|
Clausen Book Condition Grading Standards - Certified Appraisals: - start at $10 per book (and up), or $100.00 per hour for large collections or house calls (including local area travel time) plus mileage, and associated expenses. This is a mandatory personal examination of book properties by the appraiser to accurately determine condition, pagination, edition, rarity, demand, provenance/association value or other unique factors that could affect book value, such as signs of alteration or rebinding of the original material. - The personal examination is followed by a written report that specifies sources used to determine value, including book auction records (foreign and domestic), sales records, price guides, bibliographies, dealer catalogs, publishers records, and additional data. Also included is an evaluation of the condition of each book property, wherein a condition grade is given. - The Fair Market Value of each book property is determined, valid for a period of two years, using the Market Data Comparison method accepted by the Appraisal Foundation, the American Society of Appraisers and the Internal Revenue Service. Applicable IRS Publications include 526, 547, 561, and 2194 . We adhere to the 2007 Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) of The Appraisal Foundation, and the Principles of Appraisal Practice and Code of Ethics of the American Society of Appraisers. - We perform only
certified appraisals, with No exceptions. Estate/Probate
Valuations no "on-line" appraisals or informal "price-guesstimates" performed Call 719-471-5884 or toll-free 1-888-412-7717 - We subscribe to and abide by the code of ethics and standards of the Rocky Mountain Antiquarian Booksellers Association, The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and The Appraisal Foundation - authorized by the U.S. Congress as the source of Appraisal Standards and Appraisal Qualifications. - These standards promote and encourage professionalism and integrity in used and rare book industry. We appraise single titles or entire collections. The appraisal includes written documentation that may be used for estate/probate, tax deductible contribution, and insurance purposes. - Valuations are based upon proven methods of investigating and determining fair market value. An extensive library of bibliographic resources, auction records, price guides, and other sources of information collected over a 50-year period make our appraisal process more than a mere comparison and contrast of prices on the Internet. - Book grading standards used include those established by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, the Rocky Mountain Antiquarian Booksellers Association, The Library of Congress, The Manuscript Society, The Independent On-Line Booksellers Association, and The Antiquarian Bookman. Book Appraisal Policy Unless otherwise stated, all appraisals conducted by Clausen Books are for the purpose of determining the fair market value of book properties that have been personally examined by our appraiser, and evaluated for condition, rarity, desirability, provenance and resale. The fair market value (FMV) of a book property is that amount which a willing seller may reasonably be expected to charge and a willing buyer may be expected to pay, when neither is compelled to do so and both are aware of all the facts related to the book and its sale. The fair market value of a book is NOT the price a seller will receive when offering the book directly to a book dealer. Clausen Books will not and cannot purchase, or take on consignment, any book property that has been appraised by us. This policy is for our protection as well as that of the owner of the book property. This insures an accurate and ethical "disinterested third-party" appraisal. Appraisals are not conducted contingent upon the appraised value of the book or book collection (charging an appraisal fee based on a percentage of the appraised value). This is an unethical practice and is forbidden by the IRS, ASA and the Appraisal Foundation. It must be clearly understood that the fair market value of a book not be confused with its replacement cost. Book values change over time, and knowledgeable dealers establish prices dependent upon supply and demand. At times the replacement cost of a book may exceed or fall short of the appraised fair market value of the book, dependent upon the locale of the book dealer, or time elapsed since the appraisal. With the advent of the internet global bookseller, many books have become easier to locate, which in some instances has caused book prices to fluctuate above and below their actual retail value. Thousands of new, amateur book dealers are now selling books on the internet, having little or no knowledge of books or actual book values. This has at times resulted in huge price differences among dealers for the same book. It is for this reason that we base our appraisals not only on current market indicators, but also on solidly established book values as determined by, current industry value guides, long-established rare book dealer catalogs, bibliographies, collectors guides, book auction records, and thousands of other sources of collected book value data. We have one of the largest and most in-depth bibliographic resource libraries in Colorado Springs, having collected appraisal data for over 50 years. Appraisals include an evaluation of book condition, often the most important but frequently overlooked factor in determining book property value. We grade books according to long-established standards set by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, the Library of Congress, the Manuscript Society, the Antiquarian Bookman, and by Henry A. Clausen, who founded Clausen’s Bookshop in 1946.
