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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Theodosius, post: 2786852, member: 77077&quot;]There are estimated to be 100,000+ ancient Greek vases in existence.</p><p><br /></p><p>I doubt there are more than 100 museums in the world exhibiting 10 vases or more.&nbsp; Most in museums are collecting dust down in the basement and will be for decades or centuries without ever being shown.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most of the vases in museums were either donated by private collectors, or bought with money donated by private collectors.&nbsp; Private collectors are what make these vases valuable and thus protected for posterity.&nbsp; Private collectors (along with religious organizations) were the ones who preserved these works of art from ancient times until the last 200 years or so when public museums were started.</p><p><br /></p><p>All these same remarks apply to coins but even more so in that there are 100s of millions of ancient coins, and museums hate exhibiting them even more (too small and the public does not care). Ancient coins would have been melted for their metal value long ago without private collectors.&nbsp; Many still are when they are found in countries with backwards laws. </p><p><br /></p><p>John[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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