$ value of herbarium specimens

[Frederick J. Peabody]

On Thu, 30 Jan 1997, John Nelson wrote:

> TH 30 Jan 155p
>
> Friends:
>
>     I've just had a request for information from my Heritage Program
> buddies here in town, who are trying to figure out the dollar-
> sign worth of fully prepared, legitimate, accessionable herbarium
> specimens (that is, presumably of a phanerogam on a piece of
> herbarium paper) that would voucher some inventory work they are
> proposing. Way back when (the 80's), I remember the figure
> of $7 a specimen...is there a generally recognized value these days?
> Perhaps a citation is involved?
>
>     Thanks for any ideas-- John Nelson
>
>
> John B. Nelson
> Curator of the Herbarium (USCH)
> Department of Biological Sciences
> University of South Carolina
> Columbia SC 29208
>
> nelson at biol.sc.edu
> 803-777-8196 phone
> 803-777-4002 fax

I remember hearing of a value of about $10.00 per mounted and identified
specimen.  I am not sure how one would come up with the justification for
this figure.  Maybe it is an estimation of what it would take to replace
the specimen with one collected today.  Obviously this discounts any
historical information that may have been associated with the original
specimen.

Frederick J. Peabody
Associate Professor of Botany
University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD  57069  USA
fpeabody at sundance.usd.edu