About Us

​​Appraisal Resource Associates, Inc. (ARAI) is at the vanguard of the appraisal profession. Our associates meet or exceed the educational and technical standards of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and the Appraisal Foundation. In business for over three decades, we are proud of our reputation for exemplary qualifications and service. Besides comprehensive appraisal services, ARAI consults on the purchase and sale of fine art, antiques and decorative arts and other personal property, on de-accessioning property we have appraised, and provides management services for corporate and other large collections. These services are performed within requirements set by the Appraisal Foundation's Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).

Our Promise. ARAI offers its clients reliable, reputable service that is confidential and customized to meet specific appraisal needs. No two assignments are alike. Building on years of experience working with clients, we are a uniquely qualified firm with broad-based services producing effective appraisal results. At ARAI we stand by our work, and promise prompt, professional attention to your inquiries.

About Frances Zeman, FASA

Education. Frances Zeman, FASA, the Director of Appraisal Resource Associates, Inc., is fully qualified for her profession. With an undergraduate degree from New York University - Heights Campus, Ms. Zeman continued her education in Fine and Decorative Arts/ Antiques, and Fine Art through many different programs offered at New York University, Long Island University, the New School of Social Research, Pratt Institute, and abroad with The Attingham Trust. She reinforced her academic work with practical experience, attending seminars and completing coursework at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, Sotheby's, and Christie's. Ms. Zeman has earned a Master of Arts degree in Art History.

Experience and Qualifications. Ms. Zeman brings to her appraisal business, a working knowledge of the retail antiques and gallery business, a background in interior and contract design with a strong emphasis on the decorative arts. She is an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and holds four designations in Personal Property: Fine Arts, Antiques and Decorative Arts, Residential Contents, and Oriental Rugs. Ms. Zeman is currently the only appraiser in the entire Northeast accredited to appraise Oriental Rugs; her expertise extends to European carpets and tapestries as well.

Service. Ms. Zeman has served on the ASA International on the Board of Examiners, the Equal Opportunity in Appraising Committee, and is a past Chair of ASA's Personal Property Committee. Ms. Zeman is also a member of the Technical Advisory Services for Attorneys (TASA), Expert Resources, Inc., and the American Arbitration Association. She is a member of ArtTable, an organization of professional women in leadership positions in the visual arts, where she has served as Co-Chair of the New York City Chapter Membership Committee and on the Career Chartered Development Comittee. Ms. Zeman is also a current member of Association of Professional Art Advisers (APAA) and a past member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS). She is a past president of the Long Island Chapter of ASA and has served as the Chapter's liaison to the Nassau County Bar Association. She also holds the ASA's highest designation of Fellow.

Speaker, Author, Teacher. Ms. Zeman has lectured publicly, published articles about the appraisal profession, antiques and decorative arts, fine art, and has taught at the university level. She has presented several seminars on the topic of Appraisal Report Writing at ASA conferences and is an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute, Division of Continuing Education, where she teaches courses in Appraisal Research and Analysis, Appraisal Report Writing and Logic of the Argument: Improving Report Narrative. As part of the ASA's effort to increase public awareness of the appraisal profession, Ms. Zeman appeared on NBC's nationally-syndicated Today Show, and been interviewed by reporters from various newspapers and magazines on the topic of how to choose and appraiser, practice, ethics, and fees.

About Abigail Athanasopoulos, ASA

Abigail Athanasopoulos is Senior Project Manager and a Fine Arts Appraiser at Appraisal Resource Associates and has been with the firm since 2005. She received her BA degree in Art History from Wellesley College and was introduced to appraising through coursework in the Appraisal Studies Program at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, including Research Methods, Appraisal Writing, Legal & Ethical Aspects of Appraising, IRS Legal Guidelines and various electives in connoisseurship. She went on to complete the Certificate Program in Fine & Decorative Art Appraisal Studies, including the American Society of Appraisers’ Principles of Valuation series, at the Pratt Institute in New York and has regularly taken both the 15-hour and 7-hour Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) courses to keep current with its standards.

Ms. Athanasopoulos is an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) with a Fine Art designation. She regularly attends ASA's Personal Property conferences and art fairs in both New York City and Miami, as well as lectures organized by the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) and other related organizations. In 2013, she was accepted into the national organization for women in the arts ArtTable and was asked to participate in their Career Development Roundtable program as a facilitator at the appraiser table. Prior to joining the staff at Appraisal Resource Associates, she worked at D. Wigmore Fine Art in New York, where she both assisted with sales and managed the gallery’s public relations.

Associates

Our associates have been carefully chosen by Ms. Zeman after rigorous vetting. Associates are required to have an art history background and to have graduate degrees and / or related experience in the arts. All of the firm's associates are required to complete ASA sponsored Principles of Valuation courses affiliated with universities across the United States, and to continue education in the form of arts related coursework, seminars and conferences. Most have reading and/or speaking knowledge of at least one additional foreign language and all have studied abroad. All associates complete the ASA ethics examination and successfully take the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) which they are required to update every five years. They are all on track to become ASA members and bring advanced technological skills to ARAI. While associates are conversant in broad-based subject matter, they often have particular skills and interests such as books and manuscripts, prints, modern and contemporary art, post-war design, etc.

