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

[John E Simmons]

This has been an interesting conversation, but I think some issues of value
and valuation need to be clarified.



To begin, we need to clarify what we mean by value. A scientific specimen
has different kinds of value attached to it, including scientific value
(because it is a voucher or document of the natural world), cultural value
(because scientific activity is a cultural practice), and also monetary
value (fair market value) because specimens can, and are, routinely bought
and sold.



*Monetary value* is arbitrary in the sense that it reflects only what
people are willing to pay for something. There is no inherent value in
anything, not for a beetle, not for an ounce of gold. What the beetle or
the gold (or anything else is worth) is what people are willing to pay for
it. For this reason, you can put a monetary value on a scientific specimen
by either calculating the cost to collect, prepare, accession, catalog, and
store it over time; or by calculating what those costs would be to collect
and process another specimen similar to it.



That said, I agree that scientific specimens have a *scientific value* and
a *cultural value* that cannot be assessed in monetary terms for several
important reasons, including that (1) individual specimens cannot be
replaced because each specimen documents the occurrence of a particular
species at a particular place and time; and (2) in many cases you cannot
collect a similar specimen because the species no longer occurs at the same
place, or because you cannot get permits to collect them. This is the
argument I made in a talk titled “Why not to do natural science collections
valuations” at the SPNHC meeting in 1996. In that talk, I used the example
of the insurance settlement for the damage of the type of *Strombus listeri*,
first figured in 1685, named in 1852 by Thomas Gray and then destroyed when
on loan and the exhibit case was accidentally knocked over. The scientific
value of the specimen was “irreplaceable”; the insurance settlement was for
US $7,500.



The reason I made the argument is that, at the time there was an emphasis
on capitalizing the monetary value of collections and using that value to
determine what a collection was worth and whether it should be supported.
This was ridiculous, because monetary value is intended for insurance
purposes only, and all values of collections should be factors in  making
decisions about whether to keep collections or how to support them. In
other words, administrators were wrongly *capitalizing the monetary value
of collections* and ignoring the more significant scientific and cultural
values of the collections. The use of monetary value only was a dire threat
to the future of many scientific collections, and could only lead to the
sort of deaccession-to-raise-funds idiocy we see to day in some art
museums.



The issue of the valuation of collections was a hot topic in the late 1980s
and 1990s. It was at that time that the American Association (now Alliance)
of Museums negotiated with FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board, US)
to exempt non-profit museums from capitalizing their collections for
accounting purposes, and there was a significant international conference
on the subject of the valuation of natural science collections in
Manchester in 1995. The papers from that conference are available in a
volume published by The Geological Society called *The Value and Valuation
of Natural Science Collections* (1997), edited by John R. Nudds and Charles
W. Pettitt.



As an example of the absurdity of capitalizing collections that was taking
place around this time, a 1989 article in *Herpetological Review* (volume
20, #2, special supplement) with the title “Monetary values of U.S.
amphibians” listed values of specimens of a long list of species for the
purposes of determining the price of mitigation for ecological damages. The
list was compiled with the best of intentions, but greatly devalued the
specimens in the process. In my presentation, I showed a variety of ads for
everything from bird eggs to sea shells from old collectors magazines from
the early 1900s, when scientific specimens were routinely bought and sold
(indeed, collecting and selling scientific specimens is how Alfred Russell
Wallace and Henry Walter Bates among many others, financed their work in
the tropics in the 1800s), and mentioned such things as a post to *TAXACOM*
that valued a plankton sample at $567.50 (Australian dollars) by figuring
the cost of collectors time, helicopter rental, jars, and fluid.



In the talk, I also pointed out that for scientific collections we could
substantially boost the estimated monetary value of collections by
factoring in the potential proceeds from allowing pharmaceutical
collections to do bioprospecting in collections, the value of the DNA in
the specimens, the previously unused rare earth elements in geoscience
collections, even the repatriation value if we wanted.



However, to conclude that the *monetary value* of an herbarium specimen is
the price of the paper it is attached to is inaccurate. The monetary value
of the herbarium specimen is what it would cost to collect a similar
specimen, were that possible.



Scientific specimens are bought and sold all the time. There is a
commercial market for specimens. You have only to look at seller-based web
sites or auction sites to find out what specimens are being bought and sold
for (for example, check Etsy, EBay, Heritage Auctions in the US,
Christie’s, Bonhams, etc.).



*BOTTOM LINE*: We need to think carefully about why we are assigning
monetary values to specimens, but we must also be realistic and accept that
there are good reasons in some instances (particularly for insurance of
specimens on loan) that we may want to assign such values. In doing so, we
must make a clear distinction between fair market value (which is to say,
insurance value) and scientific and cultural values.



Below are some useful references for those who need to calculate fair
market value for their collections, with the precaution that the monetary
value is arbitrary and does not reflect scientific or cultural value. Note
that this list does not include references on the scientific value of
collections, only on estimating monetary value.



