Laura,

Having read Goldpilot's detailed remarks, maybe a variation on his theme would work: sell the shares to a family member or friend for a dollar or so. The shares could be transferred from your account to the investment account of your chosen recipient.

You could work this a number of ways. If the recipient was indeed a congenial member of your family, you might choose to grant them the benefit of the full potential gain in value. Or it might make sense to have a sharing agreement, say, 50/50. In any case, if you had a notarized bill of sale the IRS should be satisfied you've taken a capital loss. Any prospective retrieval of value thereafter would be handled as ordinary income.

(I trust you're aware, on the other hand, you have a year after the sale of your home to reinvest in another one of equal or more value--and thus avoid a cap gain tax liability altogether.)

I've found myself in similar situations over the years, and always have to remind myself: such problems are nice ones to have.