our advantage to lay all items out clearly for him to see and tag anything we wanted appraised for easy visual. 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 got started right away. We went room by room, keeping distance from one another, and Bill quickly identified and appraised each item. He was very honest about things he wasn't 100% sure about and maybe needed more information to accurately quote. He provided the information we needed to do further research to confirm the appraisal value thought. unfortunately, there were items that we thought would appraise for a higher value, but were in the end happy to know the realistic value. To our delight, Bill got through all of the items we wanted appraised 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, it is to your advantage to be well prepared for his arrival to get through as much as possible, as easily as possible. read more

I don't know why this man has a 5 star rating. I have called him twice and left messages for some appraisals on clocks in my home. I stated my name and phone number twice. I never heard from him. Either he didn't like my voice, or he really doesn't need the business. Oh well. read more

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! read more

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 who might make trouble by insisting that Mom's junk was worth a fortune. I have been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the task of valuing and getting rid of Mom's property, feeling at a total loss of how to get rid of all of her stuff while being careful not to throw away anything of value. 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. read more

I found Mr. Novotny incredibly knowledgeable, patient, helpful, fairly priced & and above all... extremely accommodating!!! I was truly amazed how often he was able to correctly identify an objects maker or mark, from all the way across the room. The man is full of valuable information & knowledge of even my most obscure possesions!! I want to THANK Mr. Novotny for coming through for me on my tight deadline & providing me with a beautifully organized, easy to understand well written & professional appraisal. Soooo all I can say is....BILL NOVOTNY was up front, honest, ethical & a first class appraiser in my book!!! read more

Bill came down to Orange County to do household of furnishings (furniture, paintings, nick knacks, etc). Rapid and thorough job. I feel he was expensive, but you pay for his knowledge. read more

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! read more

In summary, Bill Novotny is a fantastic appraiser and is an honorable, stand-up guy! See below for details: My mother-in-law had to be placed in full-time care and we needed to liquidate her household rather quickly. She had collected an astounding number of antiques over the years (literally enough to stock an entire antique store!) and the quantity of items had me quite overwhelmed. On short-notice, Bill was able to come to her house and quickly (but thoroughly) evaluate the value of many of the items. On the items we thought might be most valuable, he did further research on the spot and was able to determine that there were no "big ticket" items, but lots (and lots!) of "smalls". After a few hours of truly arduous, hot work (there was no air conditioning and it was August in LA, but he was still going!), he told us that he was too expensive for what we needed to be done and called in his son (another great appraiser and estate sale expert) as a consultant to help me with an estate sale. His honesty and selflessness in business was really refreshing, and no, this wasn't nepotism as his referral ended up saving us a lot of money in the long run! I would also recommend his son, Bryan, as an estate sale planner, but that's another yelp review! read more

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

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. read more

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. read more