Baker, R.J., L. C. Bradley, H. J. Garner, and R. D. Bradley. 2014. “Door to
drawer” costs of curation, installation, documentation, databasing, and
long-term care of mammal voucher specimens in natural history
collections. *Occasional
Papers, Museum of Texas Tech University*, 15 pp



Bradley, D., L. C. Bradley, H. J. Garner, and R. J. Baker. 2012. Cost of
collecting and preparing mammal voucher specimens for natural history
collections. *Occasional Papers*, Museum of Texas Tech University number
313, 14 pp.



Bradley, D., L. C. Bradley, H. J. Garner, and R. J. Baker. 2014. Assessing
the value of natural history collections and addressing issues regarding
long-term growth and care. *BioScience* 64(12):1150-1158.



Camacho, M. A., J. Salgado M., and S. F. Burneo. 2018. An accounting
approach to calculate the financial value of a natural history collection
of mammals in Ecuador. *Museum Management and Curatorship*, DOI:
10.1080/09647775.2018.1466191



Nudds, J. R., and C. W. Pettitt (eds). 1997. The Value and Valuation of
Natural Science Collection. The Geological Society, London.



Price, J. C., and G. R. Fitzgerald. 1996. Categories of specimens: a
collection management tool. *Collection Forum* 12(1):8-13.




--John

John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
*and*
Associate Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
*and*
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima


On Wed, Mar 9, 2022 at 9:05 AM Gavin Dally <Gavin.Dally at magnt.net.au> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> In Australian museums, as there is no commercial value, we use a
> recollection cost method to value collections. Theoretically how much does
> it cost to go in the field, preserve, curate, document, store etc a
> specimen. A premium is added for remote locations and types.
>
> It has been very useful in showing administrators how valuable and
> irreplaceable the collections actually are.
>
> Let me know off-list if you would like the valuation guidelines.
>
> Cheers,
> Gavin
>
> *Gavin Dally*
>
> *Senior Collections Manager, Natural Sciences*
>
> *Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory*
>
>
>
> magnt.net.au <http://www.magnt.net.au/>
>
> *street address:* 19 Conacher St, The Gardens, Darwin, NT 0820 Australia |* postal
> address:* GPO Box 4646, Darwin, NT 0801 Australia
>
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On 9 Mar 2022, at 6:20 pm, Battermann, Nora <battermann at snsb.de> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> thanks for your replies so far. I fully agree with Maria - it would be
> incredibly useful to establish a method for estimating the value of natural
> history collections. Obviously, the value is infinite/impossible to measure
> but unfortunately there are instances in which we need to put a number on
> the value of a collection - be that insurance, posting/taxes,
> buying/selling or, at least in Germany for tax purposes, donation receipts.
>
> Best wishes,
> Nora
>
> ---
> Dr. Nora Battermann
> Koordination Sammlungsassessment
> ---------------------------
> Kaulbachstr. 37, III. Stock
> D-80539 München
>
> Telefon:
> +49 (0)174 2762445
> ---------------------------
> www.snsb.de
>
> Am 2022-03-09 08:11, schrieb Maria Dimaki:
>
> Dear all,
>
> indeed, it is a very interesting subject! The last years, I am asked
>
> about the economic value of specimens or collections. Usually from
>
> donators, for insurance, or other administrative reasons. My answer is
>
> always that each specimen is priceless and that it is impossible to
>
> define the value of a natural history museum collection in euros.
>
> If the person insists, I answer that is definitely not our job to
>
> “tag” a prize on specimens or collection and he should address to
>
> the tax office (and I am sure that they know nothing on the subject,
>
> in Greece).
>
> For some time know, I believe that, we should establish a method to
>
> estimate the value of Natural History Collections based on their
>
> scientific, cultural and educational value, by using appropriate
>
> criteria and a scoring system.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Maria
>
> Dr. Maria Dimaki
>
> Collections Manager
>
> In Charge of the Department of Terrestrial Zoology
>
> Goulandris Natural History Museum
>
> 100, Othonos St. Kifissia, GR 145 62, Greece
>
> Από: Dirk Neumann
>
> Αποστολή: Τρίτη, 8 Μαρτίου 2022 7:39 μμ
>
> Προς: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>
> Θέμα: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Advice on estimating the value of donated
>
> collections?
>
> Dear Hannu,
>
> 1€ would be better; within the EU (and the single market) you have
>
> no customs borders anyway, and if you need to send materials to
>
> Norway, Switzerland or Iceland, 1€ would be preferable to avoid
>
> import taxes. Usually, the threshold for import tax is low (until the
>
> most recent amendment this year, the minor threshold value was 22€).
>
> Colleagues were charged recently few cent because the declared value
>
> was 5€ ...
>
> With best wishes
>
> Dirk
>
> Am 08.03.2022 um 12:48 schrieb 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 [1]
>
> 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 [2]
>
> 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
>
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>
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>
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