# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/41 "2016-06-05T03:30:04Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > 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. That is really cool and I loved the stained glass windows. Very intricate and interesting. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/42 "2016-06-05T04:29:34Z")
Interesting to see inside the museum at least. I was born in Columbia, PA (no memories of it though, except an eerie sense when crossing the bridge over the Susquehanna River that I had done it before). We drove to Columbia a couple of summers ago after dropping my son off at nearby Franklin & Marshall College for a summer program, and explicitly tried to visit the clock museum, but it was closed. Well, now I’ve seen it - sort of! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/43 "2016-06-05T04:35:47Z")
[quote=“gigi, post:34, topic:756421”] This one is painful to watch. [/QUOTE] Sorry, that was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/44 "2016-06-05T04:42:51Z")
[quote=“gigi, post:34, topic:756421”] This one is painful to watch. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure this one’s staged. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/45 "2016-06-05T05:11:23Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > 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/). Wise men say only fools brush art but I can’t help falling into said art ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/46 "2016-06-05T05:12:55Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > I’m pretty sure this one’s staged. I thought this one was staged: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8SdmlE5j7OM/hqdefault.jpg "That's the way the priceless artifact crumbles!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SdmlE5j7OM) ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/47 "2016-06-05T11:16:02Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > 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. Some people not only can’t help themselves from touching but it’s like they have a compulsion to destructively test stuff. Years ago I used to build free flight scale air models, they’d take weeks or even months to build; I used to fly them in a park near home and people would often strike a conversation, a couple times as I was explaining how the structure was built out of light balsa wood and thin tissue the person reached out and casually crunched some part of the plane between their fingers. ---
**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 5, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/48 "2016-06-05T14:26:16Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > I’m pretty sure this one’s staged. According to a post in [this Snopes forum](http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=60;t=001178;p=0): > [@](#): > > “Yes Tom it was staged. I hate to burst your bubble or knock down your tower of Pisa. The Dude has creative ways to knock down his creations. He knocked down his sears tower with little robots.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/49 "2016-06-05T15:18:12Z")
Now I’m feeling really guilty. Am I the only person who dreamt of breaking into a museum to attach arms to Venus de Milo? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/50 "2016-06-05T17:13:24Z")
Having worked on the floor in a museum the methods patrons go through to cicrumvent ‘no touching’ mechanisms is nothing short of weaponized chutzpah. I had one patron who was reaching under a plexiglass cover (which was behind a stanchion) and trying to bend their hand to reach a delicate mechanism of an old elegant music box. I saw him in the process of this and simply stood behind him and said: “Sir, don’t make me stab your hand”). He quickly withdrew his hand, muttered what might have been an apology and ran out of that room. I expected to hear from my boss about my comment but nothing was ever reported. I much later told him about the event and he said he would not have stopped at a hand stabbing. I’ve had to tell patrons to stop climbing on the exhibits. A couple of them even have special signs. One patron was trying to pull items from the wall (items behind a stanchion) and insisted they had the right because we accepted State Money for the museum\*. I said that is true but there is a process for that and yanking random items off the wall was not it. - PA, and I suspect many other states require museums that accept state funds to have their catalog items available for simple examination by residents of the state. However you must follow a procedure which may involve pre-arranged appointments, the need to wear gloves, supervised handling only, and an archivist glaring angrily at you the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![heartsplayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@heartsplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heartsplayer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/51 "2016-06-05T21:53:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Fortunately the clock isn’t really destroyed. The museum has said the damage is repairable. Thank goodness for that! What stupid person does that to museum clocks, though, is anyone’s guess… Had that not been repairable, that person should have been billed for the damage caused! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/52 "2016-06-05T21:54:21Z")
> [@quiltguy](#): > > What time did this occur? And when again will the clock be correct? At least twice a day. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/53 "2016-06-05T22:13:49Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@quiltguy](#): > > > > What time did this occur? And when again will the clock be correct? > > Twice a day. ummm, > [@Clothahump](#): > > At least twice a day. check your watch, you are a day late; also, check your wallet … ---
