Would you ever lend an expensive coin to a museum?

I read an interesting article a few weeks ago about a guy who donated a lot of his collection to a museum for 2 years because they were doing a special exhibit (if I remember correctly it was on Ptolemaic Egypt) and he had many coins of that type.

But while reading the article it made me wonder: Would the average collector loan their coins to a museum or university for a special exhibit or educational purposes for the enjoyment of thousands of people or for study at a university by reputable & credentialed professors?

The following conditions would apply:

1). The museum/university is internationally reputable and so there is no worry about “sketchy” credentials.

2). Your coins would be insured by the museum/university in the event of theft, damage, or loss.

3). All of your coins would be returned to you in 2 years after the end of the exhibit.

4). The exhibit would have your name as the donor (if you chose to remain anonymous that would be honored).

5). The people involved with the museum/university are well trained and educated on the handling and storage of coins.

What do you think? Would you lend them out?

 

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For me this would be a great honor and would leap at the chance for others to enjoy my collection. Don't most of us enjoy sharing what we have with those who share our appreciation for the coins and their history? This would be the ultimate version of that.

 

Short answer. NO. That's just me.

 

None of my coins are fancy or 'significant' enough to be in an exhibit.
But, even if I had such coins I would not lend it simply because I don't trust others handling my coin.
Moreover I like to look at and fondle my coins anytime I want!

 

Hard no. Museums already have warehouses full of stuff they don't have room to display I'm sure they can find some coins in there. It's one thing to do an exhibit at a show for a week or a weekend it's another to completely tie up all that money for 2 years for no gain and not even being able to see your own stuff without considerable effort.

If you really wanted collectors to enjoy a collection do what Tyrant and some others have done and set up exhibits at major shows

 

Yeah I’m with you on that .

It seems to be a 50/50 thing. Some yes. Some no.

 

I would certainly do so. As a matter of fact I lent a few for educational purposes. No regrets !

 

I understand that but my question was hypothesizing that the museum did not have what they wanted and they asked collectors to help out by letting them use their coins for the exhibit.

There are a lot of (very rich) private collectors who have collections that would match or beat an internationally well known museum.

In fact there is a British guy named Lord Ashcroft who collects Victoria Crosses (basically the British version of the Medal of Honor here in the US) and has more of them than any museum. He lent his to the museum when there was a plan to bring all of them together in one exhibit.

Now it’s true that the average collector does not have a world class collection but my question is was hypothesizing that you did have a world class collection. It was me asking if you’d lend it out temporarily or not. All those millions of dollars in coins. Not necessarily your current collection.

 

Very cool! May I ask what coins you lent out? If you don’t want to be specific are you willing to tell when they’re from?

 

I would strongly consider it for the same reasons. I don't think my collection is worthy of a museum exhibit. But if it was.... maybe.

 

I probably should’ve written this in my OP but the question is assuming you did have stuff the museum wanted.

It’s just a question I’m curious in. Not so much what the coins are or how much they are worth but rather my curiosity about whether the average collector would lend them out for the enjoyment & education or others.

Personally I definitely would if they were insured & handled by well trained curators.
I would love that my coins could inspire someone to learn more about history and/or become a collector themselves.

 

Thanks for answering .

Keep in mind I mentioned that the curators would have been well trained with years of experience in handling rare ancient coins.

So it wouldn’t just be regular museum employees handling your stuff they would be trained & educated just like an archeologist in terms of handling delicate and fragile antiques.

But I get what you mean about being able to handle and look at your coins whenever you want without having to go to the museum to look at your coins through glass.

 

That's not my problem. Museums are often the worst place to send things if you want them to actually be seen by people. This is especially true for coins which are often near the bottom of their list of subjects in terms of how much they care about a subject matter

Like I said, do an exhibit at a major show like Tryant then. There's no reason to give your stuff to a museum for years at a time.

 

Of course yes, I would even feel very honoured if a coin of mine was deemed worthy of being officially exhibited.
One day I even gave one coin to a museum. It was not an expensive coin but it was rather well-preserved, fully legible, and not in their collection. It had been offered to me, I had not paid for it so I did not feel appropriate to sell it.

 

It was a temporary, local exhibition about the Romans along the Limes. I lent about ten coins of various currencies. Some less valuable, some valuable. It’s nice to see your coins displayed for everyone to see I had no worries cause the exhibition was insured and the coins were very well taken care of.

I had to miss them for about six months. For me that’s no problem cause normally they stay in a banksafe so I can’t handle them very often.

 

That’s awesome! I hope I could do that when I finish my denarius collection. Nowhere near close yet but I still have a few more decades to collect.

I know the British Museum has a display of a gold aureus of Marcus Junius Brutus with the “EID MAR” on it.

But they only have 1 of them. No backups.



One of them recently sold for almost $4.2 million and so I’m wondering if like maybe a museum would ever want to borrow it for a display like the British Museum displays it.

 

I guess "the average collector" typically has nothing that is worth lending to a museum. In fact, I hope that this is the case.

 

When THE museum calls asking to display the @CoinJockey73 W mint mark hoard, after all the paperwork is signed, and all assurances are guaranteed in blood, I'll lend. Why not? Everyone should be allowed to bask in the glow.

 

Short answer: Yes, I would.

 

I would be terrified of:

1) Contact museum
2) Museum agrees to display coins
3) 2 years pass
4) "We regret to inform you that it has been determined that your coins were illegally looted relics, and have been repatriated to their rightful owners in their country of origin."