Jason, 

I think your philosophical question about the collecting market is
interesting, too.  I have absolutely no experience or expertise that makes
me qualified to talk on the subject, other than thinking about what
collecting is, and what it means, in a larger cultural context.

From what I've heard, most museum folk support and encourage private
collecting - of most artifacts.  As someone already said, many museum
collections wouldn't exist if someone hadn't, at some point in the past,
decided that each collected object was worth saving.  Plus, as you say,
maybe people appreciate collected objects more when they see them through
the lens of their own collections- like they appreciate history more if they
understand how it fits with their personal history.

On the other hand, most archeologists argue that the antiquities market,
fuel by private collecting, encourages grave robbers to go into
archeological sites with a backhoe, steal the "collectable" pieces, and
destroy any information about the site.  (I don't think that museums are in
complete agreement with the archeologists, since some art museums reputedly
have illegally excavated works in their collection.) I've heard history
museums make a similar point when they are grumbling about ebay and garage
sales, explaining how such sales destroy an article's provenance.  There's
also the argument that a larger collector's market means a larger market for
forgeries or stolen art. (George Grotz's books on making fake antiques are
fun to read - and explain a lot about the antiques/collectibles market of
the 1960's.)

These are just a few possible ways to look at the topic- I think I'll turn
it over to more experienced folks now.

Katie Wadell



> From: Jason Aikens <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 14:23:42 -0400
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Pros and Cons of Private Collecting
> 
> Thanks to all that responded to my inquiry and for clarifying the
> legalities of appraising and authenticating.  I posted this inquiry
> because of the increasing amounts of requests we receive to appraise and
> authenticate objects.
> 
> Often many of these inquiries start with, "What can you tell me about
> this... “Or "Are you interested in this..."  They usually end with the
> person wanting to sell the item.  I often try to persuade the person to
> donate the object but often this proves to be fruitless and frustrating.
> I'll try to avoid any specific information on the value of items in the
> future.  I've always tried to steer the public towards licensed appraisers
> in the past and we do not appraise items for donors.
> 
> I think the best thing is to develop a policy regarding appraising and
> authenticating and add it to our collections policy.  I often do get in
> the situation where the public wants us to date objects, which I never
> considered harmful until reading some of these posts and other
> publications regarding curatorial ethics.
> 
> Can dating objects put a museum into a legal dilemma?  I've always
> considered dating objects different that authenticating objects (meaning
> associating objects to a particular person).
> 
> I'm still interested in any other opinions from anyone on whether they
> believe the collecting market is a source of competition to museums or
> generates interest in museum collections.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Jason
> 
> =========================================================
> 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).

=========================================================
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).