It’s beyond ugly, it’s ghastly. Anyway sounds like an easy case for a good tax attorney. The IRS doesn’t make law, it makes policy, when policy conflicts with law, then it’s the judicial systems job to set thing straight ..... that doesn’t mean that these particular IRS officials aren’t stark raving mad.
Yeah... when it goes to court the item will be deemed worthless. Now if in the future Congress eases the restrictions upon eagle carcasses enough to make this piece legal to sell again... then the family might be dinged for capital gains.
I can sort of see the point the person who constructed this (I won’t say artist) was trying to make. Sort of. But it’s like he or she commissioned a little kid to do it after conceiving of the general idea.