That's my understanding too. What makes me more angry is that no-one outside us numismatists anymore cares about these national treasures having been discarded. There's many mutterings about the misguided purchase and then the loss of Euphronios but no inquisition into throwing away a marvellous collection of tiny Greek sculptures in the round.
Searching for more information I stumbled upon
http://clancco-theartdeaccessioningblog.blogspot.comHere is the mood on the street:
An editorial from Schenectady's Daily Gazette.
There’s no telling what the state Senate will do if and when it returns to action, but one thing it should not do is pass a bill that would interfere with art museums’ right to sell works in their collections to generate operating capital.
Museums Voice Opposition to New York’s Anti-Deaccessioning Law By Artifactum / Jennifer Unruh
Major New York art organizations are reportedly uniting in opposition to the state’s proposed legislation on regulating the practice of deaccessioning artwork ... which would prevent to use of revenue gained from artwork sales to be used for “operating expenses.”So the consensus, from the voice in the street to the museums themselves, let's sell all the stuff we don't like too much and use it to pay for hors d'oeuvres and limo rides
home for the director's weekly parties.
Here, is the British Museum's policy: a very different tone:
Objects vested in the Trustees as
part of the
Collection of the Museum shall not be disposed of by them otherwise than as provided by the British Museum
Act 1963. Therefore the Trustees’ power to de-accession objects from the
Collection is limited and there is a strong legal presumption against it. Decisions to dispose of objects comprised within the
Collection cannot be made with the principal aim of generating funds though any eventual proceeds from such disposal must be used to add to the
collection. The Trustees do not have the power to sell, exchange, give away or otherwise dispose of any object vested in them and comprised in the
Collection3 unless
(a) the object is a duplicate of another object held in the
collection,or
(b) in the opinion of the Trustees the object is unfit to be retained in the
Collection and can be disposed of without detriment to the interests of the public or scholars;or
(c) it has become useless for the purposes of the Museum by reason of damage, physical deterioration, or infestation by destructive organisms.