Romania’s state heritage administrator RA-APPS revaluates art collection, increasing value sixfold

Romania’s State Protocol and Heritage Administration agency (RA-APPS) recently reassessed all of its 2,900 works of art, updating their value to EUR 6.5 million, compared to only EUR 1 million before the reevaluation.

RA-APPS began to evaluate the cultural assets under its care on May 21, 2021. In November of the same year, the agency contracted a company of expert evaluators to assist with the process. All of RA-APPS’s assets on inventory were evaluated carefully, with the exception of those located in high-security locations like Vila Lac 3.

Overall, 2,905 movable cultural goods were evaluated. The total value of the inventory was set at RON 5.18 mln, just over EUR 1 mln. Journalists at Profit.ro noticed, however, that paintings in the state’s inventory ended up being valued much below similar ones held in private collections or those being sold at auctions. Authorities launched a reevaluation, which estimated the same inventory to be worth RON 33 mln (EUR 6.5 mln).

The expert evaluators had estimated the painting “Păstor cu stână” (“Sheperd with a fold”) by famed 19th-century Romanian painter Ştefan Luchian to be worth only RON 200 (EUR 40). Now, experts say it is worth RON 204,000 (EUR 41,370).

Paintings by Octav Băncilă and Nicolae Grigorescu, and works belonging to Nicolae Tonitza, Theodor Pallady, or Gheorghe Petraşcu were also reevaluated. One painting by Nicolae Grigorescu had been valued at RON 45,000 (EUR 9,100) in the initial assessment but was found to be worth RON 1.165 mln (EUR 236,200) after the revaluation.

The experts also found a forgery, attributed to Luchian, which was listed in the initial inventory for only RON 15 lei. The evaluators, however, thought it was original.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Octav Ganea)