Just a thought about leaving collections to museums. My Great Grandfather fought in the Civil War, 12th vounteers Cavalry Illinois. After the war at some point his sword was in a museum in Montana. I tried to locate it with no success. Same GF found a meteorite in a field by his home in Omaha, it was a rather large piece. I saw it in the Union Pacific Museum in the 60’s. It no longer is around either. Makes you wonder, I am sure as they back up with material Uncle Joe’s treasures go to auction or out the back door. My things won’t go to a Museum... Mammothtooth
I would rather see most items in private collections than in museums. Museums often end up storing more stuff, that no one ever gets to see, than what they display. Sometimes, when they get too much stuff, they sell it or auction it, which is actually a good thing. Sometimes they clean numismatic items and ruin them. The Smithsonian gets on my nerves. They have some coins that no one ever sees. If they made more photos free for public use, it would be great, but it’s dicey. We all pay taxes, why aren’t those photos available for free? The Heritage Auction House lets us use their photos if you give the credit. That’s great. Why can’t the Smithsonian do that? The Boston Public Library has the Washington Before Boston medal in gold that the Continental Congress awarded to him. A group of citizens got together and raised the funds to buy it in the 1870s. Nobody ever gets to see it. The only photos I have seen are in one the Whitman “100 Greatest” books, and they are not great. Enough of my rant, but you can see that I am not a fan of museums who hold stuff and never share it.
The problem is no museum can possibly display everything they have. They just don't have the room. What gets displayed are those items that have the most popular interest even if they aren't the most important. And displays are occasionally changed. (But most museums are generously endowed so display changes are often infrequent.) The Smithsonian's National Coin Collection contains over 1.5 million items. How much space would it take to display all of it? And that is just one of their collections. They have MANY other collections that would also take up huge amounts of space to display everything. So probably 99+% of the material they have is in storage. Then there is the fact that a lot of donated material probably duplicate material they already have. So then they have the choice they can sell it or donate it to another museum that doesn't have it. Some stuff they will keep duplicates of but eventually they just have enough. And finally there is the problem that in some cases, unfortunately, material does "walk out" the back door. Have some valuable coins that have not been on display for 50 years and no one has even looked at them for 30 years, there is a good chance no one is going to go look for them for another 20 years or more. They make a tempting target for some people because they know it will be a long time before they are ever missed and probably not until long after the person who takes them is gone. Stuff like that does sometimes "evaporate".
I agree! No way will my coins go to a museum. I have made sure some relatives know there is value in some old coins, but doubt anyone will want to continue the collection. If that's the case I would rather see my coins go to a LCS or antique store if nobody in my family wants them. At least someone will be able to enjoy them at some time in the future.
The Byron Reed coin collection was given to the city of Omaha, NE and is displayed at the Western Heritage Museum. The museum sold off a good portion of the collection to finance other improvements of the museum. The sale was contested by numerous parties but still went on. The museum collected over $6 million in that sale and many fine coins are now in private collections. I'm giving my coins to my kids. Let them sell them.
I've been to the Louvre. There's at least tens of thousands of artifacts and pieces of artwork in storage yet all they focus on is the Mona Lisa. BTW I really don't recommend the Louvre, way too crowded especially in the Mona Lisa room.
People leave things to musuems and the museums don't want them and ini addition, they have strings attached. It is a complex issue.
I completely agree. I'd much rather my coins get sold by my kids to an LCS so other collectors can obtain them for their collections. I've told them which dealer to sell them to to get the best price. I'm fairly certain my daughter will keep some of the coins, particularly some of the ancients. She rather enjoys looking at them. But I would never will them to any museum.
