Astor Estate to Pay $250,000 More as Tax to State

Hearings Not Ended, but the Total Now Reached Is $87,216,691.

DEDUCTIONS CLAIMED BEING PASSED ON

Schedule Shows Large Interest in New Theatre with Securities of Nominal Value.

$161,920 VALUE OF GEMS

More Than $2,000,000 on Deposit in Trust Company Released by Controller's Order.

While hearings on the appraisal of the estate of Colonel John Jacob Astor have not been completed, the latest of them having been held Friday, it was stated yesterday that an additional transfer tax aggregating $250,000 would have to be paid on the estate, owing to the fact that the appraisals of all the property show a valuation approximating $87,216,691.05, as against $77,826,000, on which a tax of $3,150,000 was paid.

Rapid work has been accomplished in the appraisal of the Astor estate owing to a proceeding heretofore unexampled in the settlement of so large a property, because the State Controller, William Sohmer, and the executors of the estate agreed at the outset on one set of appraisers. Otherwise, as in the case of recent appraisals of large properties, two sets of appraisers would have been appointed, whose opposing views would have delayed a final adjudication for many months.

John V. Coggey, Transfer Tax Appraiser, who arrived home yesterday from Virginia, said that previous estimates of the Astor estate had been published, but In the main they had been merely guesswork, since the work had not yet been completed. John Quinn, the special counsel employed, added that the hearings on this matter had not been finished, as the deductions claimed by the executors were still under consideration, by him.

To date, however, the total estate, without deductions allowable by law, as claimed by the executors, amounts to $87,216,691.05. The appraisals of the property of all kinds, real, personal, stock and bonds, passing or vesting upon the death of Colonel Astor, as shown by the final appraisals of the appraisers and the statements of the executors, amount to a similar sum, $87,216,691.05. From the executor's affidavit it appears that this gross property is divided into six groups: —

First: — The property owned absolutely by Colonel Astor, which has been appraised at a total of $51,258,888.73.

Second, the property in which Colonel Astor had a life interest, subject to trusts created by William Astor, with power of disposition in Colonel Astor and which passed under his will. This property has been appraised at $33,238,981.88.

The next three divisions are those in which property passed under antenuptial trusts. The property affected by the antenuptial trust to Mrs. Ava Willing Astor was appraised at $787,397.25. The property passing under the two antenuptial agreements with Mrs. Madeline Force Astor was appraised at $1,384,415.10 and $311,336.63.

The last group shows the appraised value of property held in a trust created by William Astor, in which Colonel John Jacob Astor had a life interest with power of disposal, and which, under his will, passed with the residuary estate to his son, Vincent Astor. This was appraised at $236,171.46.

Deductions Claimed by Executors.

The deductions claimed by the executors, which are now under consideration by special counsel for the State Controller, including debts of Colonel Astor and of the various trusts, and including taxes, administrative expenses, executors' commissions as fixed by the will and attorneys' fees, are asserted to amount to $1,875,771.19.

In this wise the net value of the estate, including real estate, the Rhinebeck property, art objects, statuary, bronzes, personal property in the St. Regis Hotel, stocks, bonds, mortgages and all property of every kind, if the deduction in said amount be finally allowed, the sum of $85,340,919.86.

On behalf of the executors, Nicholas Biddle makes an affidavit in which he says: — 'To the best of my knowledge, information and belief, the decedent, prior to his death, made no transfer of property, real or personal, by deed, grant, bargain, sale or gift in contemplation of death or intended to take effect at or after death and did not have any power of testamentary disposition over any real or tangible personal property in the State of New York other than that set forth herein."

Appraisers Agreed Upon.

Owing to the agreement between the State Controller and the executors, the appraisers appointed were Edwin C. Holston for art objects; Benjamin H. Herts, personal property and furnishings; Hiram K. Knapp, hotel furnishings, and the following for real estate:--Robert E. Dowling, property and building; Charles J. Ramsey for west side property, including the dock property; Clarence W. Eckardt for the east side property; Joseph P. Day for the Bronx property and Bryan L. Kennelly for the Rhinebeck estate.

