I think the concensus in previous discussions of deaccessioning indicated that returning items to donors or their descendants is one of the LAST things you'd want to do.
Our deaccession policy does not directly address eBay...but then it's a few years old! :) But before we even considered such a thing, we would look at other avenues first. Once having determined an item was inappropriate for our collections and having gotten approval from our Board, we would first consider approaching the donor(s) of the item, or their descendents, if possible. Next option would be to consider transferring it to another museum, if that made sense. The idea being to try to honor the intention of the donor by placing it with us in the first place. Only if these things didn't make sense--given the type, condition or quality of the item--would we consider auctioning in some fashion.
And I would absolutely not want that auction item on eBay to be associated with my institution. It could be a public relations disaster to have your museum thought of as selling their collections off on eBay. No amount of money can buy your museum public trust...and where are we without it?
Stacey Otte
Executive Director
Catalina Island Museum
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