Custom Valuation of 12,000 Rare Books
This was one of my all-time favorite projects — a bespoke tool built to appraise a private library of more than 12,000 books, some dating back to the 18th century.
My client’s late father had spent decades building the collection, and the family wanted an accurate valuation before donating it for tax purposes. I designed a system that parsed each book’s metadata, matched ISBNs where available, and queried viaLibri’s API, which aggregates listings from international booksellers.
The result was a comprehensive valuation report with median, high, and low estimates for every title — a project that blended engineering precision, data automation, and a genuine appreciation for the stories behind the books.