fossil collecting - a UK perspective.

[Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>]

Colin McHenry writes:
 > Interesting article on commercial aspects of collecting in Britain:
 > 
 > http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bones-under-the-hammer-fossil-fetish-spurs-collectors-market-839427.html

There are are all sorts of things to get outraged about in this
article, not least this:

        "We are increasingly seeing clients coming to our
        contemporary art or furniture auctions and discovering
        natural history," says Fleur de Nicolay, fossil
        auction specialist at the Paris office of
        Christie's. "Our furniture collectors might be
        searching for a more decorative piece that would look
        good next to a master painting. That is why we mix our
        sales of fossils with our furniture sales."

But maybe the most shocking of all is this:

        The Natural History Museum in London says its fixed
        annual budget for buying all its science specimens is
        £30,000.

Can this really be true?  Less than the salary of one PR person?

 _/|_    ___________________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor    <mike@indexdata.com>    http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  "... about as similar as two completely dissimilar things in a
         pod" -- Black Adder.