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Author Topic:   100th birthday present to Newark
Ulysses Dietz
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Registered: May 99

iconnumber posted 02-20-2009 06:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm popping in two mediocre images of a very nice pending gift to the Museum--our first birthday present of our centennial year, and I'm so glad it's silver. First a pair of covered entree dishes by Gorham, with the date letter for 1873. Replete with neo-grec masks (Neptune?) and eccentric cast finials of rampant lions with shields (one slightly listing). The shallow but beautiful repousse chasing along the side bands is divided into four different quadrants, each showing different flora. Each tureen has four different groups of designs. Subtle and masterful. Giving Tiffany a run for its money in 1873

Even nicer, the entree dishes come with their matching tureen.
They were all acquired by the donor a decade ago at auction in NYC. Newark Museum owns a great Bailey & Kitchen tureen from the late 1830s; a Tiffany tureen from about 1860, but nothing later, so these are a hugely welcome addition to our Victorian silver and Gorham holdings.

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ellabee

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iconnumber posted 02-20-2009 03:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ellabee     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Congratulations, Ulysses! May the centennial year continue as it's begun...

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jersey

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iconnumber posted 02-20-2009 07:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jersey     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Mr. Dietz
Just gorgeous!

BTW Can someone give something to a Museum on a temporary basis, i.e., on loan for a specific length of time, & under what circumstances.

Thank You.

Jersey

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Ulysses Dietz
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iconnumber posted 02-21-2009 08:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A gift is forever...once you've signed the forms.

The standard in museums today is that gifts are permanent and without strings (i.e. permanent display). A temporary LOAN of an object to a museum depends entirely on that museum's need for the piece--is there an exhibition for which a piece of silver is needed? If a museum has a permanent gallery for silver (we don't have silver per se, but we have a group of permanent decorative arts galleries in our Ballantine House wing); then they might want to borrow silver because (a) it's something that really makes a point they can't otherwise make; or (b) they are hoping that the loan will become a gift someday if they borrow it.

What museums don't do is to borrow things for no particular reason. There was a widespread past custom (or really a bad habit) that museums of all sizes would hold objects and art for influential patrons and trustees, with no thought or promise of an eventual gift. This doesn't happen much any more, unless it is a particularly important object that would, say, draw visitors to see it.

Newark's biggest and most intractable problem is lack of real estate. I'd say that 85% of my silver collection is in storage, although some of my best and most interesting things are on more-or-less permanent display. I am loathe to take in any loans, because they would displace something from the permanent collection; yet collectors are loathe to donate things just to languish in storage.

A museum's first job is to preserve objects from the ongoing flow of history and for scholarship; but obviously exhibition is a close second, because a museum's other mission is to educate. Long answer, eh?

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Ulysses Dietz
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iconnumber posted 02-21-2009 08:22 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
You can only give things forever. You can LOAN things to a museum for specific lengths of time, depending on what the reason is. Newark Museum, for example, lent a unique 1770s tankard by Abraham Dubois to a historic house for two days this past Christmas season, for a special holiday event. We have borrowed silver for specific exhibitions...but generally, the only reason a museum will borrow silver is for a specific exhibit need (making a point they cannot make with their own collection) and/or in the hopes of a permanent gift. Most museums share the problem of real estate--exhibition space. Newark's problem in that regard is probably worse than most, and I am loathe to borrow anything without a specific reason...

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jersey

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iconnumber posted 02-21-2009 06:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jersey     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you so much for a very detailed explanation.

Jersey

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