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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