When I looked into deaccessioning a group of taxidermied animals several years ago, I found out that there’s quite a surplus of many of these. No doubt this will determine the values, depending on the type of animal.

See http://www.taxidermyappraisals.com/ for a list of cost for taxidermy – part of establishing the value of a mount – and for appraisal info.

See http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/congress_shoots_down_taxidermy.html for some interesting information on a tax scam involving hunting and taxidermy.

Keep in mind that the movie industry is a big “user” of taxidermy mounts for props, albeit more as renters than buyers, I can imagine.

Arsenic is an issue to take into consideration, as Joan G. suggested in her response. See http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:Szw7tkAjxf8J:www.spnhc.org/documents/CF16/sirois.pdf+arsenic+taxidermy&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=20 for more info on this.

I can imagine that whether you can sell taxidermy specimens depends on what animal it is. All kinds of laws apply to this, including Fish and Wildlife and Endangered Species. Worth looking into this.

Good luck!

Remko Jansonius

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

 


From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken Mark
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 9:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Deaccession help

 

I am the director of a new museum.  We have 150+ taxidermied animals that were parts of numerous collections.  We hold title to all of them and need to deaccession these animals. They do not fit the mission of our museum and the storage costs are eating us alive.

 

Can anyone help with two questions:

      1.  We want to sell these - Does anyone have suggestions for auction houses or liquidators we could contact?

 

      2.  How does one come up with a price for each animal?  Some are CITIES mammals with all of the paper work, etc.  We have the appraised values from when they were given to the museum.  Is this what we use for a price?  I need advice so as to get a fair price for the museum and to be fair to the buyer.

 

Thanks to all who may be able to help with this question.

 

Ken

 

Kenneth D. Mark
Director of the Oakes Museum

 

Messiah College
One College Ave. Box 3029
Grantham, PA 17055

 

Telephone: 717-691-6082
FAX: 717-691-6046
Email: [log in to unmask]

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