People like me aren't condescending twits. My commentary was on the laws about mandatory confiscation of property. If he was motivated by just wanting to keep it as an object of beauty or even donating it as a gift to the local museum rather than the nattional one he wouldn't be entitled to do so. "People like me" don't like the government dictating to us. I'm perfectly fine with laws about preserving historically significant items but not those which require you to give it up, even if they give you what they consider to be "fair" compensation for it. I might even come to support a law which says if you decide to sell it you must allow museums to bid on them prior to maaking a private sale.
I suppose people like you prefer to put your high minded ideals and preferences onto everyone else by fiat.
Or maybe I'm just bitter that when I discovered the bones of Ponce DeLeon in my backyard clutching a vial marked "Eternal Life Elixer" I foolishly told the local authorities and now he and his bottle are sitting in a warehouse in Area 51 and I've continued to age at a depressingly normal rate. Oh well.
The value is determined by an independent adjudication. It has to be a little arbitary because how can you value something like that? Its certainly worth more than the gold it is made of.
I’ve never heard of anyone being disappointed with the figures they come up with.