[Bcma-l] (Fwd) CMA Clip Serv: Many Reluctant to donate silver
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
Tue, 26 May 2009 09:37:56 -0700
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<b>Many reluctant to donate silver items after </b></span></font>
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<b>gov't sale</b></span></font>
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Elizabeth Thompson, Sun Media, Monday, May 25, 2009</span></font>
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The government’s bargain basement sale of historic antiques risks
discouraging Canadians from donating to the government in the
future, says a former adviser to Rideau Hall.</span></font>
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Marie Elwood, who served on Rideau Hall’s acquisition committee
and who arranged the donation of the Allied Tea Service, says she
was surprised and annoyed to learn that 10 Limoge teacups from the
set hand painted by well known Nova Scotian artist Alice Egan
Hagen were sold last week on the government’s online auction</span><=
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website.</span></font>
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“If … donations are being disposed of like this, you certainl=
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wouldn’t feel like donating,” said Elwood, who also serves on =
the
advisory committee to the Canadian Museum of Civilization.</span></font>
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Elwood said Jeanne Sauve, the governor general when the set was
donated, was “thrilled” with the tea set and sent Hagen’=
s family a
photo of the set installed in a special cabinet.</span></font>
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Elwood said the family should have been alerted before the cups were
sold and museums would have also been interested.</span></font>
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Elwood’s comments come after sterling silver tea pots, silver plated=
cocktail sets and china cups from Rideau Hall where dignitaries and
royalty have been entertained over the years, were sold last week for a
fraction of their value on the Crown Assets Distribution website
usually used to offload surplus filing cabinets and old computers.</span><=
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Yesterday, Heritage Minister James Moore’s office pointed to Public
Works Minister Christian Paradis and Paradis’ office pointed to the
Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, saying the law
allows donations if it is in the public interest.</span></font>
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Rideau Hall said it is reviewing the matter and has asked Public
Works to halt the sale of any other items.</span></font>
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NDP Heritage critic Charlie Angus said the sale is part of a bigger
problem — a government that doesn’t understand the value of it=
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cultural assets. “When you are dealing with valuable historic artifa=
cts,
it’s not like selling off old desks out of the department of</span><=
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defence. There has to be a way of protecting these assets so they are
not just sold off like a Saturday-morning yard sale.”</span></font>
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Liberal Heritage critic Pablo Rodriguez said the government should
protect objects of heritage value. “Those artifacts are part of our
heritage, they belong to Canadians and (if they have to be sold) we
should get our fair value for it.”</span></font>
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