[Nhcoll-l] Victorian Eggs: Fumigation and Appraisal

[Matthew Becker]

Hello everyone!

Our museum is in the process of acquiring a Victorian-era egg collection 
from a donor in the community and I had a couple of questions that some 
of you might be able to answer.

First of all, does anyone have experience fumigating a collection of 
eggs? The eggs are stored in 4 wooden cabinets that should be able to 
fit into our fumigation freezer, but are their any concerns to be aware 
of when dealing with the eggs themselves?

Also, I would like to be able to offer the donor an appraisal of the 
collection for tax purposes, but because eggs are protected under the 
Migratory Bird Treaty Act and thus have no market, I'm not really sure 
how to go about assigning a value to the collection. If anyone has any 
experience with this, or is aware of any sort of legal issues that could 
arise given the nature of the collection, I would appreciate the insight.

Thank you for your time!

***

Matthew Becker
Collections Curator
Museum of Natural History & Planetarium
Providence, RI