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savoyspecial

you make good points regarding technology (internet) replacing the need for a museum to physically hold an item (numismatic or otherwise)


.....but call me a throwback, i love a brick and mortar museum and actually could make the case that there are really too few that have great displays of coins


not to seem wishywashy but i see both sides..

JCMhouston

The main problem with museums, as I see it, is that they hide the vast majority of their collections away in storage only to be seen by those with "proper academic credentials". A complete waste if you ask me.

Some of the British museums were very good about letting the hoi polloi look through their collections if you knew what to ask for, the Asmolean comes to mind. Back in the 80's I lived about an hour away and used to go look through their print cabinets frequently. However if you didn't know they were in the collection and to ask to see them they may have just as well been buried in the ground.

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satootoko

Does it really make sense to resign from an organization over one sentence in an article published in its journal that clearly does not state a position taken by the group's board of directors?

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InforaPenny

As someone who has used museum collections for numismatic research, I appreciate the value of a stable well-documented collection that has established pedigrees and known chain-of-custody. This can allow previously published research to be checked and validated against the same coins. Once a collection is dispersed this becomes nearly impossible, and the archeological context of a hoard of ancient or medieval coins can be lost forever. Key items can simply disappear from the numismatic community into the safe-deposit box of an investor who has no interest in numismatics or research, and who cares only about structuring a diversified long-term investment portfolio. Who knows what his heirs might do, or not do. Private collecting is fine, but if you're having trouble finding enough material switch to another collecting area, and leave organized museum collections intact. They cannot simply be replaced by digital photographs posted on the internet. In fact, as new technology becomes available having the original coins available for study becomes even more important. For example, non-destructive techniques for analyzing details of their metallurgy may become available and allow important new conclusions to be drawn about patterns of commerce in ancient or medieval times.

mudskippie

The museum decided to sell these numismatic items, meaning these items are replaceable or they are simply not fitting into the museum's collection. I am pretty sure, if these are really important numismatic pieces, they'll be bought by another museum that specialized in keeping them.

In defending the museum, some numismatic specimens are better be left in the museum than in individual's procession. These specimens like archeological artifacts are important in the study of human's past. Thus, they are priceless, and they do not belong to any individual's private collection, but the entire society.

About your reaction to the article, frankly, I think you overeacted

Zoins

I would be in favor of museums more if they had all their coins photographed by experts for online enjoyment. It would be great if the coins were photographed by multiple sources, e.g. TrueView, Mark Goodman, Brandon Kelley.

InforaPenny

While I'm not aware of any important coin collections that are fully available on the web, in view of the "Philatelist" origin of this thread, I should point out the Reginald M. Phillips collection of British Victorian stamps now on-line at The British Postal Museum & Archive. This magnificent collection is fully available with beautiful close-ups of all items at the click of a mouse. This was made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. I hope this will also begin to occur with numismatic collections, the problem of course being funding, with most major museums around the world in dire financial straits (including the Smithsonian, British Museum, Museum Victoria in Melbourne, etc.). I hope the link below works.

Postal Museum

MrEureka

The main problem with museums, as I see it, is that they hide the vast majority of their collections away in storage only to be seen by those with "proper academic credentials".

Fortunately, that's not true. I've never had a problem getting a look at whatever I wanted to see in any museum.

As for the OP, I agree that it's OK for collectors to own coins, but I don't see the need to resign from the society.

SYRACUSIAN

You're making an excellent point Richard, but like satootoko and MrEureka already pointed out, resigning from ANS just because you disagree with a sentence of one of their articles seems a bit like over reacting.


And like JCMhouston pointed out, several museums own real treasures that are in basements, unavailable to the public until they sort them out (a process that seems to take forever in Greece) , or at worst, they simply don't know how to treat them or expose them ,making irreversible mistakes (harsh cleaning for ex) that even the most ignorant newbie wouldn't have dared to try.

ASUtodd

I can take my son to a museum and show him all the treasures he could possibly stand to see.... I can't show him your coin collection or "private collection" of whatever it is you have... I think Museums have a place as do private collections.

coinpictures

<< <i>I can take my son to a museum and show him all the treasures he could possibly stand to see.... I can't show him your coin collection or "private collection" of whatever it is you have... I think Museums have a place as do private collections. >>



Assuming of course, that the material in question is actually "on display" to the public... as opposed to being "on display" in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'

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coinnuttius

Sigh, quit arguing with your own assumptions about what the sentence which ends in "and lost forever to scholarship." and does not contain the word "collectors" means. It is completely straight forward and not even remotely objectionable.

Perhaps you can read the mission statement of the ANS (it's on their website) and see if they are a "society of collectors"?


>> Making the collections available to a wider audienec is the key for me.

So, rather then the letter you wrote to the ANS, you should have written a letter to Google and ask them to pay for imaging and to host the "global numismatics project"? Yes, Richard of Huntingdon, that's the sort of thing that would help...

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pruebas

<< <i>In the journal just received from the American Numismatic Society, in an article regarding the de-accession of a museum coin collection, the closing sentence is: "This extraordinary collection, which has served for more than half a century as a valuable source for several generations of scholars and collectors, will soon, at best, change its location to a less suitable venue or, at worst, be broken up, sold, and lost forever to scholarship." >>


How many of you know what that specific collection comprises? I believe its been in the possession of the ANS for almost a century and has never been cataloged. Maybe now it will be, courtesy of Sotheby's and eager collectors such as you and I. Lost to scholarship my axx......