Measuring, Estimating, and Correcting Commentary on 18th-Century Expert Accounts

In the course of researching Parisian building appraising during the eighteenth century, we have noted in the appraisers’ minutes the frequency of entries pertaining to accounting operations, whether they be estimates of work done or to be done noted in the body of the appraiser’s assessment itself, or memoranda of work as appendices to said reports. In this article we present three examples corresponding to three stages of the appraisers’ calculations: toisé (measurement), prisée (estimation), and discount.