Worse....when some places close, the items are then sold on to collectors rather than donated to other Museums.

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The NAMHO Guidelines for Removal of Artefacts can be found here:
http://www.namho.org/download.php?doc=documents/removal_of_artefacts.pdf&title=Removal+of+Artefacts&from=Guidelines+for+Removal+of+Artefacts 

SRJ underwater mining and others may wish to read them.

Thanks for the guide skimble as it appears we are already following the guide with the actions we have taken

The NAMHO Guidelines for Removal of Artefacts can be found here:
http://www.namho.org/download.php?doc=documents/removal_of_artefacts.pdf&title=Removal+of+Artefacts&from=Guidelines+for+Removal+of+Artefacts 

I have no knowledge of the current instance under discussion on this thread but as a general comment on the guidelines they are very good save that they omit one important piece of advice. If you are considering donating a find to a museum, liaise with the museum in advance of removing the object from underground. The museum will wish to consider whether the object falls within its collecting policy, whether it might duplicate finds already held, and whether they have the resources to conserve and store it. This last aspect is particularly important as many smaller museums do not have appropriate conservators on their staff and even if the museum does have the staff, they may not have the resources to accept your potential donation as stabilising water-logged iron, wood or leather can be time consuming and expensive. Most museums have conservation backlogs and in the current economic climate staff and resources for these sorts of 'behind the scenes' work is being cut hard.

Seeing the photos of Cligga head that have just been added, I notice it shows the pulley still on the tripod in some and not in others. It was 'collected' sometime in the early to mid 70's.

Compare and contrast with the pulley being used in this photo at Snailbeach in the early 90's.........

[photo]Snailbeach-Lead-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-70956[/photo]