My father is interested in passing to me a valuable ring that belonged to my late mother, so I can sell it.
a) Can this be considered an inheritance if it was never reported as such, so as to avoid my father having to pay gift tax to give it to me?
b) Could we calculate the cost basis as Mom's date of death (August 2006) instead of the long-lost date of acquisition (1890s)? Otherwise, do we just have to consider the whole thing a capital gain? And:
c) If necessary, could it fit under my mother's (or possibly grandparents') unified credit, even though it was never reported as such?
Many thanks.