>>>  just follow your normal deaccession procedures and then return it to the donor.


I've said this before, and it may not apply in this case if the tombstone was never accessioned, but I'll take this opportunity to repeat myself--it's a bad idea for your normal deaccession/disposal procedures to include returning items to the donors.  The major problem is with the tax implications--if a donor received a tax receipt at the time of donation, then eventually gets the item back, the donor has received a benefit from public funds AND still ends up privately owning the "donated" item(s); the CRA (and, I would expect, the IRS) heartily disapproves of that!  Even if no tax receipt was issued for a particular donation/deaccession, if you ever issue tax receipts for donations, and then are seen to be returning donated items to the donors, it looks bad to your friendly neighbourhood tax agency.

Not to mention the hassles involved if the original donor has passed away, and you have to deal with the estate and/or heirs in determining the proper people to return items to...

Our disposal procedures for deaccessioned items is to first try to find a home for the item that keeps it in the public domain (ie., find another museum that wants the piece).  Failing that, disposal through public sale, preferably by auction (at which time the donor/donor's family has equal opportunity to re-acquire the piece), and as a last resort, through witnessed destruction.


------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Esplanade Museum
401 First Street SE
Medicine Hat, AB   T1A 8W2
Tel: (403) 502-8587
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