Museum deaccessioning

The decision to sell works from museum collections is usually related to the need to raise funds for restoration, new acquisitions or other projects. Selling works from public collections, in particular items that were once donated, has often proved controversial.


Bronze head

Getty becomes latest museum to return antiquities following provenance research

25 April 2024

The J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is to return a bronze head from its antiquities collection to Turkey.

Sumerian sculpture

New York’s Met Museum returns Sumerian sculpture to Iraq as part of its ‘Cultural Property Initiative’

23 April 2024

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned a sculpture to Iraq following provenance research.

Houses of Parliament

New Charities Act will allow UK museums to deaccession parts of their collections

29 September 2022

An update to the Charities Act coming into force over the next year will allow museums in the UK to deaccession some items.

Bust of Robert Browning

Browning museum archive comes to auction in Essex

30 May 2022

Museum contents devoted to the celebrated Victorian poets Robert Browning (1812-89) and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) will be offered this month.

Music academy promises historical instruments will be kept

31 May 2021

The Royal Academy of Music has said it has no plans to sell or dispose of any of its historic instruments after national media reported it was looking into ‘decolonialising’ its collection.

Shakespeare 1st folio 1.jpg

Shakespeare’s First Folio comes to auction at Christie’s with $4-6m estimate

13 January 2020

William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, often referred to as the ‘First Folio’, is regarded as the greatest work of the English language.

10112, A Finely Carved Large Spinach-Green Jade 'Immortals' Brushpot.jpg

Metropolitan Museum to auction off 300 Asian works of art at Sotheby’s New York

21 August 2019

A large jade brushpot from the Qing Dynasty is expected to lead a collection of more than 300 Chinese works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art going under the hammer at Sotheby’s New York this September.

John Tunnard's 'Brandis 1944'

Sale of art owned by Hertfordshire County Council to go ahead despite protest

20 March 2019

Hertfordshire County Council is going ahead with the auction of artworks from its collection this week despite the launch of a petition to ‘save’ it from being dispersed.

Flemish painting

Rare Flemish Old Master sells for more than $2m at auction in Philadelphia as Freeman's confirm premises move

01 March 2019

A total of 18 phones competed for a rare devotional painting offered by a New York institution at Freeman’s in Philadelphia this week.

Eardley

Mod Brit art from Hertfordshire County Council’s collection to be auctioned at Cheffins

30 January 2019

Pictures by Mod Brit artists including Barbara Hepworth and Julian Trevelyan will go under the hammer at Cambridge auction house Cheffins following a council’s decision to offload artworks from storage.

Dali

Buyer sought to keep Salvador Dalí champagne lamps in the UK

02 June 2018

Lamps designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí have been blocked from export in the hope a buyer can be found to pay £440,000 to keep them in the UK.

Peter Paul Rubens, ‘Portrait of Clara Serena, the Artist's Daughter’

‘Copy’ of Rubens sold by Met Museum now offered at Christie’s after attribution upgraded

02 May 2018

A painting thought to be a copy of a Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) portrait when it was deaccessioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art will now be offered at Christie’s in London with a full attribution. It will carry an estimate of £3m-5m.

V&A

Museum acquisitions under threat from lack of funding report warns

16 February 2018

Museums in the UK have been selling off their collections and have been unable to buy new works of art due to funding issues, a “deeply depressing” report has revealed.

Lips

Buyer sought to keep £500,000 Salvador Dalí Mae West lips sofa in the UK

17 November 2017

A Salvador Dalí Mae West lips sofa has been blocked from export in the hope a buyer can be found to pay nearly £500,000 to keep it in the UK.

Stubbs

Stubbs painting rediscovered after “one of the biggest deaccessioning blunders”

14 March 2017

A painting by George Stubbs previously believed to be a copy will be offered by The Parker Gallery at BADA 2017 opening in Chelsea this week.

Fangzun wine vessel from the late Shang dynasty

Five Chinese rarities from Japan’s Fujita Museum being sold at Christie’s New York

27 October 2016

Christie’s New York have announced the sale of more than 30 pieces of Chinese art from Osaka’s Fujita Museum which will be offered at auction next year.

Bronze cat from Toledo Museum of Art

Sixty ancient works from Ohio museum to be sold at Christie’s

13 October 2016

Antiquities from the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio are to be offered at Christie’s in New York this month to benefit the Museum’s acquisitions fund.

Chrysanthemum vase from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

More deaccessions from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

16 May 2016

Christie’s are to sell another major slice of deaccessioned material from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, just under a year after they held a dedicated auction devoted to a dispersal from the Met’s holdings of English furniture and works of art.

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Museum closure puts future of Gillows furniture collection in doubt

22 January 2016

Leading specialists in antique furniture have joined a campaign to preserve a touchstone collection of Gillows furniture ahead of multiple museum closures in Lancashire.

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New blacklist threat for deaccessioning museums

09 April 2015

A fresh warning has gone out to UK museums and galleries that they could face future funding cuts if they sell items from their collections.

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