The only person who can give you any sort of figure is someone who visits the site.

A certified arborist who is trained in evaluating hazard trees can advise.

But such a person may not have answers when it comes to the value of the wood after the tree is removed.

To locate a certified arborist, look in the Yellow Pages, under the heading of Trees or Tree Care or something similar. Companies with one or more certified arborists will state such in their ad.

Also ask your county extension agent if s/he knows of any foresters/timber appraisers - look under county offices in the phone book, or try your state's listing on-line to get the number. They can't recommend one over the other (at least not directly, but you can sometimes ask the right question and get an opinion).

I would agree that values change from place to place, so my values here won't be your values there. I also agree that it sounds like a very nice piece of timber!

follow dibbit's advice and seek out a timber appraiser/consulting forester.
I will, however, add that most timber cutters will not deign to fool with a tree in a residential yard due to the potential for major $$ damage if the tree falls on your house, your neighbor's house, nearby utility lines, etc. - not to mention the strong likelihood of encountering 'hardware'(nails, spikes, wire, chains, etc.) in trees in a residential setting.
And, since most of these guys are not bonded or insured, if they dropped the tree on your house, it would be your loss, with little recourse or likelihood of being adequately compensated for the damage or loss.

Generally, black cherry are worth approximately twice what the same size pine would be worth. Of course the price also depends upon how close a mill is and height of tree and assuming wood is sound and not pithy inside, etc. Value of a large pine around 90ft tall might range from $200-400 max. As mentioned above, most loggers don't want to mess with 1 tree in someone's yard.
If you decide to have your timber "thinned", from having several timber cuts and "thinnings" over the years, don't think that the cutters will cut a tree down and gently slide it out of the woods and onto a truck. A large 4 ton skidder will grab hold of the tree, cut it down and trim branches off and then haul it to a stack site, where it is loaded onto a truck. It will crush saplings, bark adjacent trees, make ruts, etc as it does its job. Your woods will be distinctly different afterwards. That said, in time things return to normal, dead limbs rot, new trees spring up, etc. Recommend leaving no-cut zones for wildlife along creeks or fence lines if you do decide to cut your timber.

I called and left a mesaage with the fellow doing the neighbor's acreage but so far I haven't heard back. Couldn't blame anyone for being nervous if working around a residence! Things can ALWAYS go wrong. I will try that number again later today and see what he can tell me.

I know there is a lower-impact way to do selective harvesting, but so far I have rarely seen it done around here and this leaves me with an unfavorable bias towards that facet of the industry. The tracts that were logged here most recently were NOT done through bidding and a trained forester, and in a few cases, whatever trees survived the pillaging were eventually cleared off themselves and the acreage converted to farming, despite the fact that we have certain conservation laws against clearing new lands for agriculture. On another 100 acres we own, with 27 of it in prime timber, the bordering landowner had one of these unscrupulous loggers in, and even the steepest bluffs got cleaned off. Now the only thing stopping the erosion in some of the ruts is the mat of solid honeysuckle that has taken over where there used to be solid shade...and successive saplings will have a very hard start in that stuff.

I called again and finaly got a hold of the timber appraiser doing my neighbor's deal. He did not even offer to come look at the tree, and basically told me that I would be lucky to break even on it by the time I got it down and to a mill. Come on. I know this is not a lottery ticket. Yes of course there are expenses and deductions, but there will already be a logging crew 800 yards away doing a job, and there are two sawmills here, one within 10 minutes and one within 30...which is likely where my neighbor's trees are headed. I guess this appraiser already knows there just won't be any room for an extra tree on that flatbed truck. I refuse to believe that I should just GIVE this tree to the loggers and be glad of it. If I can get even a few hundred dollars for such a quality (assuming) tree and avoid a potential threat to my house then I think that's a fair deal, especially if there's a crew doing this very thing right next to my back yard at the time.
The response I got from the appraiser was somewhat unexpected as he was very dismissive, as if I was wasting his time. I had hoped he could have at least come by the house to see it for himself, evaluate the tree and give me some advice. He lives about 10 miles away, after all... He's getting a 7% cut off this timber sale, with or without my tree tossed on that heap, and the irony of all this is that the day he and my neighbor were doing their walk-through, the reason they stopped to talk with me was because he wanted to know if I had any trees back there that I would be interested in including in the sale. I thought of the cherry right after they left. Now I feel like I'm wasting my time and should just drop it and make another habitat brushpile, an equally good use, in my opinion.

dirtgirl,
I don't think they will piggyback your tree onto another load and separate it at the mill. That means the truck would likely make a special trip for your one tree and the skidder or whatever he uses to load it would be tied up for 30 min to hour with that tree. They make their money by doing a lot in a short time.
You might try advertising your tree on e-bay or elsewhere on the internet. Some walnut trees are being sold that way.
Another avenue might be to contact a cabinent maker or furniture maker in area to see if they are interested. Put up a sign on the tree stating it is for sale. Black cherry is an excellent and beautiful lumber. Someone will likely be interested in it. It is also an excellent firewood and good for smoking/barbequeing.

scotjute,
that's the difference here...my neighbor and the appraiser stopped by my house to let me know their plans and to ask me if I had any trees in mind that I would like to add to the neighbor's operation. Unless I misunderstood, he was not trying to drum up more business for a separate transaction, but make it an inclusive, all-at-once thing. I am assuming in such an arrangement those trees would be lumped in with the neighbors and a value worked out somehow. I had figured my cherry would be as eligible as the other included trees, with the exception being that I would bear the responsibility of bringing it down.

I think they just might be interested in the easy to get to trees that border the cut they're already making.

NO part of removing that white ash from near my house could have been a break even deal. I was out about $500 doing it myself by the time I rented a lift, tore up some equipment (saws and stuff), used some ropes, bought lunch for my friends, and wow, we're not even talking about the insurance I should have had or salaries and matching FICA funds for employees if I had a business.

I know I'm slow too, but just getting the tree to the ground took most of an 8 hour day. I'm sure they could drop and cut and clean up all in that time but it was work!

Oh, and thanks to the tree being so able to fall on my house I had to make lots of cuts in it with the interest of protecting my roof, not having continous boards.

If any of the cherry tree overhangs your residence or even septic field I'd be happy with your shopping skills if you're not out a grand paying someone to remove it.