Deaccession – A Fact of Life for Museums and Coins

(v.)

To deaccession an item is to sell or dispose of part of parts of a collection, typically used in the context of institutional collections, such as those belonging to museums.

The American Numismatic Association (ANA) and the American Numismatic Society (ANS) have both recently engaged in programs to deaccession duplicate and lower-value coins and other numismatic objects from their collections.

CoinWeek’s ancient coin expert Mike Markowitz wrote about why ancient coins are a headache for museums and other institutions, and why deaccession is often a welcome reprieve for these institutions.

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