The IRS requires that the condition of personal property be described in all appraisal reports. For report purposes, or when listing a book on the internet, in a catalog or brochure, we grade books according to the following standards: Very Fine -The highest rating assigned to a book is Very Fine- abbreviated VF in most catalogs and on the internet. It is rarely used, as it requires that a book and its dust jacket (dj) be absolutely flawless, and perfectly pristine, without even the slightest hint of a rubbed or bent edge to the wrapper, or lean to the spine. Few books meet this rating, even most new books. Manufacturing flaws, careless gluing or sewing at the bindery, may relegate a new book to a less than VF category. Books in Very Fine condition should never be casually handled or opened, although a careful bibliophile can examine and read a VF copy without reducing its condition. Fine - Most new books that have not been handled by the browsing public and are not marked, stamped, written in or altered in any way, are initially rated Fine (F), provided their dust wrappers also meet the criteria. A Fine copy may permissibly have a slightly rubbed edge or tiny crease, and this must ALWAYS be identified, but a torn edge or dirt smudge renders the book less than Fine. Fine copies have no flaws, but are not as tight or ramrod straight as a VF copy. Near Fine -These books have some minor flaw(s) that keep them from being assigned to the Fine category. It is generally permissible (except by the most stringent purists of book collecting) to give a book a Fine rating and at the same time, down grade its dust wrapper to Near Fine or lower, so that descriptions of NF/NF, F/NF or F/VG+, may be routinely used. In ALL cases, flaws must be described. This is especially important for expensive, collectible books in Near Fine or better condition. To err on the side of understatement rather than over-praise a book's condition is our policy. Very Good - These books have minor flaws that are always identified. The overall condition of a book is taken into consideration before being rated VG. These books have been read several times, and have scuffed edges, bumped corners, but are otherwise still tightly bound with no loose or dirty pages. A book with a pristine book block (the contents from the first to the last page), but with minor tears to the spine, worn edges, or small stains on an otherwise clean unblemished binding, would be rated as VG or even VG+, if the defects are minor enough. Very clean and tight (relating to the binding) ex-library books, that are stamped, labeled, or marked in the usual manner by librarians, are graded as VG or VG+, depending upon the crispness and cleanliness of the pages. When grading books in the VG category, dust wrappers are graded SEPARATELY, and all flaws noted. Common entries may be seen as VG/VG, VG+/VG, NF/VG+, and so on, with the second set of letters related to the condition of the dust wrapper. Books in the VG category are open to the most criticism Good - Books in Good (G) condition are worn, usually inside and out, but all printed pages are present, and the binding is intact. The book cloth may be worn through, pages may be torn, soiled, marked on, or fragile, but the book will be perfectly readable. Thus, it will usually be identified as a reading copy. Cloth bindings are subject to wear and tear, stains, rips, rubbing, bumping to the corners, and bending, but if they do their job of protecting the contents and keeping the pages clean and intact, we rate the book as Good (G). Many discarded library books meet this standard, and again we describe all flaws. Fair to Poor - Books in this condition are very worn, stained, ripped, unattractive, with broken or weak hinges and/or spines. Pages and bindings may be missing, loose, or badly torn or stained. Some children's titles end up in fair to poor condition, but are so desirable to many collectors, that their condition is forgiven. Books in other categories are not treated as kindly and may have only salvage value. Updated 1/02/2008 What is Fair Market Value? Fair Market Value- IRS Publication 561, page 2, defines Fair Market Value as “the price that property would sell for on the open market. It is the price that would be agreed on between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with neither being required to act, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.” __________________________________________________________________________________ Applicable Internal Revenue Service Publications available at http://www.irs.gov/ Publication 526, Charitable Contributions (Revision 12/2005) Publication 561, Determining The Value of Donated Property (Revision 04/2007). Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts (2006) Publication 2194, 2005 Disaster Losses Kit |
Books