According to the New York Times, Ileana Sonnabend’s heirs and the IRS will go to Court next month to debate the fair market value of an object that cannot be sold.
Canyon by Robert Rauschenberg includes a stuffed bald eagle, which is under federal protection by the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Portection Act and the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act; the current owners would be committing a felony by selling it. For this reason, appraisers have valued the work at zero.
Nevertheless, the IRS’s own Art Advisory Panel has appraised the work at $65 million and is requiring that the owners pay $29.2 million in taxes. The work was valued by the IRS solely on its artistic value, without considering related restrictions or laws.
[This entry was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch].