FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[John Betts]

The good news is the Trump tax reform repealed the loophole.

Under the old law a collector that bought a $100,000 mineral who then sold it for $500,000 had to pay capital gains taxes on the $400,000 profit. Under the loophole an "investor" could buy another mineral subsequently for $500,000 and avoid the capital gains tax. In order to establish "investor" status:

"Tax advisors believe the IRS will view taxpayers more favorably as investors if they have regular collection appraisals done by professionals; take steps to increase the value of the collection by, for example, lending works to museums..."


To learn more Google "The Tax Strategy That Fuels the Art Market."

[Gary White]

This tax discussion seems to be tangential to the regrets/remorse discussion. For the clarity of the readers the 1031 exchange provisions only applied to gains from sales but John you are correct that this has now been eliminated for collectibles (personal property).

[cascaillou]

https://exceptionalminerals.com/DEN2007-202indiamix3.jpg

This thing was 18x10x10cm. I looked at the price and I told to myself "if you are prepared to be eating pastas without salt at every meal for the next six years, then it's possible".

My regret: I decided that no rock in the world was worth so much pastas. My consolation: it's in a museum now, for everyone to enjoy, and it's probably better that way...but sometimes, when it's dark, I can still hear it...my precious!

[Chris Wentzell]

When I was much younger, living in southern California, I donated alot of material to a local Nature/Cultural Center for them to display, this was in the early 1990's. I was very young then. Among my favorites donated were Tourmalines, Beryls, Kunzites we had dug at Pala, some opal pinecones from Nevada, etc. The administrator at the time, Ruth and her husband Sam, who founded the center and built it from the ground up, was a dear friend and promised me they would be kept on display or returned to me. I didn't need anything in writing as her word was golden to me. Later she and her husband retired and moved to Arizona, and they left the center in charge with the board of directors. I went to look at the museum in 2012, and nothing that I had donated was on display in the museum anymore. They had a few lesser pieces I had given them up for sale in the gift shop. But what happened to the 3 and 4 inch tourmalines (King/Fletcher Mines), 50 lb quartz matrixes (White Queen, Vanderberg, Katerina), etc.... Most of the pegmatite mines they were collected from lapsed and went back to reservation land and cannot be mined or even accessed anymore. I look at what they would be worth today with the high end dealers and (sigh). I had hoped they would be displayed forever but likely they got sold off to finance the center in one way or another. I doubt that I will ever 'donate" again while I am still living. That's just one of many stories over the years. One time I sold/traded a large part of my collection to a friend for an interest in a mine.
Boy did I get screwed over. I was 19 at the time. Now, at 46 I'm not that naive.
Honestly, I wish I could keep everything I ever buy or dig, but another good miner friend really put it in perspective years ago. He had what might be one of the best matrix specimens ever found at his mine, in 1993. I said, "don't sell it you need to keep it!" Blue told me, "But Chris, we have to keep on mining." I've been in this spot several times over the years since then and now understand what he was saying. With these regrets and experiences, the most important pieces I now acquire go into my trust with a provision they cannot be sold and immediately go the the safe deposit box at the bank, and someday either my beneficiaries or a museum will inherit it when I am gone, if I don't create my own museum before then. But from time to time I often think about those old pieces I donated or sold, and where they are. I miss them. Every mineral or gem I add to my collection becomes like a child to me. Another thing, I often regret not buying something as soon as I see it, then go back to find it's already gone. So lately if it's something I want, i just pull the trigger and buy it, and worry about how to pay for food later! After all, I can always get a box of macaroni or noodles but you can't always buy a blue cap! Just some of my thoughts....