Featured Hopi dough bowl

every one wants to cover their ass !!
and for some businesses ...... no pay..no play !

 

Exactly, and they are paid to do just that. I have found that some of the big, famous museums don't even bother with a standard reply, while smaller ones are very helpful.
Some museum experts really go above and beyond. I even had some great help once from a former museum expert, who is now in charge of research somewhere else. I googled her name and sent her a mail thinking she probably wouldn't reply because it was not her job anymore. But she did, she even asked for more information and really helped.

 

Well that’s great and good to hear.
So it very much also depends on that particular passionate and helpfull person/expert or persons working at that museum.

 

Yes, that is a factor. Some really love their job and show it.

 

I am doing research on a specific carver and making a document of all his known cameo carvings. Boston MFA has 3 in their collection, but no photos online. I've found grainy photos of 2 in a very old antiques article, so I reached out to ask if they had the 1 or more photos of the objects. They're so large, they have a department for photo requests.

They emailed back and told me it would be $50 per image scan, per attempt, because she could see in the computer that they should have a single ancient (c. 1900) black and white photo of only the front of each, but she couldn't guarantee if they would find them. Would I want to pay $150 for them to look in a box and maybe find them? Not even for a license... just to view them.

Yeah, no thanks. Maybe I would have luck if I emailed the department but you can't individually email the department or workers. Even the head curator's email is on her website and not the museum so it felt intrusive.

The funny part? The museum had an article written not that long ago that said these pieces were the second thing purchased by the museum when it opened. And they're by an artist who lives and worked in Boston and would have known the people starting the museum and vice versa. But who needs a photo in that article or the online collection. Not on view either, obviously.

Smaller museums seem to be less "corporate" and obsessed with money. They still have people who are passionate about the academic side and not the marketing side...

 

Stracci- Living near Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos you've got a good a shot as anyone at finding a reasonable level of expertise. Just keep plugging away.
Figuring you'd like a professional opinion for insurance replacement purposes (since you're not selling) ?
PS-Don't know why museum curators are so very hesitant to offer even a casual opinion or referrals on artifacts ? Would it put their job in jeopardy or open the institution to lawsuit ?
PSS-The museums in your area are a jaw dropping NA feast,good luck !

 

The only time an established auction house even tip-toes around a dollar & cents amount is when I query them with a 'For Sale' proposal,IF they're interested.

 

Actually, Adobe Gallery has helped me quite a bit already. Just the info they posted about their bowl is probably sufficient for me to make a casual assumption about MY bowl.
I've got some books, and I've got a computer for researching. So maybe I'll just dive down the Hopi pottery rabbit hole.
And as @bosko69 said, I'll ask around my area.
I'm bound to run into a pottery expert before long.

 

Looks Nampeyo to me-course my non-expert opinion's worth exactly what you paid for it.
PS-Strach,yer house's gotta be a trip ! Is it a mini-Palace of the Governors ?

 

Haha, Bosko!
We do have a lot of curios here. But all tastefully displayed, of course

 

You being an artist-darn straight !