Valuing special collections
Main contacts cited
Bonhams Valuations Department
0870 027 3611
London
101 New Bond Street
0870 027 3611
http://www.bonhams.com/
Bernard Quaritch Ltd,
8 Lower John Street,
Golden Square,
London W1F 9AU
Tel: 020 7734 2983
E-mail: rarebooks@quaritch.com
http://www.quaritch.com/services/valuation
s.asp
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.
(http://www.hdrs.co.uk/)
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:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives/contacts.htm
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:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/loanagreement.pdf
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 http://www.bonhams.com/ )
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 http://www.quaritch.com/.
 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 <http://www.quaritch.com/services/valuations.asp>). 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 (http://www.manuscripts.co.uk/),
o Maggs (http://www.maggs.com/),
o Lesley Aitchison (http://www.localhistory.co.uk/la/) and
o Ken Spelman (http://www.kenspelman.com/).
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@andersongarland.com
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 http://www.nava.org.uk/default.asp 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