[NHCOLL-L:2483] RE: valuation of a slide collection

[Carolyn Rissanen]

I agree with Bob - for your own insurance purposes you can use cost of 
film and developing and travel, but you can't give the donor an 
appraised value anyway.  I would like to hear how you solve this.

-- 
Carolyn Rissanen
Registrar
Oakland Museum of California
510/238-3885
510/238-3393 (fax)
www.museumca.org



Bob Glotzhober wrote:

>I really know next to nothing about appraisals.  However, let me speak in ignorance.
>1. Other than suggesting names of appraisers, I think that needs to be her responsibility not yours.
>2. Can the replacement value be considered?  If so, it is not just cost of film and processing, but travel as well?
>
>3. These same issues apply to things like insect specimens of irreplaceable species.  Except those cases where there is a market, there is no real value unless you can count replacement -- which in the case of extinct species may be impossible.  How do you value the holotype of an extinct species for a group that has no trade (which we wish was true for more and more species groups)?
>
>I'm eager to hear other responses to this.
>
>
>==========================================
>Robert C. Glotzhober          614/  297-2633
>Curator, Natural History       bglotzhober at ohiohistory.org
>Ohio Historical Society
>1982 Velma Avenue
>Columbus, Ohio  43211-2497
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Karl Hutterer [mailto:khutterer at SBNATURE2.ORG]
>Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 11:27 PM
>To: NHCOLL-L (E-mail)
>Cc: Caroline Grange
>Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2480] RE: valuation of a slide collection
>
>
>About a year ago, we received a donation of more than 10,000
>photographic slides as well as travel diaries from the widow of a man
>who had spent his life traveling to exotic places to make natural
>history collections, principally of birds but also of a diversity of
>other things. He traveled, from the 30s through the 60s, in places like
>Ethiopia, Afghanistan, India, Madagascar, Ecuador, and Mexico. The bird
>collection was donated to us three years ago and is quite valuable.
>
>The widow is convinced that the slide collection is highly valuable as
>well and would like to take a tax deduction for it. We have contacted a
>variety of appraisers and experts and have been told, not surprisingly,
>that the collection represents little monetary value other than the hard
>cost of the film and of creating the slides. The donor is very unhappy
>about this, and our Development Director would like to accommodate her
>as much as possible, because she has made arrangements for other
>donations that would, in fact be of great value to us.
>
>I am looking for anyone who might have helpful suggestions about how the
>value of this slide collection might be (legitimately) increased.
>
>Karl L. Hutterer
>Executive Director
>Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
>2559 Puesta del Sol Rd.
>Santa Barbara, CA 93105
>(805) 682-4711, ext. 101 phone
>(805) 569-3170 fax 
>
>
>
>
>  
>