Hi CamelPilot,
Good post. But I don't see where it says you can have only one example of the artifact. A good museum to me has an historic aircraft (agreed, protected from casual touching) and one or two duplicates or replicas that the public can play with. There's got to be a use for all those JPs and Vampires!
Working in a museum, as I do, I know that people get so much more out of a visit when they get to relate to something directly. That is often a chance to touch or handle. I'm afraid I'm with the kids who regard a museum of glass boxes as 'borring' - they are; and we have a duty to educate and inform. Part of that is to avoid the UK museum mantra of 'don't touch' and figure ways that people can touch without damage - replicas, spares, 'handling collections', supervised access, can all be part of the deal.
Cheers
James