Reputable fossil appraiser

[Lissa2678]

Hi! I would love to know your suggestions for having a fossil appraiser. My Father found MANY fossils in Greene River, Wyoming and many of the specimans went to Museums. We have a number of them (he passed in 2001) and was wondering where I might have his biggest/most valuable one appraised for insurance purposes?

Thank you! I live in MN.

[caldigger]

Unfortunately, fossils are only worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay for it.  You might want to wander through some auction/ sales sites to get an idea of what they go for.

[Lissa2678]

Thank you, Caldigger. I'll see what I can come up with. 

[DPS Ammonite]

I saw an old TFF post that said Canadian museums were required to establish a tax value for donations while American museums were prohibited from that and prohibated from giving any names of appraisers. Contact a recognized Canadian museum. Some of our Canadian members might even have connections with one of them. 

[Lissa2678]

Really? That's so interesting, thank you!!

[DPS Ammonite]

You may also contact the presidents of some of the major non profit paleontological societies for a recommendation since the societies often help distribute fossil estates: Cincinnati Dry Dredgers and Dallas Paleontological Society. Hint: I saw an article written by members of both clubs re estate planning and fossil collections.

[RJB]

  Caldigger has the simplest way.  Type in your fossil at one of the auction places or google it and see what other websites are selling them for?   PM me with some photos, I may be of some help. 

 

RB

[Wrangellian]

On 12/10/2018 at 6:29 PM, DPS Ammonite said:

I saw an old TFF post that said Canadian museums were required to establish a tax value for donations while American museums were prohibited from that and prohibated from giving any names of appraisers. Contact a recognized Canadian museum. Some of our Canadian members might even have connections with one of them. 

For me, the provincial museum had no trouble giving me a tax receipt for my first donation or two.. then on subsequent donations I got none, and when I asked about it, the answer was that I hadn't asked for it (I thought I had), and then it was explained that it costs them money to have an appraiser go thru your donations and come up with a market value, and write and mail the receipt. (I didn't think museum volunteers were paid, but they pay the person who appraises donations and writes the tax receipts?) I don't know what to believe, but it was also suggested that, at least here in BC, they're trying to get away from putting dollar values on fossils, because of the new BC regulations that ban fossil sales, and instead move towards a system where they take into account your efforts to collect and curate the fossil before bringing it to them. Whatever, I've learned that you can't make a donation and assume that you're going to get your tax receipt automatically! You have to ask, possibly pester.

[Wrangellian]

On 12/11/2018 at 6:36 AM, RJB said:

  Caldigger has the simplest way.  Type in your fossil at one of the auction places or google it and see what other websites are selling them for?   PM me with some photos, I may be of some help. 

 

RB

I would qualify this advice by pointing out that the asking price on a lot of things is higher - sometimes way higher - than the amount people will pay for such items.

If you do a google or auction search, don't do the lottery-win dance when you see a high 'Buy It Now' price on fossils similar to yours. It might be exaggerated on purpose.

That is unless you see actual bids and sales happening.