# Museum visitor destroys priceless clock **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421 "2016-06-03T20:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/21 "2016-06-04T02:30:08Z")
In 2005 my sister and I built a replica, in gingerbread, of a well known local church. It was on display in the cafe where I work. The cafe is located in the public library. The art galery lent a display case with a top over it. [http://cjonline.com/stories/121505/loc\_gingerchurch.shtml#.V1I75dQrLMo](http://cjonline.com/stories/121505/loc_gingerchurch.shtml#.V1I75dQrLMo) The cnclosed display case was to keep people from handling it. The top covering, according to the gallery employee, was needed because even with “Don’t touch” signs they still have to deal with people who reach over the top, thinking “Don’t touch” means "Please, touch. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/22 "2016-06-04T03:01:14Z")
This is why we can’t have nice things! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/23 "2016-06-04T04:01:37Z")
I had a nice long post written, ripping into museum visitor ‘art man-handlers’… but what good does it do? Venting might make me feel better, but it won’t keep the next idiot from grabbing art like its make out of their kids LEGOs. How historical and valuable objects manage to survive these idiots to last hundreds of years, I’ll Never know… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/24 "2016-06-04T05:24:28Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Is this museum a part of a petting zoo? Why would a museum leave something “priceless”, not to mention fragile, out where everybody could touch it? Have you ever been to a museum? Museums all over the world have incredibly valuable and often fragile pieces within easy reach of visitors. The working assumption is that the vast majority of people who visit such places have sufficient functioning neurons to understand and obey the “Please Do Not Touch the Exhibits” signs. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/25 "2016-06-04T05:43:32Z")
And over at SFMOMA in San Francisco, a Warhol painting had to be removed from display because someone touched it. At least this appeared to be an accident where someone tripped and reflexively put out their hands. From what I’ve heard, no damage was really done, but the painting has to be cleaned as the long-term effects of skin oils is not beneficial. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/26 "2016-06-04T10:59:17Z")
A few years ago a guy tripped on his shoelace and smashed 3 vases in Cambridge. The vases had been sitting on a window sill for 60 years and no-one had touched them. Luckily they were able to glue them all back together. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7087084.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7087084.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/27 "2016-06-04T12:12:17Z")
I used to be a substitute teacher, and went with a group of kids to a history museum in New Jersey. They had Aaron Burr’s cradle. One of the students tried to grab it. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/28 "2016-06-04T12:54:40Z")
I was walking through the National Gallery of Art in D.C. while reading a map and I hit my head on the protruding part of [“Lever No. 3”](http://media.nga.gov/public/objects/7/1/2/7/1/71271-primary-0-440x400.jpg). Oops. It made a loud, comical “bong-ong-ong” type noise, but I don’t think I damaged it. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/29 "2016-06-04T13:32:25Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I’ll bet he made a face when the clock hit the ground. _standing ovation_ ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/30 "2016-06-04T13:54:52Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > _standing ovation_ So he clocked the clock ? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/31 "2016-06-04T14:01:52Z")
Years ago, we went to the J. Paul Getty museum in southern California. This museum has Van Gogh’s famous [Irises](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irises_%28painting%29) painting. It was, as you may imagine, closely guarded, but wasn’t behind any particular barrier. We chatted with the guard, who told us that soon after the museum bought and hung the painting, a woman had leaned forward and scratched at the heavily swirled paint and chipped some off. Painting restorers had to carefully affix the paint chips back onto the painting and that was when the painting was assigned its own guard. This was back in the late 80’s, and I don’t know if they keep the painting behind a barrier of some sort nowadays. I hope so. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/32 "2016-06-04T14:32:29Z")
Many exhibits are only displayed for a limited time. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/33 "2016-06-04T14:53:04Z")
What time did this occur? And when again will the clock be correct? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/34 "2016-06-04T19:33:55Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > There was that other news article lately, about the kid (in China, I think) who demolished a multi-thousand-dollar Lego statue that had been on display for all of an hour. The article mentioned that the Lego artist spent _three days_ building it! > > It seemed such an awful shame. Three irrecoverable days of the guy’s life wasted! This one is painful to watch. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kkoq5_pN7E) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/35 "2016-06-04T19:43:54Z")
> [@quiltguy](#): > > What time did this occur? And when again will the clock be correct? Twice a day. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/36 "2016-06-04T19:50:30Z")
And the hits just keep on comin’. This time, Andy Warhol’s [triple Elvis](http://wbay.com/2016/06/04/museum-visitor-trips-falls-into-andy-warhols-elvis-painting/). ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/37 "2016-06-04T21:40:36Z")
**Baker** , y’all’s gingerbread church was incredible! I’m glad they kept it safe. Great work. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/38 "2016-06-04T22:03:32Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > **Baker** , y’all’s gingerbread church was incredible! I’m glad they kept it safe. Great work. Thank you! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well. The church itself deserves some credit, as it was their office that furnished me with an old aerial photo of the building. That allowed a fine view of the different parts of the roof, and how they went together. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/39 "2016-06-04T22:04:51Z")
I blame **Chicago**. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/40 "2016-06-04T22:11:52Z")
Wanted: Art Restoration Specialist. Must have years of experience, good references, be able to work with very small fragments and be able to control “The Righteous Fist Of Death”. Inquire with curator. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421.md?page=3)