Appraising Trains to get value in order to donate them to a Museum

A current, published price guide is generally more acceptable for that purpose than just about any other source.  That's one example of when a published guide does have real value as reference material.

I find it better just to donate them without worrying about the money you can claim on your tax's. it's not really a donation if you are worried about the value. 

I believe anything over $250 will require a letter from a recognized person attesting to the value for income tax purposes.

If you are going to donate to a 501C3 organization and expect to take a deduction on your taxes, what you have to do depends on the value of the trains.  Go to the IRS web site and look at the instructions for form 8283. As I recall, if the value is over $5000 you will have to have a professional appraiser provide the values and sign the 8283.  The organization receiving the donation is not allowed to participate in determining the values.

if the trains are new and you have receipts, you can do a donation-in-kind using the new values.  The non-profit will give you a reception for a cash donation.  No appraiser is required. It is as if you bought the trains for the non-profit and are taking a donation rather than a reimbursement. 

Fair market value at the time of the donation   (i.e., recent sale on eBay)

IRS Publication 526 will provide you with some guidance.

quite an altruistic view, but with all the loopholes the lawyers in congress make for themselves through the legal language only they can comprehend, i think i'll continue to take advantage of the one thing i can actually understand.

to the OP.... be very wary of donating trains to any museum.  once you do, unless you make some special arrangements, the museum can turn around and sell anything you give them without any regard to your wishes.

here in San Diego i had always planned on donating a large collection to a local train museum until i found out that the curatorial staff makes it a practice to sell off every donated item to museum members which then wind up in private collections, the profits of which do not even go into a collections fund, but rather get absorbed into the museum's general operating budget.

I once contacted a "professional train collection appraiser" ... and the fee they wanted knocked my socks off!

It's like the collection insurance business ... no way could I afford the yearly premium ... a rider from State Farm was to be a heck of a lot cheaper but I didn't follow up on it.

Invested in "hard protection" instead ...   Alarms and forceful resistance to being robbed ... maybe a pitbull in the future if things get bad.

Thank you all for your replies regarding donating the trains. It will certainly give more to think about.

From your friends at the IRS (quoted only in part):

Since many kinds of hobby collections may be the subject of a charitable donation, it is not possible to discuss all of the possible collectibles in this publication. Most common are rare books, autographs, sports memorabilia, dolls, manuscripts, stamps, coins, guns, phonograph records, and natural history items. Many of the elements of valuation that apply to paintings and other objects of art, discussed earlier, also apply to miscellaneous collections.

The last time I needed an appraisal, the insurance company allowed me to do my own valuation. It could have been because I added "member of TCA, TTOS, UTA, and LOTS" after my name and described what the acronyms stood for.

Jim