AHAS Art Auction

All art and fine collectables, such as silver and crystal, can be donated. Due to storage limitations, we cannot accept furniture even if that furniture is antique—no soft items, such as towels, bedding, pillows or sheets. No clothing or kitchen items will be accepted.

According to Revenue Canada Fair market value (FMV) is normally the highest price, expressed in dollars, that property would bring in an open and unrestricted market, between a willing buyer and a willing seller who are both knowledgeable, informed, and prudent, and who are acting independently of each other.

As long as your Emily Carr will be consigned by an auction house, and you donate your painting to AHAS we can get a FMV by an independent assessor and issue a donation receipt. Send us an email so we can work through the logistics of your donation.

Yes, fill out the donation form and let us know that you require a pickup. We will make arrangements for someone to come by. Your donations must be left at the front door. With COVID restrictions, it is not safe for volunteers to come into your home. We will arrange a time with you. We will pick up donations in Edmonton and area only.

First, you need to determine if your piece of art is an original work or a print. Look at the frame’s back to see if there is information about the gallery that sold the artwork. Not all paintings are valuable. Many genuine and pleasing paintings to the eye are painted by unknown artists and have a lower value. Just because your artwork is beautiful or has been in the family for generations, it does not mean it is valuable in the art world. Keep track of sale prices, the history of the painting, the names of galleries representing the artist, the dimensions of the painting and the medium. If you have a limited edition print by a well-known artist, it too can be valuable.

All of this information is needed to determine the value of your gift. When you provide this information to us through the gift form, we will do our very best to have the gift consigned to an auction house and a FMV assessed.

When the FMV at the time of donation of a gift cannot be determined, an official donation receipt cannot be issued.

The more information you provide, the better able the charity is to determine the FMV. The charity has a team of knowledgeable volunteers who will use the artwork’s information to do a preliminary assessment. Suppose the charity can confirm that the artist’s works are actively being sold in the art world and can do some independent verification that the artwork is worth greater than $500. In that case, the artwork will be submitted to an independent and qualified appraiser to assess the FMV. Gifts worth less than $500, but more than $100 that can be accurately assessed by the charity will have an official donation receipt issued. The charity will need to find independent validation of the market value of the art. The charity will do its best to evaluate your gift, but we cannot guarantee that we can determine the FMV. If we cannot determine the FMV, you can choose to have your gift returned or pay $100 for an independent assessment.

Fine collectables, such as silver or crystal, will be assessed by the auction house. If accepted into the auction, they will have an official donation receipt issued for the assessed auction value.

Your gift will not be wasted. Your donation will either be sold through an online auction organized by the charity or donated to Find, who uses the sale of donated items towards their goal of ending homelessness.