In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a young boy-scout Indy confronts plunderers about a golden cross, and later meets the same men over the same cross. His logic, flung at the plunderers twice, is “that belongs in a museum!” In each of the Jones movies, Indy is after a relic of some sort, fighting off others in pursuit of the same item, but his reasoning isn’t much more noble from the perspective of the rightful owner of a relic. Whether the object is pursued by a private collector or a museum, it is being taken out of its context and moved to a new place. This same dilemma exists for collectors: you may want a rare or valuable item, but how right is it to own the item?

Extreme cases, like grave-robbing, plundered items, or items pertaining to unpleasant historic events, are generally frowned upon, even though there’s a market for them. A Nazi memorabilia seller had a case in a local antique mall, which got a moderate amount of frowns and an equal amount of interest. One day, a buyer by the name of Marilyn Manson stopped by, while in town for a performance, and bought a big chunk of what the seller had. I personally would hope that Manson has an honest interest in history, but judging from his music it’s likely his morbid facination is deliberately morbid and expressly offensive. On one hand, it’s probably better he bought them than a neo-nazi looking for ties to his beliefs, and I’m sure Manson will spend the money on proper care and restoration for the items, but wouldn’t a museum or WWII collector be a better buyer?

Recently, a clock was sold to a collector. Not particularly remarkable, except that the clock is a 15-foot tall historic icon. The storefront that the clock has guarded for decades is going to be renovated, and it’s new front doesn’t include the clock. The collector is going to take good care of the clock, much better care than the clock has recieved in recent years, and better than it will get with the next owner. However, the city preservation board believes the clock should remain where it is due to it’s iconic nature. On one hand, the clock risks destruction or neglect if it’s left in the hands of an owner who doesn’t want it, but the collector will remove the clock and take it to his collection. Towns all over are confronted with similar problems: sustaining a city’s history, but not impeding progress. They can set up clubs to teach children about history, but with local museums underfunded and incentives for developers to replace history with modernism, what would be a better place than in a loving collector’s archive? The original environment, however, might make the item more relevant, if not more valuable to the people who appreciate it. An iconic pussycat neon sign adorned a downtown Fargo bar and greeted generations of Greyhound bus riders as they disembarked, but when the building was torn down the sign was bought by a collector. Last I heard, it’s on a pole in the middle of a farmstead in rural North Dakota. It’s better than the sign scrapyard (which, incidentally is on 2nd Ave S and 15th Street, and appears too well guarded for casual browsing), but wouldn’t a local historical museum have been more appropriate?

My wife and I attended an auction a few years ago for a disbanded church; it was a very rural area, late in the day during the week, so we expected some good deals on religious items. One such was the baptismal font: bidding started low, and we were doing well, but it became clear from overhearing the discussions in the audience that the other bidders were members of the church trying to save items with emotional significance. Even though it might have been a ruse to keep us from bidding, it worked and we bowed out. However, what would have been a better destination for the font: the home of a member of the church, or a collector interested in Methodist iconography, or another church in the process of being built? We did buy a stained glass window and a number of dishes with the church’s logo on it, and all went to loving collectors; the window, in fact, went to a man building a new home, and he planned on installing it in a stairwell.

Collectors are always on the lookout for the rarest, the most valuable, and the one with the best story behind it, whether it’s a South American golden idol, the Ark of the Covenant, an original painting, or the desk Ann Landers sat at, but they often overlook the right option in favor of their own desires. A wise collector might find it best to ask themselves: What would Indiana Jones think?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 12:21 am and is filed under collecting fyi, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.