The museum community has made clear that selling work to cover operating expenses is beyond the pale. But what about public libraries. Erie, PA was recently approached by an Manhattan dealer who says he can get $5 million for the library’s Childe Hassam. The library last had it appraised at $2.5m, four years ago. There are nearly 100 other works in the collection too. But not everyone thinks the art is good for plunder as Erica Erwin makes clear in the Times News:

The most valuable painting in the library’s extensive art collection, “Summer Afternoon, Isle of Shoals” by Frederick Childe Hassam, could fetch $5 million on the market, Andrew Schoelkopf, of Menconi & Schoelkopf Fine Art, wrote in a letter to Erie County Councilman Joe Giles. But not everyone is sold on the idea of selling. John Vanco, director of the Erie Art Museum, said the painting belongs where it is, in the public collection. “One measure of a community is its respect for its heritage, and that painting represents its heritage in several ways,” Vanco said. “It’s one of the few major objects that come down to us from the early 20th century in this community. Much of our legacy from that time period had been erased, and in some cases I would say squandered.”

Art dealer: Painting in Erie library could sell for $5 million (GoErie.com)