Etruscans at Nat Geo: Cultural Exchange for Cash

Today, I had the opportunity to visit an exhibit about the Etruscans at the National Geographic Society. See http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/exhibits/2011/06/10/etruscans/

The artifacts came from the Cambi Collection and National Museum of Archaeology, Florence, Italy, but the exhibit itself seems to be some sort of commercial venture. See
http://www.exhibitsdevelopment.com/brochures/Etruscan%20pagebypage.pdf

There were some interesting artifacts, but most of them were frankly second rate. The interpretive material was fine, but no brochures were to be found anywhere. And it cost $8 to enter ($6 for Nat Geo members).

This is still all fine and good, but I hope the Italians and the State Department are not going to claim this exhibit was sent as a gesture of good will due to the MOU imposing import restrictions on Italian cultural goods. Instead, the motivation appears to be collecting cold, hard cash.