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Valuation of potential archive deposits



Recently on archives-nra (a listserv for UK archivists and records managers)
there began a thread concerning valuations of donations (appraisals for us
on this side of the ocean).

The following was posted on archives-nra (a listserv for UK archivists and
records manager). the original poster (Mr. Jones) has kindly given me
permission to post it here. I thought the members of this group would enjoy
the anecdote at the end on how an proper appraisal is done.
<snip>
I am not sure that this is always a monstrous evil! There may be cases where

artefacts (e.g. medals, coins) associated with a deposit have a high
financialvalue and - having been properly photographed and documented -
could
surely be
sold off for the benefit of the owner and his/her descendants without loss
of
informational value to the archive. Where the archivist believes this to be
the
case, is there not a moral duty at least to suggest it? Possibly this is
whatthe Museum officer had in mind - that it may be unwise for an
institution
silently to encourage the donor to act against his or her personal
interests.

In some cases it is possible for a donor to claim tax relief on the value of

archives. I recall a case where an American gentleman bought a manorial
lordship, and (being, rightly, unable to take the manorial documents out of
the
approved repository) asked for a valuation, presented them to the
repository,
and claimed the tax benefit. It seems to me that everybody won: he got his
manorial title, the repository got the documents previously held on loan
deposit
converted to a gift just by paying a small valuation fee, and he got a hefty

kickback from Uncle Sam.

Just as a footnote on the fine art of valuing archives: the valuation in the

above case was carried out by an (local and reputable) 'father-and-son' firm

of
antiquarian booksellers, and entrusted to the apprenti sorcier. Since the
archives included a rather unusual example of a piepowder court record, the
son
spent quite some time looking for comparable material in saleroom reports.
After some weeks delay, I mentioned to the father that the owner was getting

alittle impatient, to be told - "I don't know what the lad is finding so
difficult! You look at the document, and think to yourself 'it's got to be
worth, well .... so much'; and then you look at it again, and think 'and on
the
other hand, it could be worth as much as ....'; you split the difference -
andthat's your valuation!"

David Jones
<snip>

Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Manager, Records Management Group
Woodside Summit Group Inc
Midlothian, Virginia
Office: 804-744-1247 x23
Fax: 804-744-4997
mailto:peter.kurilecz@woodsidesummitgroup.com

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