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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;James Conrad, post: 4297106, member: 5066&quot;]Well, in the case of the MET, context is important here.</p><p>Mrs Russel Sage purchased the entire Bolles collection (probably the greatest collection of American furniture ever assembled) in 1909 and gifted it to the MET. (with the idea of creating the &quot; American Wing&quot; for the first time in history)</p><p>Not a single piece of American furniture was displayed in any museum in America at that time, it was considered &quot;not worthy&quot; of collecting or public display.</p><p>So not only was collecting American furniture new, publicly displaying it in a museum setting was new, and restoring it was new, not to mention, PRIMITIVE by today&#039;s standards.</p><p>1909 was a long time ago.</p><p>So, it is not surprising that MISTAKES were made, no getting around it.</p><p>Taken in the context of the time though, we are damn lucky the director of the MET talked Mrs Sage into purchasing that collection and donating it to the MET. Otherwise, we would be missing A LOT more than just &quot;bird decorations&quot; on that Boston Pilgrim chest, the chest itself would probably be missing.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/eek.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/eek.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" /></p><p>It took a lot vision (MET), a hell of a lot of money (mrs sage), and much hard work by many to bring all that together so the American Wing could open in 1929.</p><p>So I for one am thankful for the MET although yes, there were a few casualties in making all that happen.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie49" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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