Archaeological and natural history collections are especially hard to value 
when it gets down to the tasty bits.  Pot sherds without decoration, ugly 
moths, boring bags of soil have -- as has been stated  -- no easy market 
value.  Let's remember when using the "market data" methodology it is based 
on people with money who are willing to pay for stuff.  They normally want 
sexy, cute stuff which leaves out most of the historically important and 
scientific wonders in our world.  What to do?  There are two more approaches 
to value beyond finding the recent sale of something comparable to your 
museum object.

An appraiser can use the "income" approach where the property is valued 
based on its past record of earning money (e.g. historic furniture rented to 
movie companies; the receipts from attendance to an exhibit of undecorated 
pot sherds?).

The third method is the "cost" approach which takes in making another widget 
by a qualified craftsman (cost of reproduction), what a dealer is asking for 
a similar widget (replacement cost for a comparable object), and here is 
where the costs of another dig, cataloging, data entry and all those pricey 
acid free boxes come in.  As stated, this last option is a prohibitive 
insurance premium problem.

What to do?  Can you come to a modest "per widgit" amount with the insurance 
company for the items with no active market, say $1 each?  This is based on 
absolutely nothing but, should you suffer a loss, you will have some 
compensation for the tasty bits.

As an appraiser, I would like to know if anyone else has come up with a good 
valuation methodology.  If anyone wants to talk about appraisal challenges I 
am happy to help you think things through, call me:  Sara Conklin, ph 
800-464-4208. 

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