Advice On What To Do With My Collection

[pcolley]

Hi everyone, I am an amateur collector. I grew up in central Texas and collected many specimens of minerals, worked flint and small fossils. I also had a few rockhound friends who donated specimens to me. It's about two boxes of specimens collected between the 1970s and 1990s. I am simplifying my life and thinking it's time to donate some or all of them for scientific and educational purposes. I've been in touch with a few gem & mineral institutions in East Texas who have expressed interest.

Here is my question. I have never had any of the pieces valued. From the little research I have done, I think the whole thing is worth only a few hundred bucks. Although I am unemployed, I don't mind making a donation of that size to a good cause. What I don't want to do is give away something priceless without knowing what I'm doing. At one point many years ago, I had a pterodactyl head (yes a REAL one) but because I was young and stupid, I didn't keep it under lock and key and a so-called family friend of my mother's stole it for drug money. I still get upset over that whole mess.

I guess my point is, I want to be smart about valuing my donation, and if a select few pieces are worth hanging on to, I'd like to know. There are too many pictures to post here. I do have a 3.5 MB PPT that I could share if anyone would be willing to take a quick look to see if anything stands out.

I'm moving in a few weeks so it's not feasible for me to drag everything to a gem show. I did a google search and found you guys. Hoping you can help me out. Thanks so much in advance. Any help or advice is appreciated.

[Phoenixflood]

Welcome

That is really nice that you are willing to donate them to some intitutions. I think a lot of us on here know a little bit about minerals. I don't know too much, but I'd be willing to give it a look to see if there was anything I wold personally hold on to.

[Auspex]

Start here by separating the wheat from the chaff. Particularly valuable items would need to be professionally appraised to satisfy tax auditors. The run-of-the-mill material (ie: lower value) can be assigned a reasonable value by self-proclamation (keep a few notes on comparables, just in case).

[pcolley]

Start here by separating the wheat from the chaff. Particularly valuable items would need to be professionally appraised to satisfy tax auditors. The run-of-the-mill material (ie: lower value) can be assigned a reasonable value by self-proclamation (keep a few notes on comparables, just in case).

Thank you. That's about what I figured. Would you be interested in looking at the PPT? I can't load it here as there's a 2 MB limit and it's a 3.5 MB file.

[Wakaritai]

Welcome to the forum

sorry to hear about the head. Unfortunately, that type of occurrence is all too common (not just in the fossil world, but any time when high value and too much trust are present). There is a fine line between proper precautions and what can be considered insults to those you love. If it is any consolation, I don't think there was anything you could have done. There was no way of knowing that ahead of time, and the only thing you could have done was react after the fact.

It is a noble deed to consider donation, and much easier given the fact that many donations are tax-deductible. But, as has already been mentioned, it can be complicated. I recommend going to your tax professional and asking about it. He or She will be able to tell you everything you need to know, and hook you up with forms and whatnot, to make sure you get the credit you deserve, and to make it easy for the assessor. You can't just donate to anywhere, though, there are restrictions that they will be able to tell you about. And be careful, tough... they are the only people who truly know all the facts. Many people get screwed by taking advice from friends and family who aren't familiar with the law.

Good luck! Feel free to post pics

[John]

Thank you. That's about what I figured. Would you be interested in looking at the PPT? I can't load it here as there's a 2 MB limit and it's a 3.5 MB file.

What about uploading it to one of those web-based storage sites like rapidshare, photobucket or similar sites? You could upload it and post the link here.

John

[John]

I recommend going to your tax professional and asking about it.

That is always good advice. Having done a number of appraisals in the past, I found that as long as the value of your donation can be solidly justified by reference to the prices other similar items have sold for, you are unlikely to get challenged by the IRS. The tax people refer to this as "establishing a basis" and the toughest part is just that fossils don't have an easy track record for comparison the way art and antiques do. The more complicated step is claiming the proper deduction on your taxes and that really needs to be determined by a tax professional.

John