Valuing special collections



Valuing special collections

Main contacts cited

Bonhams Valuations Department

0870 027 3611

London

101 New Bond Street

0870 027 3611



Bernard Quaritch Ltd,

8 Lower John Street,

Golden Square,

London W1F 9AU

Tel: 020 7734 2983

E-mail: rarebooks@



Advice

Valuing of archives is difficult, because of their unique nature. Often the material which is of most importance to the institution, in terms of its business and its history, is of relatively small cash value to outsiders - so a standard commercial valuation is often less than helpful.

The approach which is frequently taken is to insure not for 'market value', but instead for 'preservation value' - in the event of a flood or fire, what would it cost to have the entire collection freeze-dried and conserved? For this sort of approach, I think you should probably contact Harwell Document Restoration Services, who maybe able to advise. ()

If, however, the insurers do require a market valuation, you probably need to go to one of the bigger book and manuscript dealers. We have recently had very helpful advice on a manuscript collection from Quaritch - but valuations like that are not cheap to obtain!

Yes, we do have insurance for repair in the event of damage, arranged through the University's brokers. We also have an agreement with the drying service at Harwell to help rescue material in the event of a disaster, but this doesn't pay for long-term work. There isn't a great deal of published guidance on this area, because every case is so different, but the relevant regional adviser at the HMC is probably the best place to start:



TNA does have a small section on insurance in respect of deposit agreements:

[Deposit agreements should specify] Whether any insurance will be provided by the repository or whether the depositor must arrange and pay for this if required and how frequently the archives should be revalued for insurance purposes e.g. "Deposited private records are covered by the archive service's insurance for their physical repair or restoration after damage from whatever cause while in the archive service's custody. However, no compensation can be provided for the total loss of the records". This will need amendment if the insurance has exclusions, e.g. for acts of war, acts of god, etc. o Arrangements over legal liability for loss or damage to the material while held by the repository. e.g. "The archives service will take

all reasonable precautions compatible with the provision of public access to preserve the records from damage, loss or theft and additions or fraudulent amendments but shall not otherwise be liable beyond this to the depositor for any damage to or loss or theft of them during the deposit period".

The guidance in full is at:



The question of valuation is difficult, though, and the temptation to value for replacement, as you would with a table or a Hi Fi (as the enquirer seems to imply), comes up every now and then. The TNA guidance above represents the best way round the difficulty, but might be off-putting to owners.

Comments on valuers

Bonhams

• In the past, the University of X has used Bonhams (See ) to value selected parts of its Special Collections, including archives, for insurance. Although we know use a local auction firm, Bonhams would be a good first point of contact for your enquiry. It is an inexact art, to say the least.

• We used Bonhams because most of the other stuff we were having done at the same time was art/book related. Bonhams did do the archives, but they were very reliant on our help for them (ie based on what we paid and what we thought their value was). Archives notoriously difficut to value as re unique and therefore irreplaceable. Would suggest a dealer who specialises in the field which the archive covers. I don't think Bonhams and the big auction houses are not specialist enough for most.

Quaritch

• We use Quaritch’s for our valuations, they are very professional and reliable and although not cheap give good value for money. They have valued collections that we already hold for tax purposes, and also assess collections at auction for us, if we decide to purchase they do the bidding on our behalf. Their details can be found at web page .

• We had the X Collection valued for insurance purposes by Bernard Quaritch Ltd last year. They did a thorough job and produced a good summary of what was in the collection as well. Our valuer was Joan Winkerton. We have used Joan Winterkorn at Bernard Quaritch (see ). She was really helpful in talking me through the various options before we even committed to having a valuation done. When we did have a collection valued, she was prompt professional and wrote a very interesting and useful accompanying report. Pricey but professional.

• Our Archivist has been in contact with her network and suggests

o Quaritch is one of the leading firms. 

o Other options include

o John Wilson (),

o Maggs (),

o Lesley Aitchison () and

o Ken Spelman ().

o She also suggested you post a question to the Archives NRA

• Your enquiry has been passed to me by the University Library. I have used the valuers Quaritch, who are expensive but reputable. They valued the John Murray archive for the NLS and HLF.

Others

• We have never had our archives valued but we have twice had our library and contents valued for the purpose of setting up and dissolving a separate library company. We were pointed in the direction of a company in Newcastle who had done this sort of thing and they were extremely helpful and efficient. I have no idea if they have any expertise in archive valuation but they are also fine art valuers so they can’t be that far away. The partner we used on each occasion was Andrew McCoull (I am not sure if he was acting in a company or private consultancy capacity and we didn’t care so didn’t ask!). His email address is a.mccoull@ his direct telephone line 0191 430 3010. If you are short of options he might be able to help

• We had an archive valued by a M.C.Heseltine, who I think is probably the same person as listed in the NAVA list of members   It was before I had any responsibility for the archive so I can’t give a personal recommendation.

• The Director of Archives Advisory Service, Norman James, who by the way already gave us some valuable advice when we started planning the Archives & Special Collections, advised me to contact Bernard Quaritch and Meggs Brothers, both antiquarian books/documents specialists in central London and who seem to have experienced and quite renowned departments for valuations as well. I have contacted both and I was assured to be phoned back by the beginning of next week. Quaritch did not give me any indications of cost but mentioned the possibility of a pre-assessment visit which would provide a reliable cost estimate. Meggs charges £750 + VAT per day, but since the person responsible for valuation was not in the office, I was not able to get an idea of the time needed for this work.

Adam Edwards

20/7/07

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