How to Check Past Auction Prices in ChatGPT

The short answer: add the connector, then ask for sold lots

ChatGPT cannot see real auction results on its own. The fix is a one-time connector:

1. Create the connector once. In ChatGPT’s settings, add a connector named Appraisily pointing at https://mcp.appraisily.com/mcp with authentication set to None. This needs a paid ChatGPT plan with Developer mode turned on.
2. Then ask by name. For example: “Use Appraisily to find sold auction results for a Tiffany Studios lamp.”
3. Read the results as evidence, not a verdict. Up to six real sold lots, each with the sale title, realized price, auction house, sale date, lot number, and a link to the source listing.

Fast conclusion: the connector is free, keyless, and read-only. The exact click path and a visual walkthrough live on the Connect Appraisily in ChatGPT page and in the setup section below.

Asking ChatGPT what an antique “usually sells for” produces confident prose and no evidence. Realized auction prices live in transaction records, not in a language model’s memory, and the difference matters the moment you have to decide whether to sell, insure, or walk away. The connector routes your question to retained records of completed auction sales, so the answer arrives as specific lots you can verify at the source—the same habit of checking sale data instead of asking prices that separates useful research from wishful pricing.

This guide walks through the setup once, then shows what each result includes, which prompts work well, and where the evidence stops. If you do not use ChatGPT, the same lookup runs directly on Appraisily’s auction sale search.

Set up the Appraisily connector in ChatGPT

The whole setup takes a few minutes and happens inside ChatGPT’s settings. You do not create an Appraisily account, and nothing about your chats is shared with Appraisily beyond the search terms the connector needs to answer.

1. Confirm your plan. Custom connectors are an OpenAI feature for paid ChatGPT plans. On a free plan the option does not appear.
2. Turn on Developer mode. Open Settings and look under Security and login or Apps & Connectors; OpenAI relocates the toggle between releases. On Team and Enterprise plans an admin may need to allow connectors first.
3. Create a new connector and name it Appraisily. The name is what you will mention in prompts later.
4. Paste the URL and set authentication to None. The URL is https://mcp.appraisily.com/mcp and the public tools are read-only and keyless by design.
5. Test it. Start a chat and ask ChatGPT to use Appraisily for past auction results. The first successful call confirms the connector is wired up.

Why the directory app is not enough

ChatGPT’s app directory also lists an Appraisily app, but that app covers appraisal preparation only: photo checklists, sample reports, and guidance. Live auction search comes with the connector URL above, not with the directory app. If you added Appraisily from the directory and asked for sold prices, that is why nothing came back.

What each auction result includes

Every lot the connector returns is a completed sale, not an asking price and not an estimate. The response keeps the fields you need to judge whether a sale is genuinely comparable to your item.

Each search returns at most six sold lots. The cap is deliberate: six close matches are more useful than thirty loose ones. If the results drift away from your item, tighten the query with a maker, pattern, material, or model name instead of asking for more rows. A result includes a photo only when Appraisily hosts a verified image of that exact lot; rows without photos are a normal outcome, not an error.

Prompts that work well

Name the object the way an auction catalog would: maker first, then form, then any pattern or model. Good starting points to paste after setup:

• “Use Appraisily to find sold auction results for a Tiffany Studios dragonfly table lamp.”
• “Use Appraisily to search past auction sales of Rookwood pottery vases from the 1920s.”
• “What have Hermès Birkin 35 bags sold for at auction? Use Appraisily.”
• “Use Appraisily to look up realized prices for signed Salvador Dalí lithographs.”
• “Find sold lots for Victorian sterling silver tea sets with Appraisily, then summarize the spread.”

The follow-up conversation is where the connector earns its place. Once the lots are in context, ask ChatGPT to compare them against your item’s condition, size, or markings, or to explain which of the six sales is the weakest comparable and why.

What this is, and what it is not

The connector is read-only and public. It searches retained records of completed auction sales and returns them with their source links. It does not appraise your item, does not create an order, and cannot see anyone’s private reports, uploads, or customer data.

Treat realized prices as history, not as a promise. A different sale date, condition, venue, restoration state, or buyer pool can move the number substantially—the same caution that applies when weighing an auction-house estimate against an independent appraisal. When a decision actually depends on a documented value—insurance, an estate, a donation, or a sale you need to defend—that calls for a signed appraisal reviewed by a specialist. If you are not sure the item justifies that step, a free photo-based first look is the lower-friction way to find out.

Troubleshooting the setup

You cannot find Developer mode

OpenAI relocates the toggle between releases. Check Settings under Security and login and under Apps & Connectors. On workspace plans, an organization admin must allow connectors before the option appears for members.

ChatGPT answers without using the connector

ChatGPT decides per message whether to call a connector. Mention Appraisily by name—“use Appraisily to search sold lots”—and it routes the question through the connector instead of answering from memory.

You are on the free ChatGPT plan

Connectors require a paid plan, but the underlying search does not. You can run the same past-auction lookup directly on Appraisily’s auction sale search without ChatGPT.

Common questions about the connector