Associates are often the first point of public contact and are trained to collect and provide information pertinent to each inquiry. They uphold the high standards of ARAI, including a commitment to its privacy policy and protection of clients' confidential information. Just as with our clients, it is the goal of the firm to foster and maintain long term associate relationships that lead to stable, consistent, excellent results.

Jessica May

Jessica May received a BA in Art History from the University of Illinois and an MSc in the History of Art from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. After spending several years teaching history of art tutorials at the University of Edinburgh and working at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, she left Scotland to move to New York. She has completed the Certificate Program in Fine & Decorative Art Appraisal Studies at Pratt Institute and has a general interest in fine art with particular focus on books and printed matter.

Melissa Sachs

Melissa Sachs received her BFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. With prior experience working as a registrar at Braunstein/Quay gallery and studio/collections manager for artists in New York and San Francisco, Ms. Sachs has a broad range of art world-related experience informing her well-rounded knowledge in this wide field. Her particular interest and focus is with the contemporary art market. She has completed the Certificate Program in Fine & Decorative Art Appraisal Studies and the ASA's Personal Property Valuation series at the Pratt Institute and is actively engaged in the profession.
 

Sandra Miller
Sandra Miller hails from Australia by way of the United Kingdom. Trained at the National Art School in Sydney, Sandra’s interests in art are varied. With a keen intellect, always a scholar and with strong academic leanings, Sandra worked as a lecturer in Art History, as an art teacher, and a teacher of studio visual arts. She served for many years as the head of the art department at a variety of posts. After relocating from Australia to the Pacific Northwest, Sandra and her husband established Frame Design and Sunbird Gallery in Bend, OR where they presided over a successful business that included many curated art shows focused on the work of regional, nationally and internationally known painters, sculptors, ceramists and photographers. Sandra’s husband was a frame maker; both very knowledgeable in this field, they endeavored to educate their clients in the historical and design aspects of the frame and elements of archival framing that would complement and enhance the artwork being framed.

Sandra was made a Regent of the Guild of the National Picture Framers Association and collaborated at the national level in the publication of the standards for preservation and framing of works of art on paper as well as fiber which led to the establishment of a national accreditation and recognition of expertise and quality of craft in the Industry. She assisted in the creation of the Central Oregon Regional Arts Council and helped launch the visual arts component of the Artists in the Schools program. In 2001 Sandra received the Oregon Governors Art Award for her contributions to the arts and to the effects of art in the revitalization of the economy. Sandra’s research skills, her knowledge of frames, experience and abilities to assess and manage projects are an asset to ARAI.

Rose Lewis

​Rose Lewis received her BA in Art and Russian language and literature from Reed College, Portland, OR completing an interdisciplinary thesis combining studio practice with literary research. She has previously worked at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art through their youth outreach program, leading tours of the museum and planning events aimed at high school and middle school students. More recently she has occupied a number of roles at the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery at Reed College, including translating the gallery's collection of Soviet-era posters and other printed ephemera. In 2013, she assisted the owners of Monograph Bookwerks in Portland, researching a collection of printed matter produced by Canadian multidisciplinary artists in the 1960s. She is prolific researcher in many areas of art history and the history of design and material culture. Her technical and organizational skills suit her well for working on complicated valuation projects. In addition to her work at ARAI, she is an assistant in the office of the Academic Dean at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Deanna White

Deanna White received her BA in Art History and & Psychology with a minor in German from Wheaton College, Norton, MA and her MA in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art (accredited by the University of Manchester) in London, U.K. While obtaining her undergraduate degree she assisted with the design and start up of a website meant to assist undergraduate Art History students understand critical terms used by prominent art historians. In addition, she was a student curator for the exhibition Goya and Beethoven: Finding A Voice Out of Silence held at the Beard and Weil Galleries at Wheaton College. Her Master’s dissertation investigated the subjective elements of valuation practices in the American market. She has previously interned with the Estates, Appraisals, and Valuations department at Christie’s in New York City, as well as, The Whitney Museum of American Art and David Zwirner Gallery. Her many experiences have allowed her to develop a multifaceted approach to understanding the art market and also serves her well in her position at ARAI while working on valuation projections. In addition to those roles, she advises and consults a small group of collectors helping to grow and manage their private collections. 

Consultants

John V. Henley

John V. Henley’s professional career as a “bookman” began in 1977. His consulting and appraisal experience includes books (incunables, antiquarian, out-of-print, collector first editions, and new), manuscripts, ephemera, antique maps, historic photographs, professional and personal archives. An accredited Senior Appraiser with a designation in Books and Manuscripts from the American Society of Appraisers. John graduated from Portland State University, attended Columbia University Rare Books School and AB Bookman’s Rare Book School at Denver State University. Accomplished in his field and the appraisal profession, John’s expertise is significant. He regularly travels the country to provide comprehensive valuation services both for appraisal and consulting books/manuscripts collections and archives.