Bob Rhoades at the MET

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

The guy on Pawn stars who runs the Gettysburg Museum is selling stuff all the time from his Museum and acquires stuff constantly as well.

It is not a museum in the true sense of the word. It is one in name only. It is a person's collection and not a charitable or non/not for profit as we view most museums. It does welcome visitors, but does not accept any type of government funding. That pretty much frees him to buy and sell as he wishes. He also sells on ebay.

I have no problem with that. If he is selling items that are War Between the States, but not Gettysburg related and he is trying to strengthen his Gettysburg collection it would make sense. When I would go there every year during the 1990's for the Civil War collector's shows most of the stores that sold those types of items also had displays of items not for sale.

[oldeboo]

Originally Posted by Michael B

It is not a museum in the true sense of the word. It is one in name only. It is a person's collection and not a charitable or non/not for profit as we view most museums. It does welcome visitors, but does not accept any type of government funding. That pretty much frees him to buy and sell as he wishes. He also sells on ebay.

Completely agree with everything said, however it appears he is running it as a non-profit:
"The Gettysburg Museum of History Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, preserves America history for the next generation."

Another piece from the website that has a mission statement tone:
"A private FREE museum. We continue to serve the community and visitors to Gettysburg PA by selling artifacts and museum merchandise. Check out our store."

Anyhow, completely different beast than a legitimate "museum" as said. This is basically a store, with a 501(c)(3) facade, operating to build a personal collection and generate income. For the right price, he would sell almost anything as many collectors do. You see a lot of collections of all sorts turned into "museums" to share that collection with the public and in many cases further develop that collection.