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By reason of the tying up of this cash total of $1,398,546, the trust company was seriously inconvenienced, and it was found necessary by the State Controller to issue a special order releasing the deposits.

When Colonel Astor's body was recovered it is shown that he had the sum of $3,817 in his pockets, while other cash balances were maintained by him as follows: — Morgan, Grenfell & Co., London, $271,643; Morgan, Harjes & Co., Paris, $141,912; Hollinger & Co., Paris, $4,264; in the safe at No. 840 Fifth avenue, $739; in the safe at the office, No. 23 West Twenty-sixth street, $17,262.

Among the Astor jewels, the gifts from his mother, which were kept in the Astor vaults at No. 23 West Twenty-sixth street, were the following: — Diamond sunburst, 282 stones, $78,000; diamond necklace, 204 stones, $60,000; diamond earrings, $12,000. The total valuation of the Astor jewelry was placed at $161,920. Among this was a set of pearl shirt studs, valued at $1,200; six waistcoat buttons of mother of pearl surrounded by rubies with a diamond cross in the centre, valued at $1,800. Colonel Astor's wearing apparel was valued at $2,830, consisting of a fur lined coat, $600; ulster, $250; bearskin coat, $129; wearing apparel in a trunk, $800, and military uniforms, $800.

The oil paintings were valued, in addition to the statuary, bronzes and other art objects, at $370,415. His library was valued at $68,389.

One feature of the appraisal was the large quantity of stocks and bonds which bear only a nominal value, among them being 5,463 shares of Allis-Chalmers stock, with a par value of $546,300, which were not deposited in the reorganization of the property, and which, therefore, are of problematical value unless the executors will be permitted to enter them in the reorganization project.

In Railroad Securities.

The estate owned Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad preferred shares valued at $173,100; common shares of the same railroad, $30,498. Among the other general railroad holdings were $142,500 in Albany and Susquehanna, $244,000; Hudson, $512,250; Illinois Central, $1,295,000; New York Central, $4,650,000.

Among the other securities were Amalgamated Copper, $164,000; American Telephone and Telegraph, $290,000; Astor Trust Company, $264,625; Farmers' Loan and Trust, $198,033; Guaranty Trust, $75,775; Lands of Depew, $99,050; Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, $100,000; National Bank of Commerce, $120,000; National Park Bank, $116,250; New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, $292,330.

Colonel Astor owned $1,219,165 of Niagara Falls Power bonds, $170,596 in British consols, $1,313,760 in Pullman stock, $348,645 in Western Union Telegraph Company and shares of the United States Trust Company valued at $328,500.

Among the securities of problematical or of no value owned by the estate were Atmospheric Products Company shares, with a par value of $20,000, the company having ceased business in 1906; Commercial Bank of Honduras, $25,000; Depew Improvement Company, $200,000; Firemen's Insurance Company of New York, $5,100, the company having quit business in 1890; Fulton National Bank, liquidated in 1887; Honduras Railroad, $193,000; Humboldt Railroad Gold and Silver, $20,000; International Power Storage, $25,000; Little Kanawha and Elk River Petroleum and Mining Company, $16,000; Mutual Automatic Telephone Company, $10,000; New York Bowery Insurance Company, $9,685; Nikola Tesla Company, $50,000.

C. W. Morse Claim $110,030.

Charles W. Morse owed Colonel Astor $110,080 on a guaranty given by him, but the executors state that it has been impossible to collect the claim.

The appraisal of the furnishings of the Fifth avenue house shows that the contents of Mrs. Astor's room are worth $5,840 and of her boudoir $2,745. Colonel Astor's room is appraised at $3,609 and his dressing room at $330. The contents of the dining room are worth $75,400 and the silverware of the house is valued at $84,988.