**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 6, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/54 "2016-06-06T00:55:53Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Having worked on the floor in a museum the methods patrons go through to cicrumvent ‘no touching’ mechanisms is nothing short of weaponized chutzpah. > > I had one patron who was reaching under a plexiglass cover (which was behind a stanchion) and trying to bend their hand to reach a delicate mechanism of an old elegant music box. I saw him in the process of this and simply stood behind him and said: “Sir, don’t make me stab your hand”). He quickly withdrew his hand, muttered what might have been an apology and ran out of that room. I expected to hear from my boss about my comment but nothing was ever reported. I much later told him about the event and he said he would not have stopped at a hand stabbing. > > I’ve had to tell patrons to stop climbing on the exhibits. A couple of them even have special signs. > > One patron was trying to pull items from the wall (items behind a stanchion) and insisted they had the right because we accepted State Money for the museum\*. I said that is true but there is a process for that and yanking random items off the wall was not it. > > - PA, and I suspect many other states require museums that accept state funds to have their catalog items available for simple examination by residents of the state. However you must follow a procedure which may involve pre-arranged appointments, the need to wear gloves, supervised handling only, and an archivist glaring angrily at you the whole time. You, Sir, Deserve use of a Taser. If you crowd-fund that, given your experiences, you might have enough to power one with an ARC Reactor… > [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > One patron was trying to pull items from the wall (items behind a stanchion) and insisted they had the right because we accepted State Money for the museum\*. I said that is true but there is a process for that and yanking random items off the wall was not it. > > - PA, and I suspect many other states require museums that accept state funds to have their catalog items available for simple examination by residents of the state. However you must follow a procedure which may involve pre-arranged appointments, the need to wear gloves, supervised handling only, and an archivist glaring angrily at you the whole time. Suggested Line: “Yes Sir, we DO accept State Funds. Did you know that Graterford accepts Sate Funds Too? Would you like to tour there today as well…?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/55 "2016-06-06T03:28:05Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > You, Sir, Deserve use of a Taser. > > If you crowd-fund that, given your experiences, you might have enough to power one with an ARC Reactor… It was sorely tempting, but I have not worked a museum floor in many, many years. > [@](#): > > Suggested Line: > > “Yes Sir, we DO accept State Funds. Did you know that Graterford accepts Sate Funds Too? Would you like to tour there today as well…?” 😃 😃 Seriously, the archivists had a love/hate relationship with people wanting to examine items. Some were knowledgeable people who wanted to learn more and often had good questions and didn’t damage the items. The archivists loved them because they had good questions and enthusiasm. Others were pure goombahs who just wanted to play with old things and felt that twisting and cranking (breakable) parts at random was acceptable. Even if they didn’t break anything they were no fun for the archivists since they usually came with the attitude that they already knew everything about the item. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/56 "2016-06-06T12:26:23Z")
I heard of a story where some art haters had gone into a museum, stood in front of a painting, and had some hidden mechanism in their shirts that sprayed acid on a painting. Supposedly it was only pure luck they were caught. Anyone else know of an acid attack like this? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/57 "2016-06-06T15:47:30Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > I’ve had to tell patrons to stop climbing on the exhibits. A couple of them even have special signs. How do you get the signs to stick to the patrons? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/58 "2016-06-06T19:45:16Z")
Staple gun. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/59 "2016-06-07T20:37:41Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I heard of a story where some art haters had gone into a museum, stood in front of a painting, and had some hidden mechanism in their shirts that sprayed acid on a painting. Supposedly it was only pure luck they were caught. > > Anyone else know of an acid attack like this? [Kind of](http://articles.latimes.com/1990-04-06/news/mn-973_1_night-watch). In 1990 a lone “confused” man used a hand held pump to spray what was believed to be concentrated sulfuric acid on Rembrandt’s “Night Watch” painting: > [@](#): > > An unemployed man, described by police as confused, sprayed Rembrandt’s famous painting “The Night Watch” with an unidentified chemical today, but museum officials said damage was minimal…Dutch Television said the spray was concentrated sulfuric acid, but museum officials would not confirm the report. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/60 "2016-06-07T21:11:19Z")
People who build things to show off to people, like the LEGO guy, why aren’t they using the kragle? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421.md?page=2)