No Charitable Deduction For Donated Fossils.

The petitioner, a veterinarian, donated trilobite fossils and claimed a charitable deduction for the donation of $136,500 in one year and $109,800 in another year.  The petitioner claimed that he had donated long-term capital gain property allowing for the deduction of the FMV of the trilobites with no inclusion of the appreciation in value in income.  Trilobites have been found on every continent in the world, from mountaintops to deserts to oceans with many being instantaneously fossilized.  The petitioner's expert appraiser recognized his signature on Form 8283, but could not remember signing it, and could not recognize the appraiser letters that contained his signatures.  In any event, the appraisals were not contemporaneous because they did not state whether the charity had received any goods or services in exchange for the gift.  Isaacs v. Comr., T.C. Memo. 2015-121.