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

[Hannu Saarenmaa]

The answer is "nil". In computer science terms that means it does not 
exist.  Nil also means "infinite".

Museum objects are irreplaceable. So there is no commercial value.  Or 
something that can be insured. Natural science collections cannot be 
insured.

My company bioshare.com regularly sends collections over the European 
Union border, for digitization, that is. While doing that, we have to 
put something in the customs forms. And to inform our insurance 
company.   So we put there the value of the paper sheets which carry the 
[invaluable] herbarium sheets, or other objects.   That currently is 28€ 
per specimen. Do not laugh.  This is how it works.

Anyway, I still prefer to report "nil" or zero value for the 
irreplaceable.  If I can.

Hannu Saarenmaa  www.bioshare.com

On 2022-03-08 11:42, Battermann, Nora wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I thought this a very interesting discussion but understand that it 
> mainly concerned US institutions. I'd be interested to hear from 
> European institutions too - how do you estimate the values of donated 
> collections? I am not aware of a list of appraisers who specialize in 
> natural history collections in Germany for example and wonder how 
> other institutions handle acquisitions, especially donations.
>
> Greetings from sunny Munich,
> Nora
>
> ---
> Dr. Nora Battermann
> Koordination Sammlungsassessment
> ---------------------------
> Kaulbachstr. 37, III. Stock
> D-80539 München
>
> Telefon:
> +49 (0)174 2762445
> ---------------------------
> www.snsb.de
>
> Am 2022-02-28 19:50, schrieb Tacker, Christopher:
>> Everyone has offered good advice here.
>>
>> Apart from conflicts of interest, the one that does the appraisal
>> stands to get involved with the state or federal tax enforcement. If
>> the appraisal is called into question, that represents a nearly
>> limitless time sink in hearings or in court.
>>
>> We tell donors that we will work with whatever appraiser they
>> designate. We still get offers of "I'll donate this if you'll get me
>> an appraisal for X amount of money." That's a big "no, thank you."
>>
>> Chris Tacker
>>
>> Chris Tacker, Ph.D., P.G.
>> Research Curator of Geology
>> North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
>> 11 West Jones St. | Raleigh, NC  27601
>>
>> Emails to and from this address are subject to NC Public Records Law
>> and may be disclosed to third parties.
>> -------------------------
>>
>> From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of
>> Taylor, Sarah <sarah.taylor at uconn.edu>
>> Sent: Monday, February 28, 2022 9:32:38 AM
>> To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
>> Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] Advice on estimating the value of
>> donated collections?
>>
>>  CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments
>> unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to
>> Report Spam.
>>
>> 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/ [1]
>>
>>
>>
>> Links:
>> ------
>> [1] 
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://bgbaseserver.eeb.uconn.edu/__;!!HYmSToo!I6nElQUoJoUICzaKeTqJnoPt_kh_FM6_Vt5OyeMThersS_zBQNfJjvdk_pY74SVV0SJwqEKeLfNIOg$
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> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
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-- 
Hannu Saarenmaa, CEO
Bioshare Digitization www.bioshare.com
Ukkolantie 18, 80130 Joensuu, Finland
Tel +358-401750427 hannu at bioshare.com

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