Valuation Ontology, Evidence & Empirical Engine
The market is evidence for value, not the definition of value.
CE-VAM begins with the object. CE-AAM establishes an artwork-specific evidence profile. The valuation layer then tests identity, provenance, legality, condition, rarity, cultural significance and realised market evidence before producing a time-specific conclusion.
The CE-VAM evidence stack
| Layer | Question | Function |
|---|---|---|
| CE-AAM | What is observable and assessable in this artwork? | Artwork fingerprint and artistic/material evidence. |
| Identity | What exactly is the object? | Routes methodology and prevents false comparability. |
| Authenticity / provenance | Can identity and history be supported? | Evidence and marketability gate. |
| Legal marketability | Can a lawful market transaction occur? | Prevents monetary conclusions where marketability is not established. |
| Condition / rarity | What is specific about this object? | Controlled work-specific evidence. |
| Market evidence | What sufficiently comparable works actually realised? | Primary Market Value indication where a legitimate market exists. |
| Outlier analysis | Is a sale representative? | Prevents exceptional events from defining value automatically. |
| Reconciliation | Which indication deserves reliance and why? | Reasoned selection; not blind averaging. |
| Confidence | How strong is the evidence? | Reported separately from value. |
Basis of value
CE-VAM now requires the purpose and basis of value to be explicit. The current production module calculates Market Value. Insurance/replacement, secured lending, estate/tax and other bases are recorded as purpose-specific frameworks until their dedicated models are implemented.
Market Value discipline
A transaction price is not automatically the Market Value. CE-VAM asks whether the sale was arm's-length, properly exposed to the market, sufficiently comparable, properly documented, and free of special circumstances that make the result atypical.
Current market evidence is weighted for similarity, evidence quality, recency and sale context. Outliers and excluded observations remain visible in the report.
Methodology research
CE-VAM draws methodological lessons from auction indices, repeat-sales models, hedonic pricing, institutional/career indicators, artwork-level assessment and professional comparable-sales valuation. It deliberately rejects simplistic average-price, price-per-square-inch and asking-price formulas as universal valuation methods.
- IIMA–AuraArt Indian Art Index (IAIAI) — hedonic constant-quality market index.
- Art Market Research — public-auction dataset and Central 80% methodology.
- LiveArt — rules-based indices and model-driven artwork/artist estimates.
- LiveArt — large auction dataset and quantitative market analytics.
- IVSC — scope, bases of value, approaches, data, models and reporting framework.