The Fate of Material in Private Collections

Due to a persistent problem of the reprehensible, inexcusable and totally irresponsible and careless lack of proper documentation of huge amounts of material in personal collections, not only are collecting histories lost, but also the very identity of the objects themselves is obscured. this is well illustrated by a case described in the press of one object that was nearly discarded by the heirs of a collector (BBC 'Ancient Egyptian bronze cat salvaged from bin' 19 February 2015)

A rare artefact from ancient Egypt nearly ended up in the bin, as its owners cleared out a relative's house in Cornwall thinking it was junk. Luckily, local auctioneer David Hay salvaged the 2,500 year-old Egyptian cat bronze cat from the bin realising its significance.Jon Kay explains how the cat made its way to Penzance.

'business links with Howard Carter'....