Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1927307, member: 19463&quot;]This brings up the question of how much such a visit is worth.&nbsp; To me, Dumbarton Oaks is a nice place to visit if you are in town and have already seen the standard museums but not someplace I would travel great distances to visit.&nbsp; The same can be said for most local museums I have seen.&nbsp;&nbsp; I&#039;m not a traveler by avocation so expect more.&nbsp; I would enjoy seeing the exhibit in Boston but, IMHO, the greatest good they could do for the education and entertainment of the world would be having their entire collection online to the degree we see in the small sample at the bottom of the page Mat linked.</p><p><br /></p><p>We have a problem.&nbsp; How is the museum to make a profit from this?&nbsp; When we visit in person, there is the expectation that we will spend money but online pay sites suffer from the free competition.&nbsp; Boston wants you to buy photos:</p><p><a href="http://www.mfa.org/collections/mfa-images/study-and-personal-use" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.mfa.org/collections/mfa-images/study-and-personal-use" rel="nofollow">http://www.mfa.org/collections/mfa-images/study-and-personal-use</a></p><p>but the rules as stated allow you no use of the images making the &#039;low res digital image&#039; something of a $25 postcard.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I question whether Steve is close enough to retirement that he will be able to find world class exhibits of coins to visit or if the technologies will have changed the definitions of museums as much as they have in the time since I first visited these places 50 years ago.&nbsp; The first two Smithsonian Museum buildings are now Museums showing what museums once were rather than places you go to see things.&nbsp;&nbsp; When my grandson goes to museums, he is attracted to the interactive exhibits rather than the drawers of stuffed birds (how protected by plexiglass covers).&nbsp;&nbsp; As long as their respective governments keep places like the British Museum and the Smithsonian open to tourists, Steve will have a place to go.&nbsp; Whether he chooses to look at the coins there or prefers to see coins on what has developed from the online museum beginnings like the British Museum Roman Republican facilities remains to be seen.&nbsp; </p><p><a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/search_results.aspx?searchText=&amp;catalogueOnly=true&amp;catparentPageId=29127&amp;output=bibliography/!!/OR/!!/6738/!//!/A%20catalogue%20of%20the%20Roman%20Republican%20Coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum,%20with%20descriptions%20and%20chronology%20based%20on%20M.H.%20Crawford,%20Roman%20Republican%20Coinage%20(1974)/!//!!//!!!/&amp;catalogueName=Roman%20Republican%20coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum&amp;catalogueSection=A%20catalogue%20of%20the%20Roman%20Republican%20Coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum,%20with%20descriptions%20and%20chronology%20based%20on%20M.H.%20Crawford,%20Roman%20Republican%20Coinage%20(1974)&amp;sortBy=catNumber" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/search_results.aspx?searchText=&amp;catalogueOnly=true&amp;catparentPageId=29127&amp;output=bibliography/!!/OR/!!/6738/!//!/A%20catalogue%20of%20the%20Roman%20Republican%20Coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum,%20with%20descriptions%20and%20chronology%20based%20on%20M.H.%20Crawford,%20Roman%20Republican%20Coinage%20(1974)/!//!!//!!!/&amp;catalogueName=Roman%20Republican%20coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum&amp;catalogueSection=A%20catalogue%20of%20the%20Roman%20Republican%20Coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum,%20with%20descriptions%20and%20chronology%20based%20on%20M.H.%20Crawford,%20Roman%20Republican%20Coinage%20(1974)&amp;sortBy=catNumber" rel="nofollow">http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/search_results.aspx?searchText=&amp;catalogueOnly=true&amp;catparentPageId=29127&amp;output=bibliography/!!/OR/!!/6738/!//!/A catalogue of the Roman Republican Coins in the British Museum, with descriptions and chronology based on M.H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (1974)/!//!!//!!!/&amp;catalogueName=Roman Republican coins in the British Museum&amp;catalogueSection=A catalogue of the Roman Republican Coins in the British Museum, with descriptions and chronology based on M.H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (1974)&amp;sortBy=catNumber</a></p><p><br /></p><p>They currently have 12772 Republican coins available for viewing.&nbsp; I won&#039;t live to see the Septimius Severus section posted.&nbsp; Will Vlaha see their Alexandrians?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in