Should museums ever sell off their prize pieces? Croydon Council & Chinese Porcelain.

Should museums ever sell off their prize pieces? – here is another interesting story about selling off items from a museum to help pay for ‘other things’; this time it is the cash-strapped Croydon Council, in the UK.  The Council that wants to sell off 24 of the most valuable items (Chinese porcelain valued at about £13M) in their local museum and use the funds to renovate Fairfield Halls.  What makes this story even more interesting is that the porcelain is part of a larger collection that was donated by a local businessman to the museum in 1964 — part of the deal was that the collection should be displayed in its entirety.  I am sure museums around the world are watching this one.