The reason the "academic contingent" would have been rubbed the wrong
way is
that, while museum stores are great resources, it is paramount that
the
museum separate its collections from its merchandise. One of the
primary
concerns of a museum is to preserve the integrity of its collections,
or to
phrase it pompously, to be a bastion of authenticity.  Mixing the two
(objects from the collections and merchandise) can lead to confusion
on the
part of the public. Confusion is one thing, but there have been cases
of
museum replicas being sold as real objects by third parties, and
"unique,
valuable, limited-edition" reproductions being sold for prices higher
than
the real thing. Also, the fact that both are displayed in showcases
with
little identifying labels (price tags) doesn't help the confusion
issue
much.

By the way, our store produces replicas, which must be of different
size
than the original and have an integral stamp or mark identifying them
as
replicas, in order to prevent fraudulous re-sale.
-------------------------------------
amalyah keshet
director, visual resources, the israel museum, jerusalem
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
date: 05/20/96

-------------------------------------
On Mon, 20 May 1996 09:19:08 -0400  Mark Erik Nielsen wrote:
>I would like to see responses to this question as well. Our museum is
>currently examining the prospect of relocating and expanding our shop.
>The shop is currently in an odd location and its too small, but we are a
>small museum with no extra space, and we have obligations to expand certain
>exhibition areas. One of my proposals had to do with combining some of
>our decorative arts pieces within the shop environment. Although they could
>have been installed safely, the response was cool, because some felt that
>it would rub the academic contingent the wrong way. What do you think????