[Nhcoll-l] Advice on estimating the value of donated collections?

[Angela Linn]

The way our museum handles insurance values on our collections in order to report to our central risk management department is to think about the replacement value. If you had to go out and mount an expedition to re-collect those materials what might it cost per item. Cultural materials and many earth science specimens have fair market values so you can look at public auction sites to get a sense of what those items are selling for.

And yes, this is only for insurance values. Museums are prohibited by the IRS to place appraisal values on collections for donors (due to some unethical situations in the ‘70s). If a donor asks for an appraisal you can direct them to the American Society of Appraisers (https://www.appraisers.org/) to find someone nearby.  

Good luck!
Angela

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 28, 2022, at 5:53 AM, Gregory Schneider <ges at umich.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> I think the donor needs to consult with their own outside appraiser. It might be a conflict of interest for someone at your University to be involved with that.
> Greg Schneider
> Division of Reptiles and Amphibians
> Museum of Zoology
> Research Museums Center
> 3600 Varsity Drive
> University of Michigan
> Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
> 734 647 1927 
> ges at umich.edu
>  
> 
> www.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/rep_amph/index.html
> 
> 
>> On Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 9:33 AM Taylor, Sarah <sarah.taylor at uconn.edu> wrote:
>> Good morning all,
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> A colleague at a regional museum reached out to ask me for advice on how to estimate the value of a collection of donated birds (mostly skins, some taxidermy mounts). He’s not interested in individual values for each piece, but a big picture “lump sum.” I’m sure this has come up on the listserve before, but I haven’t been able to locate it. If anyone has ideas or can point me in the direction of a resource to send to my colleague, I’d really appreciate it! I have no appraisal skills myself – and I’m a botanist – so I’m at a total loss on my end.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Sarah
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Sarah Taylor, PhD
>> 
>> 
>> Collections Manager, CONN
>> 
>> George Safford Torrey Herbarium
>> Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
>> University of Connecticut
>> 75 North Eagleville Road, Unit 3043
>> Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3043
>> U.S.A.
>> 
>> P: 860.486.1889
>> F: 860.486.4320 
>> http://bgbaseserver.eeb.uconn.edu/
>> 
>>  
>> 
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> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
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> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
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