Karlis,
I agree with Susan and Marybeth. I've had to deal with site owners who want the artifacts back after data recovery. I've had to negotiate all that, including trying to get them to donate parts of the collections. Try to get the family to let you do the sampling, both for the individual items and the number of items, aiming for a decent sample rather than a single example whenever possible. I don't know how to define "decent" for sample size but I should think that, if possible, at least 10 of each type would be good, just off the top of my head.


Jeff

Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico

  *   The Center for New Mexico Archaeology
  *   7 Old Cochiti Road
  *   Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
  *   tel: 505.476.4426
  *   e-mail: [log in to unmask]

"There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure."  -- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer


________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Karlis Karklins [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 7:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Representative artifact sample size for museum collections

Hi Everyone!

I have been contacted by a museum person who is dealing with a family that
wants to donate a representative sample of beads from a collector's estate
to a reputable museum and they are wanting to know what would be a"good
sample" size; i.e. a sample of sufficient size to allow adequate study re:
manufacturing type, shape and size range, etc.? I have my thoughts but I
want to hear what fellow HistArchers think. This information is needed to
be able to explain to the family why x number of specimens are required and
should be donated.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers!

Karlis