My understanding is that President Nixon used the same appraiser that
President Johnson did.  Turned out that the appraiser was one of those
described of the type running around in  the 70s and 80s by members of
this list.  There is still litigation going on between NARA and the RN
estate, so I suppose we'll see how that turns out.  Regarding
Presidential Materials, those are adminstered by the National Archives
and Records Administration, most especially since President Roosevelt's
time (NARA was founded under his watch).  Before that, Library of
Congress, the Smithsonian, and other independent Presidential Centers as
well as Presidents' alma maters held on to Presidential collections.   I
think that the hysteria of Watergate nailed shut any loopholes that
Presidents in future could've used to keep their papers; from what I have
read, when the Presidential Materials Act was signed by Carter he
exempted himself.  Head of State gifts to the U.S. Presidents were always
considered US govt. property, since Washington's time.  The Office of
Presidential Libraries does have thresholds for foreign and domestic
gifts, and usually if the President or his family were interested in
keeping something, they had to pay the appraised value of the object.
Thresholds that are set for foreign gifts that the President or his
family can keep runs to $245.00, for domestic gifts it's $250.00.  That
may have changed.

As we have all discussed, fair warning to all those who appraise items
that are directly donated to your institutions.  It is not good to be
seen as an "interested party" in that activiity, and the burden always
falls on the donor, especially as he or she claims the deduction.   Would
the question of  "fair market value," also pertain to items that you
borrow?  From that standpoint, the owner comes up with a number which
would seem to be a "fair" number to the institution when insuring that
object for loan purposes.  In that scenario, I believe the museum is safe
to apply a dollar figure to the item.
O

Olivia S. Anastasiadis, Curator
Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, CA  92886
(714) 993-5075 ext. 224; fax (714) 528-0544; e-mail:  [log in to unmask]

On Thu, 11 Mar 1999 10:20:44 -0500 Ross Weeks <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
>To Patrick's historical note must be added the instance of former
>President Nixon claiming a substantial tax deduction for the gift of his

>memorabilia and private papers to a museum being developed in his honor.
 I don't
>remember how he came at the appraisal, but the action triggered all
>kinds of new restrictions on valuation and also what an ex-president
could
>regard as personal property.  Now, all memorabilia of any value go to
some
>government repository, possibly the Smithsonian.
>
>>COMMENT:
>>
>>Those of us around in the 1970s and early '80s will remember that
>there's
>>a good reason for this rule.
>>
>>Apart from a couple of outright scams (one set up by Americans based
>in
>London in fact - though as a US tax fraud) senior museum personnel
>were
>>put under great pressure by potential donors (and sometimes by their
>own
>>trustees) to inflate valuations -(snip)  the history should be a
>reminder
>of the
>>need to be scrupulously careful lest abuses provoke another
>crack-down.
>>
>>
>>Patrick Boylan
>

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