Unsolicited donation horror stories
Hi. I'm preparing a presentation for non collections staff (volunteers, docents, guides, etc) about why we can't just accept items that people drop off at the front desk "for the collection", why paperwork is so important and some of the legal and ethical implications of not following collections guidelines.
I'm looking for any good illustrative horror stories about people dropping off donation items that get lost or cause problems.
We've had problems recently with people just showing up with an object and some one at a visitor desk accepting it and telling the people that it will go into the collection- one person even promised them that it would be on display and that we would have it staff craft a replica for them.
So, anyone got a good story to share?