Re: [ARSCLIST] appraisal

[Steven Smolian <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>]

Without going into all other possibilities, one strategy is to consider what
the value would be if sold to a country where U.S. laws concerning the
various rights involved do not apply.

Steve Smolian

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Miller" <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] appraisal


> Since we are on the subject...
>
> I wonder, what if one encoutered a collector who had a sole surviving copy
> of a performance by a major performing organization, say the Boston
> Symphony. While a case could be made for the "priceless" nature of it, the
> person does not own the rights to the performance recording, hence there
> would be no value they could deduct. Then the question of what the market
> value might be, assuming one were to obtain the rights to the recording.
> The cost of the rights would outweigh the potential return for any
> sales...unless the particular performance was of such great interest one
> could expect sales of over 50,000...not likely.
>
>
> It would seem to me that in this scenario, when it came to the notion of
> fair market value, it would be zero.
>
> I am reminded of some years ago when the Toscanini materials were donated
> to New York Pubic. As I recall the appraisal was $1M. I wondered, what was
> the basis for that valuation. The family owned the rights only to the
> extent of the conductor's contribution, yet the orchestras had rights as
> well.
>
> Comments are most welcome.
>
> Karl