- 13 -
Specifically, Mr. Verb determined that the newspapers had an
average estimated saleable value of $35 per issue, based on his
own personal experience in handling and selling newspapers and
the retail price for individual newspapers listed in an
advertisement of the largest distributor of retail newspapers in
the United States. Mr. Verb valued the magazine, Sunday comic,
and daily comic strip sections separately and added this figure
to the value he determined for the newspapers.10 In valuing the
daily and Sunday comic strip sections, Mr. Verb assumed that they
would be cut out of the newspapers and sold individually.11
Mr. Verb did not reduce his valuation to account for: (1)
The number of transactions required to sell each individual issue
and comic strip; (2) the costs required to prepare the individual
issues and comic strips for sale to purchasers; and (3) the costs
which would be incurred in storing the newspapers and locating
willing buyers for each date contained in the collection. Mr.
Verb did not consider the fact that the Los Angeles and Chicago
newspapers had been evenly exchanged for the Montana newspapers
which had been purchased for only $1,750 in 1988.
10Although petitioners argue that the magazine sections have
a separate value, Mr. Verb did not assign a value to them.
11However, Mr. Verb testified that an individual newspaper
would generally not have any value for birthday or anniversary
purposes if comics were cut out of it.
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