International Society of Appraisers are the personal property specialist group and an excellent choice for their educational program. They are focused on all the "stuff" and not business valuations and real estate, as is the American Society of Appraisers, who have personal property as a small part of their focus. I have been part of both groups and took half the training at ASA. The basic training with either group is incredible. Appraising is a very complex profession and yes, the training through both groups is very costly. I have been a Registrar for almost 30 years and an appraiser for about 20. It is a confusing mix. With the Registrar's hat on it is always tempting to give appraisal advice when that comes up. Not good. The AAM Ethics Code is clear on your role in a museum employee as it speaks to appraisals, give 3 references - if pushed - and then go mute. It is extremely hard to look the other way when a kindly donor gives you a copy of the appraisal for the files and you realize they have just paid a lot of money for something that may not meet IRS standards and, even worse, will leave them in court in a few years for underpayment of taxes. It is a tough position. As to your "value added" as a Registrar, you would save your museum a whole lot of money if you did your own in house insurance valuations from an educated perspective. A good thing. Every time this list begins to discuss the issue of doing in house insurance valuations everyone advises going to the auction results for comparable sales data. Once again, NOT GOOD. That is the wrong market for insurance replacement in most cases. Dealers are the people who can make you whole in a timely manner and that is why you are paying those big insurance premiums. See, it is difficult to get off that soap box even now. Sorry, maybe this will settle this issue in the future. Registrar/appraiser is almost a conflicting combo of skills but, I wouldn't give up either, love them both. Call me if you want to talk about it. Sara Conklin, ISA CAPP Int'l Society of Appraisers, Certified Appraiser PH: 530-836-1762 ========================================================= 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).