[NHCOLL-L:2464] Re: Herbarium insurance estimation

[Shirley S Albright]

I'd be interested in hearing more on this subject also.   Our Risk 
Management Department has just renewed their interest in museum 
collections....in part due to 9-ll and in part due to the sudden 
realization that state government has been ignoring the assets of the 
state museum.    I'd be particularly interested in insurance valuations 
for Type specimens and extinct species (taxidermied, skinned, pinned, 
fluid-preserved).    Comparables seem to be somewhat easier to come by 
for minerals, meteorites, and some fossil specimens, but to get the 
entire collection appraised is out of the question.

Shirley Albright
Assistant Curator of Natural History
New Jersey State Museum

Erin McCray wrote:

>I am posting this for a colleague, Ian Thompson at Purdue University's 
>Arthur-Kriebel Herbaria.  Please reply directly to him at thompson at purdue.edu.
>
>Thanks,
>Erin B. McCray, Herbarium Manager
>U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI), USDA
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message from Ian Thompson:
>
>I had a meeting today with
>representatives from Purdue University and the company that insures all of
>the physical stuff on the campus, including the herbaria collections.  They
>were very interested in way that we could estimate the cost/value of the
>collections.  They essentially want to know "how much is an herbarium
>specimen worth", "should type specimens be worth more", not easy questions
>to answer, very subjective.  Thanks for your help.
>
>Ian Thompson, Ph.D
>Associate Curator
>PUR/PUL Herbaria
>Department of Botany and Plant Pathology
>Purdue University
>915 West State Street
>West Lafayette, IN 47907
>765-494-4623
>
>  
>