1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Appraiser

APPRAISER (from Lat. appretiare, to value), one who sets a value upon property, real or personal. In England the business of an appraiser is usually combined with that of an auctioneer, while the word itself has given place, to a great extent, to that of “valuer.” (See the articles Auctions and Auctioneers, and Valuation and Valuers.)

In the United States appraiser is a term often used to describe a person specially appointed by a judicial or quasi-judicial authority to put a valuation on property, e.g. on the items of an inventory of the estate of a deceased person or on land taken for public purposes by the right of eminent domain. Appraisers of imported goods and boards of general appraisers have extensive functions in administering the customs laws of the United States. Merchant appraisers are sometimes appointed temporarily under the revenue laws to value where there is no resident appraiser without holding the office of appraiser (U.S. Rev. Stats. § 2609).