Posted by Dutch on August 10, 2000 at 19:20:03:

In Reply to: Antiques posted by Deb on August 10, 2000 at 11:16:11:

I am sure people have had an interest in things old for a very long time. But to collect antiques one has to have money and that was in mighty short supply to the population at large. I think items were kept that had sentimental meaning to someone and after being handed down a generation or two, it didn't have that sentiment any longer. No doubt items were thrown away or sold if a buyer could be found. Louis had a huge interest in history obvioiusly and no doubt that included archaeology. His intentions were good to include such things in his story to make people think about preservation. Unfortunately, humans will always be humans and there are a good number of cases of dug artifacts disappearing from museums or before they get to the museum as many an archaeologist has his own collection. Honest people are often hard to come by these days, whether amature or professional. The good thing about preservation though is that some day, some where, the artifacts will find their way into museums.

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