A dastardly deaccession?

September 5 2011

Picture: Bristol 24/7

These deaccessioning stories seem to be coming thick and fast... Here's a novel one though: a whole load of museum exhibits are sold privately to a dealer by the museum's director - who is then sacked by the trustees, and the police called in.

The items were sold from the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. The Museum opened in 2002 in Bristol, but had to close in 2008 due to financial difficulties. The museum is now looking to relocate to London (Bristol was always a loony idea). Tens of thousands of pounds worth of goods were seemingly sold without proper approval. Some of the items didn't even belong to the museum.

The Art Newspaper has the full intriguing story here, and it's worth a read. It seems rather disturbing...

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