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What if you had something...

Bear in mind also, that most museums are "taxidermy" affairs. Few actually want to or can afford to run the stuff they get. So exhibit only.

There are some exceptions, but they're uncommon.
 
Shadow Lord said:
Not following this: Are you saying the "museum" offered to pay for the item but you don't want cash and rather get another item in trade? I can see how that could be an issue. Many times when things are donated to a museum it is with the express understanding they stay with the museum and not to be sold or traded away. Sometime they are temporary loans. Sometimes the museum may want to keep the "other rare thing" for their own collection and sometime it is a trust issue (they ship but you don't or vice a versa)... You get the idea. Also there is the issue of worth - you may consider your item worth equivalent to the museum's item but they may not (and in reality it may not be or it could be worth more, etc...).

Honestly if it was me I would approach it as two transactions (assuming they are willing to part with a part of their collection). You pay for the item you want plus S&H and they pay for your item. This way it takes a lot of the trust, and ancillary problems out (e.g. your item is damaged during shipping the museum gets their money back and you still get the item you wanted). If you are trading item for item it makes solving problems much harder. Of course if you can trade in person that is a different story...
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No, the museum hadn't offered to pay for the items, only postage and expenses to send them (I quoted the two requests directly in my initial post). Once again I'm just looking for a reasonable trade but I am NOT just going to give them away.

Thanks for the great idea about the exchange postage scheme, I have mentioned that in my reply to the remaining interested parties. Sounds fair.

If anyone's interested, here are what I have. Of absolutely no use to anyone except a very few of the people on this forum and cctalk, and I'm pretty sure they'll end up with them sometime or other. I'd like to see that. Hoping to trade for things like a few RK05 packs, impossible to find in Australia.
http://web.aanet.com.au/~malikoff/pdp9/
 
I absolutely would not donate to a private museum. I don't get why anyone would. Trade or sell, sure. I'm mystified by people that 'donate' to youtubers and such also. A public museum, that's a different story. Assuming circumstances don't force me to sell, I'd like to donate my Mark-8 boards to a public museum that doesn't have any Mark-8 stuff. But to individuals who ought to have the resources to purchase on their own.. nope.
 
1944GPW said:
No, the museum hadn't offered to pay for the items, only postage and expenses to send them (I quoted the two requests directly in my initial post). Once again I'm just looking for a reasonable trade but I am NOT just going to give them away.
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In that case just tell them you are not currently in need of a tax break and will keep them in mind if you do decide to make a donation in the future.
 
Trixter said:
As an additional data point: The Strong (hosts of the ICHEG) has a yearly budget for acquisitions, so they have paid for certain collections/items.
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As someone who has donated extensively to The Strong in Rochester, NY I can say they have one of the better donation programs out there. Instead of items sitting in dark dusty back rooms they have an entire education and research center where anyone can schedule an appointment to go through their collection that is not currently on display depending on the research subject. I have stopped donating to most museums for personal reasons I wont discuss here, but I travel all over the country on a constant basis and my absolute two favorite museums are The Living Computer Museum (now called Living Computers: Museum + Labs) in downtown Seattle and The Strong. Both have interactive displays and keep their gear working and active with the public which I think is most important.
 
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Public museums may not always be the best choice either, in the right (wrong?) light. If they need to make room for other, more interesting stuff, or are forced to downsize or close, items you donated could end up getting "recycled".
 
Except that a collection isn't necessarily on display for the purpose of viewing.

How about House on the Rock? That's privately owned, for profit, but open to the public. So does that make it public? I know there are places that aren't open to the public (only to members or by special invite) but can't specifically name any. I know of some that would be illegal or questionable at best if they were open to the public. But there are probably more innocent examples.
 
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