Loaning to a Museum

[horzverti]

Mike, your Pirates collection is great. That makes your house, or wherever you store it, much like a museum. I guess your items are just temporarily going to another museum. Haha��

Seriously, it is an honor to have your items in a display for one of your heroes. I look forward to seeing a post which includes a pic of you standing in front of your items on display. Maybe a close-up of the card reading “on loan from the M Knapp Collection”. Awesome!

[philo98]

Ive been in the Clemente Museum many times and have talked to the curator quite a bit as well. At the moment, I reside in Pittsburgh. The Museum is in an old firehouse and when you first enter, its a great big room where the firetrucks would have been. In this room, alot of things were under glass. Near the back and upstairs are alot more items and historical items. Those items are also behind glass but not everything. Im sure each room has cameras, but Ive always been amazed that many items upstairs are not really locked up. I dont know of anything ever reported stolen, but if someone was hell bent on taking something, there is the possibility it could be done.

Its a phenomenal museum and the only thing better to me was the Hall of Fame. There are some great Clemente artifacts.

If your donating mainly photos, I would think those would be in the main hall (the great big open room) where theft may be harder. Thats where alot of the photos are placed. You may want to confirm where in the museum your items will be located at as well.

Pre-COVID all of the tours were timed so most of the time each person is in the controlled group but at the end of the tour, they give people free time to wander around. Also, pre-COVID, there was one day a month that was done open-house style where people were not on an organized tour.

[Bpm0014]

I’ve been to the museum. The owner is a collector as well and has some unbelievable items. He had a Fred Clarke game used bat just laying around that could have easily been stolen. I’d make sure that your items are at least behind some glass or in a case etc.

[drcy]

Having items having been shown adds to their value and prestige. They are literally "museum pieces."

[71buc]

Thanks for all of the advice and information regarding the museum. When I told my wife about the museum’s request she said, “What kind of museum would want to display your toys”?

[Scott Garner]

Being able to share part of your great collection is a cool thing to do.
IMHO it's more fun to be able to share some of the museum quality pieces to other people than simply keep it in your Pirates Shrine.
BTW, David Cycleback's comment is correct. If you ever choose to sell anything down the road, this can add interest to the item's provenance.

[doug.goodman]

The Clemente Museum is a must see when in Pittsburgh.

They have a baseball from his 3rd career HR and after seeing it I loaned them a scored program from that game.

And I picked a good day to visit, as this picture shows.

Doug

[71buc]

Wow that must have been quite the experience