This takes the hiss.
- Thread starter Danthus
- Start date
Don't forget the cyclists...
As to the story, Government pays to maintain gifts given to it, shocking.
I can imagine the fuss if the Government refused to pay to keep or refurbish something given to it by an American official or something.
By the sounds of it the cost wasn't even just for the restuffing etc, but for the display as well (the hangings and glass case...).
Stop giving a balanced view, this is outrageous that anyone could dare do maintenance on belongings of the government (and not even the individual possession)!
I wonder how much it'll cost to stuff Eric Pickles?
I think he's given the job to himself?
if its such a great asset why didnt they give it to a museum thats prepared to foot the bill ?
Soldato
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To be fair, given that it was a gift by another nation back in the 19th century, there'd probably be complaints if it were neglected.
Interesting that it was the Natural History Museum that did the work, not a private company. Isn't the Natural History Museum publicly funded IIRC? So the £10K that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office paid went to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport... so its just moved around within the government, making this a bit of a non story!
Interesting that it was the Natural History Museum that did the work, not a private company. Isn't the Natural History Museum publicly funded IIRC? So the £10K that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office paid went to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport... so its just moved around within the government, making this a bit of a non story!
Get stuffed!
It doesn't actually work like that though, does it? A doctor isn't going to go over to old granny Smith and say "sorry love, they had to stuff a snake, so your treatment's off until April" is he?
It amazes me that people get all uppity about what is essentially naff all in the grand scheme.
Soldato
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does it really cost 10k to re-stuff a snake?
It does in this case yes, there's a nice quote in the first post that explains why and everything.
I suspect the NHM will most likely do preservation work for a fee for any serious person/persons, part of the reason for having something like National Library or the National History Museum is to have the skills for preserving artifacts, not just in their collection but in other collections (and they'll charge them for it).
As the item wasn't part of the History Museum's collection it would probably have been charged the same as if anyone wanted it done to the same standard.
As for the cost, iirc doing a proper job of taxidermy can be quite expensive, especially if you're restoring something that is 100+ years old and you want your job to last, things like making sure anything you use isn't going to react with anything previously used.
IIRC the National Archive/Library have a huge database of pretty much everything they've found used in books/papers/manuscripts (from memory the do specific tests to find out the composition of the materials if not known exactly prior to doing any preservation work), what they react with, how to counter the reaction, and what to use to help preserve it best (and also if the book may have a reaction if placed next to books made in other ways).
I suspect the Natural History Museum has a similar database or reference system, and will do the same sort of tests before they start work on something that likely had chemicals used to preserve it in the past.
It is £10k...not even a drop in the ocean! They say nothing significant has been spent in the last 40 - 50 years, so worst case it is costing the government £250 a year to keep Albert in good nick!
I wish Albert a very happy 40 - 50 years till his next stuffing!
I wish Albert a very happy 40 - 50 years till his next stuffing!
totally. If it were up to some members of this forum, the government would operate out of sheds on an allotment, with pentium 2 pc's powered by a little hamster.