The article presents the main milestones in the life and work of a forgotten domestic economist and V. V. Nikolsky (1875-1943), who was a local statistician and scientist, heading in 1930 the department of statistics at the Leningrad Finance and Economics Institute. Since 1909, in St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, Nikolsky was one of the fi rst in Russia to begin a course on evaluation statistics. His work on appraisal and land statistics retain interest from a historical point of view. The article focuses on his applied works, which makes it possible to understand the context of the publication of his lecture “Evaluation Case”, found in B. I. Karpenko (1892-1976). The role of Nikolsky in the development of statistical science and practice in Russia is shown.