When it comes to the dollar valuation of an artifact you should consult
the tax laws in your state, province, country etc.

And most important - you should find out what your museum's policy is on
valuations - check with your legal and finacial people, and find out who
in your museum is allowed to do the valuations.

Where I work, I am allowed to value any one item for income tax purposed
up to the value of $1000.00, after that one outside expert for values up
to so many thousands of dollars (I think it's $10,000), then two if the
value is above that and so on. Also it is only the Collections
Managers/Curators who are allowed to do the appraisals, ie our Registrar
does not do them, nor does our Loans Officer. 

Our values have to be based on the fair market value of the item or like
items. And we have to be able to back up our valuations (although I have
never had to do this). I constantly patrol the auction catalogues and
websites and keep a list/printout/photocopies to refer to. I also have a
list of appraisers for my type of collection.

I know a lot of institutions have the donor acquire the valuation, but
our institution decided many years ago that we would hire the appraiser
as a way of guaranteeing their impartiality and expertise.

So far this has worked very well for us. But you do have to know what
your institution allows and what your tax laws are like.

Carol Reid
Collections Manager, Archives
Canadian War Museum
1 Vimy Place,
Ottawa, ON, Canada,
K1R 1C2

www.warmuseum.ca

tel: (819) 776-8661
fax: (819)776-8623
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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