Message
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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