Tom,

There are several things to consider. What you sell it for will often be
much less than you think it is worth. You may have ourchased a shell for
$100, but now it is worth less (specimens mostly depreciate due to someone
finding more of them; think Conus gloriamaris, Pleurotomaria, Cypraea
aurantium, many were $1000s of dollars, now within the reach of almost
anyone). Also, the dealer must pay you a lower amount due to his costs:
avertising, cataloging, evaluating the specimens, and carrying inventory.
A number of years ago I purchased a portion of a collection. It was valued
around $10,000 (probably a bit high) but I was given it for $3500. The two
conditions that I agreed to was that I would keep the collection and not
resell it and that I would eventually donate it to a museum. I have done
the first and plan on the second. The collection is currently stored at
the Carnegie and available for researchers to use.

Ones relatives can donate the collection after your death and use it as a
charitable deduction. Consult a tax advisor for the reguations involved.

You can also make plans for donating your collection yourself. I expect
when I am no longer able towork with my collection, I will finally donate
it to the Carnegie Museum along with my library. I try to maintain my
collection using archival techniques. This will make its incorporation
easier. In the event that I die before I can donate it in person, my will
states that mu collection and all books and papers relating to malacology
and natural history will be donated to the Museum with some funds to help
them incorporate these items in to the collection. Not only is it
mentioned in my will, but my wife and my children know what is to become
of the collection in the event of my death. And the curator of the
Carnegie is aware of this. I want to make sure EVERYTHING makes it down
there.

The Carnegie was made the benificiary of a collection a few years back. My
SUV was filled to capacity twice as I brought it from the donor down to
the Museum. We estimated that there were approximately 20-30000 lots.
Everything was meticuously numbered. Unfortunately, the catalogs were
thrown out:-( Of these lots we salvaged only 2-3000. These were mostly
material traded that had labels from the trader. The whole collection was
destined  for the landfill, only to be rescued by a nephew but not before
the documentation was tossed. Every curator has a sad story like this.
What was even worse is that most of the collection was self collected,
from New Jersey to Florida, over 30 years, and including micro and macro
shells.

Hope this helps. I am currently editing a book on studying, collecting,
and preserving mollusks for the AMS and there is a chapter in there that
deals with this topic. We expect that it will be available in a month or
two.


Regards,
Charlie
******************************************************************************
Charlie Sturm, Jr
Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
                     Carnegie Museum of Natural History
                     Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Assistant Professor - Family Medicine

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