[Nhcoll-l] Butterfly Cabinet Conservators/Preservation

[Douglas Yanega]

On 4/9/25 3:06 PM, Ashley Arimborgo wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I am hoping there is someone on here who can help point me in the 
> right direction. I have an older butterfly/entomology display case 
> (1940's ish) with several drawers of butterflies and beetles in 
> varying stages of completeness. Some have disintegrated completely, 
> while others still look pretty good. I'm interested in having the case 
> assessed for its value and whether or not it would be worth conserving 
> (and what that would look like.)
>
> This is my first foray into the entomology preservation world, if 
> anyone has any guidance on a good source I would greatly appreciate it!
>
This may sound glib, but it's accurate: it's only worth what someone 
will pay for it.

Even the IRS assesses the value of "non-cash" charitable donations 
(i.e., if you wanted to donate these specimens to a museum as a tax 
write-off) based on "fair market value". At my institution, we deal with 
this all the time, as we fairly often receive donations of this sort.

A few things to know:

(1) the *recipient* of a donation cannot provide the estimate of the 
value; that's a conflict of interest. For donations worth less than 
$5000, you are allowed to provide the assessment yourself (using IRS 
Form 8283), but only if you provide the IRS with a *verifiable 3rd-party 
source* that shows what the fair market value of similar material is. 
For example, if you have a cabbage white butterfly, the fair market 
value is what that species can be purchased for in a catalog. For most 
common insects, the value will be around $5-7 US. You have to tell the 
IRS what catalog you used, in case they decide to perform an audit.

(2) There is a document produced many years ago, and still in 
circulation, that fabricated values for insects based on whether they 
were pinned or not, whether they were labeled or not, whether they were 
identified or not, and other such criteria. This document is NOT 
accepted by the IRS; they are aware of it, and they have made it 
extremely clear that using the "Florida pricing guide" is likely to 
trigger an audit, because it is NOT considered "fair market value". 
Again, fair market value is what a specimen of that same species *can be 
purchased for*. The Florida pricing guide is based on "replacement 
cost", which the IRS does not accept.

(3) specimens that have been damaged by carpet beetles are generally not 
worth anything, unless they are something very rare AND only slightly 
damaged. Generally, catalog prices refer to undamaged specimens, and not 
appropriate to use for damaged material.

(4) in the unlikely event that the value is estimated over $5000, then a 
3rd-party appraisal is required by law, and they cost money to hire. 
Again, you don't need an appraisal for values under $5000.

The odds are that the display case is worth more than the insects 
inside, but it depends upon what the insects actually are, and their 
condition. I speak from almost 30 years of personal experience, and I 
have never seen a private collection that had carpet beetles in it, AND 
would be worth buying. Collectors who have valuable specimens generally 
KNOW they are valuable, take good care of them, and don't let them get 
eaten. We have had many donations over the years, hundreds if not 
thousands of specimens, and I don't think that we received more than 5 
or 6 specimens in all that time whose market value would exceed 25-50 
dollars. The donors are inevitably disappointed to find out that their 
"grandfather's prized collection" is only worth about 500 dollars to the 
IRS, and worth *nothing* to insect collectors. Yours may be exceptional, 
but you shouldn't *expect* it to be worth very much. There are lots of 
spectacularly beautiful insects that can be bought very cheaply, and 
many amateur collectors do just that.

I hope this is helpful,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314  voicemail:951-827-8704
FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
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