Evaluating a Magic Item or an Items Potential for Magic One of the rules of thumb for evaluating and trading in magic, magic items, or potential magic items is the mantra: rare, hard, magic, and pure.
A gem is better then a hard piece of wood.
A rare, pure nugget of adamantine is better then most gems.
A exquisite piece of papyrus written on with the blood of an Osquip and magically sprinkled with diamond dust is better then some gems.
A twig of a magic rosebush inlaid with a finely detailed pattern of brilliant colors is better than the twig without the extra labor.
A potion made of water from the headwaters of the Tjia River is better then distilled water from the wells of Hopeless.
The amount of time and labor can also increase the 'holding' power of the magic. Something both rare, hard and pure can store more potent magic. Sometimes the creator can put more time into a mundane item and produce moderately powerful magic items. It is said that truly powerful magic is grotesquely ornate with fist-sized gems, adamantine chasing, perfect marble stone work... there are great stories about this sort of thing anyway.
For Ophir a quick glance or an easy perception roll will determine if something is rare to his neighborhoods of Hopeless, relatively hard (hefting a piece of wood or a gem), and if there are obvious impurities. Progressively better perception rolls will increase these observations allow him to detect flaws, check for paste or bondo ;), scruptiously analyze the seller, etc.
Perception is not an appraise skill.
Perception provides a value based on his experience and his understanding of the current market.
Appraise takes time and provides authoritative value and a detailed analysis of the object (usually including a detect magic).
For Kissa and Manny, a quick glance or easy perception roll will determine if something is rare, hard and pure just like Ophir.
What they can analyze with better progression perception or intelligence rolls is the potential for certain types of magic (even if the item is magic already).
For example a wooden amulet wouldn't tend to hold fire based spells especially with a water sigil hidden in the decorations. And assessing combinations of magic potential based on the spells she knows, for instance a black bottle with silver stars holding a sparkly dust could be a sleep spell. This sounds pretty elementary but it's up a mage's alley who hasn't specialized in barter, trade, etc. Please note mages by their very nature have learned how to read giving them an added bonus on maker's marks.
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