This is such a basic registrarial question, I hardly know where to begin. If your auditor is asking this for insurance purposes, see below. If not, then contact AAM for their statement regarding establishing values for museum collections and how that is a different animal from valuing capital assets. First: This is a topic that is discussed with depressing regularity on the listserv of the Registrars Committee of the American Association of Museums. The very short answer is that neither of you should have to provide a schedule of values in order to obtain appropriate insurance for your collections. Frankly, as you have both discovered, it can be an impressively expensive and overwhelming task--especially for a general history museum with more flat irons than Van Goghs. Second: Neither of your insurers understands the nature of a museum collection. It is standard practice among most museums to provide an insurer with a statement of "maximum probable loss." This figure is the result of a thoughtful analysis of what is stored where in your facility and what might be lost in the event of a single tragedy. It does NOT come from a complete aprasial of an entire collection. It may result from the apprasial of a handful of very valuable items. Third: Scheduled policies only pay for things listed in the schedule, if you damage a recently acquired item that isn't yet listed--too bad. Fourth: A very thoughtful discussion of the entire topic of museum insurance appears in "The New Museum Registration Methods" edited by Rebecca Buck and Jean Gilmore and available from the AAM bookstore (or online). The chapter outlines in great detail the above concept and discusses how to request bids for insurance from a variety of vendors. On a personal note, several years ago I rebid my previous museum's insurance. We went from a scheduled policy with a local agent who thought he got us a 'great deal' to a museum policy with an insurer who specializes in the museum industry. I got better coverage for higher limits at a much cheaper rate. It pays to shop around when your policy is up for renewal. Diane (Still a registrar at heart) Gutenkauf On Tue, 17 Dec 2002 13:52:12 -0700, Nancy Geyer <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I would love to hear the responses to this question. Our auditor has asked >us to put a value on our collection and we have over 20,000 artifacts. We >don't know where to begin. > >Thanks, >Nancy > >Nancy Geyer, Interim Executive Director >Boulder History Museum >1206 Euclid Ave. >Boulder, CO 80302 >303-449-3464 > > -----Original Message----- >From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On >Behalf Of Tom Culbertson >Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 12:40 PM >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Collections insurance > >Dear List, > >Would anyone like to weigh in on the question of collections insurance? >Ours is up for renewal and we got quite a boost in the rate. We haven't >made a claim in years because of a $5,000 deductible. There is also a >request from the insurance company of a schedule of collections with values. >We have about 17,000 objects in our collections plus 1,000,000+ manuscripts >and 75,000+ library volumes. We could print out a list of objects but there >are no values assigned. In the past we have declared a lump sum value and >hoped for the best. In today's economic climate we are trying to make a >rational decision. What has anyone else experienced? > >Thomas J. Culbertson >Director of History and Education >Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center >Spiegel Grove >Fremont, OH 43420 >(419) 332-2081 phone >(419) 332-4952 fax >[log in to unmask] > ========================================================= 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).