[NHCOLL-L:687] Natural History Collection being auctioned?

[Elana Benamy]

Hello everyone,

The following is reproduced with the permission of the author.  It originally
was posted to museum-l.

Elana Benamy
Collection Manager, Invertebrate Biology
Academy of Natural Sciences
benamy at say.acnatsci.org 

Date:    Thu, 17 Aug 2000 17:22:08 -0700
From:    Indigo Nights <indigonights at YAHOO.COM>
Subject: I am very concerned!

At lunch today, I read the LA Times and came up with
the following ad:

Page A23, top right corner

Natural History Auction

Auction:  Sunday, August 27 at 3 pm in Los Angeles and
San Francisco

Preview:  August 18-20 in San Francisco
          August 25-27 in Los Angeles

Inquiries:  David Herskowitz, (415) 861-7500 ext. 3349

Featuring a unique collection of gems, minerals,
amber, fossils, dinosauria, and a large collection of
exotic meteorities--even a piece of the planet Mars!

Highlights include a 125-pound polished jade boulder,
a 2.14-carat alexandrite, the skull of a saber-toothed
tiger, the large foot claw from a Tyrannasaurus Rex, a
nest of 15 dinosaur eggs, a fuel cell from a fallen
Russian satellite, and an actual piece of the Apollo
11 command module.

To order a catalogue ($25.00 plus $5.00 postage &
handing).  Please call (323) 850-7500 Ext. 3205

View or order our calogues at www.butterfields.com 

Butterfields an eBay company

220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, CA  94103
7601 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA  90046

End of ad

No, I'm not advertising for them.  It seems very wrong
for these items to be available and into the hands of
the general public.  These sound like they truly
belong in museums, not in the hands of someone who
might appreciate them, but whose family may have no
interest and destroy.

They sound to me like they belong to society in
perpetuity, not to some profiteer.

And I am also concerned that, perhaps, that stolen
amber that was on list a few months ago, or some other
museum piece that was taken, could be on this list.

And, if these are deaccessioned pieces by our members
here, how do you justify not putting them out there
for other museums?  It feels like a breach of trust.

As I sad, it alarmed me greatly.


=====
Indigo Nights
Indigonights at yahoo.com