Nina Simon: Why wouldn’t they make the rational choice to get as much money as possible for their sins? Because their choice has consequences beyond their own self-interest. It exposes the fragility of the rule of deaccessioning, the thin line between “treasured public asset” and “hard cold cash.” The rule is built on a sleight of hand, a conceit that says that museums won’t acknowledge the market value of objects — until they will. As cultural theorist Diane Ragsdale put it, “When communities become markets, citizens become consumers, and culture becomes an exploitable product.”