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. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).