It has always been my understanding that a museum or 501c3 non-profit is
not allowed to declare monetary values for the IRS declarations - that is
the reponsibilty of the donor to do or to engage a qualified third party
such as an appraiser to do.

Cheers!
Dave

David Havey
Senior Conservator & Museum Consultant
Los Angeles CA
On Oct 4, 2012 1:13 PM, "Mifflinburg Buggy Museum" <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> **
> I could not find anything on this specific topic in the archives.  We have
> been given a number of items: photographs, books, ledgers, letters, tax
> receipts, checks, bank books by the descendents of our buggy maker.  While
> we can easily put a value on the books, I have never attempted to value
> correspondence.  We have used outside appraisers for some of our collection
> - vehicles, stoves, etc, but that was for insurance purposes and this is
> more for tax purposes.  While we do not normally do this for donors, we
> felt since this was the descendents and it is actually a gift from the
> grandson's estate, we could/should do this or at least attempt to do this.
> Although it may turn out to be a pointless exercise if their attorney says
> it doesn't matter.  Can anyone offer advice?  Where do you go to appraise
> letters, ledgers and bank records?  I'm pretty sure that IRS forms do not
> allow you to value you something as "priceless".  Thank you in advance for
> any assistance,
>
> Bronwen A. Sanders
> Executive Director
> Mifflinburg Buggy Museum
> 570-966-1355
> www.buggymuseum.org
>
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