# Cultural Relics Appraisal Seven officially designated appraisal units have opened their doors to the cultural relics of the people. Many careful collectors have found that seven units approved by National Cultural Heritage Administration not long ago to carry out the pilot work of identifying cultural relics in folk collections for the society have started to operate externally. How will these seven appraisal agencies operate? Is the appraisal result reliable? Can the timely appearance of seven institutions solve the difficulty of folk identification that has been plaguing the public? Expert authority? National Cultural Heritage Administration recently issued a notice, approving seven units, namely Tianjin Cultural Relics Development Consulting Service Center, Heilongjiang Longbo Cultural Relics Judicial Appraisal Institute, Xiling Printing Society Art Appraisal and Evaluation Center, Xiamen Cultural Relics Appraisal Center, Hunan Cultural Relics Appraisal Center, Guangdong Cultural Relics Appraisal Station and Yunnan Wenbo Cultural Relics Appraisal and Appraisal Co., Ltd., to carry out the pilot work of folk collection cultural relics appraisal. Shortly after the announcement, I learned that some citizens had taken their collections to consult. As we all know, the expert team is the core strength of an appraisal institution, and their professionalism and authority are also the most concerned issues for collectors. "Our team of experts has rich practical experience, mainly from the Yunnan Provincial Cultural Relics Headquarters, and all of them have passed the national certification and have professional titles of Zhenggao or Subgao." The relevant person in charge of Yunnan Wenbo Cultural Relics Appraisal Co., Ltd. said this. The relevant person of Heilongjiang Longbo Cultural Relics Judicial Appraisal Institute even revealed that they are backed by the Heilongjiang Provincial Museum. I learned from five other units that their appraisers are either experts from local cultural relics shops, museums and cultural management committees, or appraisers with rich experience and formal qualifications. Their appraisal covers many categories, such as calligraphy and painting, ceramics, jade, metalwork, wenwan miscellaneous and so on. Identifying how to charge has also become a problem that collectors are very concerned about. "Our fees are not high, mainly consulting services, and the purpose is to give collectors a reference." A staff member of Heilongjiang Longbo Cultural Relics Judicial Appraisal Institute said: "At present, the cost of appraising a folk collection is 3 yuan, but no appraisal certificate is issued." The Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Appraisal Station is also an oral appraisal, and does not provide written proof for collectors. The fee for each collection is between 3 and 1 yuan. I learned from Hunan Cultural Relics Appraisal Center that the cost of appraising a collection is 8 yuan. If it is genuine, an appraisal certificate can be issued, and the cost of each piece is 3 yuan. The staff of several other appraisal units also said that the collection will generally be given an appraisal result for collectors' reference, and the fee will depend on the specific situation of the collection, but it will never be very high. Then, in the process of appraisal, what should I do if there is disagreement among the expert teams? Three appraisal units in Yunnan, Xiamen and Hunan gave the same answer: one-vote veto system. "We will only issue the corresponding appraisal certificate if all experts agree." The staff of the Xiamen Cultural Relics Appraisal Center introduced this. In fact, it is not the first time in the industry that this kind of appraisal institution is designated by the relevant administrative department as the appraisal pilot unit. As early as June 213, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture approved five units as pilot units for Beijing art appraisal. At that time, these five institutions were questioned by public opinion for many reasons, such as expert appraisal, appraisal qualification, appraisal method, etc., and because they all mainly appraised contemporary paintings and calligraphy, they bypassed ancient paintings and calligraphy, modern paintings and calligraphy, antiques, porcelain, etc., which had a large collection group, were flooded with fakes and were difficult to appraise, and were considered to be "far from hydrolysis." After a lapse of one year, National Cultural Heritage Administration issued a notice to designate seven cultural and art institutions to undertake the pilot work of cultural relics appraisal in folk collections, which is definitely good news for the vast number of collectors. It is definitely a great progress to have an appraisal unit designated by the administrative department to directly face folk collectors. To a certain extent, the seven institutions in this pilot project have solved the problem of "unable to find the door" for folk collectors, but in the eyes of many insiders, these appraisal results are difficult to have legal effect and it is difficult to fundamentally solve the current appraisal chaos, and many collectors do not buy it. If you spend 18 yuan for yourself, it is obviously of little significance if you only get a conclusion that the collection is true or false from experts from institutions with official background, because many appraisal institutions in the society now employ experts from state-owned cultural and art institutions, and the titles of these experts are often bigger and more authoritative than these seven, and people even issue signed appraisal certificates. Although the cost may be more expensive, they are more practical. At present, when some auction companies collect lots, they simply disdain the collections with various appraisal certificates. On the contrary, they will be interested in the collections that have never been appraised and are willing to see them. Why is this? It is precisely because all kinds of appraisal institutions are mixed up now, and the appraisal certificates do not have any legal effect, so real collectors and experts will not believe them. Once you are involved in a lawsuit, you have to re-conduct judicial appraisal and judicial evidence. If the seven pilot units do not bear any legal responsibility for their appraisal results and certificates issued, it is not much different from various appraisal institutions in society. What worries collectors is that a collection may be rejected by one vote because one of the experts does not have this knowledge, which may be unfair to some collections. In addition, will these institutions use or rely on the gold-lettered signboard of the' national prefix' to make the collections they have identified have a' gold medal from death'? Obviously, how to make appraisal experts and institutions more fair and authoritative, so that their appraisal results can have legal effect, is the most difficult problem in the field of folk cultural relics appraisal. The standardization of the system and the perfection of legislation are the key to the fundamental change of things. Today, the identification of folk collections includes many aspects, which is not just as simple as distinguishing authenticity from market price. But now many collectors are eager for quick success and instant benefit, have illusions, and for various purposes, try their best to "correct their names" for their fakes. For this reason, they even use considerable funds to seduce expert appraisers, which is also the main reason for the confusion of appraisal institutions and experts at present. There is no corresponding normative mechanism, but there is a huge interest temptation. It is not reliable at present to rely solely on the identification of relevant departments and the moral restraint of experts themselves. The source of the solution lies in the use of legal means to regulate. This view represents the general view of the industry. China's cultural relics appraisal market is chaotic, with various appraisal institutions mixed up, and various treasure-seeking programs emerge one after another. It is imperative to standardize the cultural relics appraisal market, and the most important thing to standardize the cultural relics appraisal market is legislation and implementation. The state should formulate a set of implementation rules from the establishment, process and daily supervision of appraisal institutions, resolutely crack down on institutions that violate the regulations on the basis of laws and regulations, vigorously support institutions that meet relevant requirements, and focus on training. Only in this way can we get to the root of the problem, purify the environment of the appraisal market and improve the overall quality of the appraisal market. Authoritative and credible cultural relics appraisal institutions are established under the framework of social norms, not designated by the competent authorities. Otherwise, unclear responsibilities will interfere with the market, which will only add fog to the already mixed appraisal market, and eventually it will become more and more chaotic. Some media sources pointed out. In fact, the state can come forward to build an exchange platform for cultural relics appraisal, so that collectors, appraisal institutions, scholars and museums can exchange needed goods, so that fake experts and fake institutions will have nowhere to hide.