John,

What you're describing is a "bargain sale," in which the institution
pays part of the price and the person offering the piece donates the
rest of the value for a tax donation.

This is something we did fairly often at Colonial Williamsburg, but I
don't know the legal "ins and outs" of it, so the seller/donor should
be advised to consult his/her tax advisor for more information.  If
you have someone on your staff who deals with these issues (most often
someone in the development department knows these tax details), then
offering the services of that person to your prospective seller/donor
to advise on how this is done (in conjunction with the seller/donor's
tax advisor) would make good sense.

Martha Katz-Hyman
Newport News, VA

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