Principal value
24.—(1)  The principal value of any property shall be estimated to be the price which, in the opinion of the Commissioner, that property would fetch if sold in the open market at the time of the death of the deceased.
(2)  In estimating such principal value the Commissioner shall not make any deduction in the estimate on account of the estimate being made on the assumption that the whole property is to be placed on the market at one and the same time.
(3)  Where it is proved to the Commissioner that the value of the property has been depreciated by reason of the death of the deceased, the Commissioner in fixing the price shall take such depreciation into account.
[20