I'm not sure what's so suspicious about the deaccession of these items.  I would assume that the change in the museum's mission was well thought out and in response to what the constituency of the museum wants.  I also think it's fairly obvious that these items (although lovely and valuable) no longer fit the mission of the institution where they are held, and as such, deaccession is a valid option.  I would also assume that the museum has ensured that they have clear title to the objects, and that the community that supports the museum will not object to their sale (it is a relatively public auction, after all).  I would also assume that the museum needs the money that will be generated by this auction (for the aforementioned "interactive exhibits" I assume), or they wouldn't be doing it.

I know that's a lot of assumptions, but I don't see any reason to think the worst based on just this blurb from the auction catalog.  Maybe there's more to the story that I am missing...

 

The missing sampler, especially right before the auction, *is* a bit odd.  I'll give you that. 

On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 1:45 PM, Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 12:51 PM, Candace Perry
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The Burlington County Historical Society in Burlington, NJ is deaccessioning significant objects in their collection via an upcoming auction at Freeman’s in Philadelphia. Here is a link to the auction:
>
> http://issuu.com/freemansauction/docs/1387
>
> Please go to page 57 in the catalog.  Take special note of the text about the reasoning behind the deaccession.

Minor clarification - if you type in page 57 at the top of the screen
to jump to the page, the actual page number in the catalog is 54.

Interactive exhibits, eh? Hurm.

Deb Fuller

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