Here's another angle to look at in this situation - Someone brings you an 
item. They "know" it is extremely valuable. They want the museum (you) to 
put your seal of approval on this thing and tell them it's real. They are 
not even asking for a value but an authentication. After due diligence and 
thoughtful research, you come to the conclusion the item is not real, a 
fake, a reproduction, etc. You write them a very nice and apologetic letter 
telling them this. The owner is very unhappy. Their very "expensive" item is 
now worthless. You have just cost them a lot of money - at least in their 
minds. They sue you and the museum. They probably will lose but both you and 
the museum will have spent a great deal of money defending yourselves. 
Unfortunately, the US is a very litigious country and everyone needs to be 
careful when dealing with authentications. Perhaps this is more common in 
art museums but every art museum I've worked at has a policy which forbids 
authentications because of the above risk.

I know a curator who has gone through the above scenario so it is not out of 
the realm of possibility.

-Michelle

Michelle Gallagher Roberts
Chief Registrar
New Mexico Museum of Art
(formerly Museum of Fine Arts)
107 West Palace Avenue
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-476-5066 phone
505-476-5076 fax
[log in to unmask]

_________________________________________________________________
http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=hmtextlinkjuly07

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).