Last night despite protest, increasing legal threats and worldwide dis-reputation growing, Northampton Borough Council and leader David Mackintosh sold the ancient Egyptian statue, Sekhemka. It made a touch under £16 million so alls good?
Or is it and will it be? We now await decisions from the Arts Council and the Museum Association regarding loss of funding or accreditation. If we do lose accreditation we shall be one of only three in the country and struck from a list of eighteen hundred. What this means is unknown, Bury and Croydon have both lost their accreditation with MLA (they say nothing has changed for them) due to their own sale of a museum item, so some would say the writing is on the wall for Northampton Museum. History shows we are about to go it alone.
However we now have £8 million in the pot which is ring-fenced for the museum to build the new world (or maybe keep the place going?). It is interesting that the mention of ring-fencing was hastily mentioned in the statement issued. It's as if they think we don't trust councils to spend money correctly...
So all we need to do now it await and see the fallout. Will the Egyptian Ambassador (David Mackintosh quite rudely said he did not recognise what he had to say) bring down a legal curse upon us? Will the museum become an outcast with loss of recognition?
We also have the question of possible other Egyptian items in the museum. If these exist, now the crowning jewel has gone from the collection, perhaps we may as well sell the rest of them. I think this story is far from complete and we have still much to learn.
Incidentally in October, the Question Time is to come from Northampton with presenter David Dimbleby on loan for it from the BBC. What price we auction him off?
