About 2,000 items have been quietly sold by the Philadelphia History Museum over the last several years, as part of an effort to raise money for a $5.8 million renovation of its 1826 building. In doing so the museum stepped into the quicksand of murky rules and guidelines meant to discourage museums from selling collections to pay bills. Some say the scope of the sales is troubling. "The motivation appears to be liquidation, rather than preserving the embedded knowledge and experience that these artifacts bring," said Kenneth Finkel, lecturer in American studies at Temple who briefly served as deputy director of the museum. "Decisions made by donors and curators and libraries become the legacy. And the decision to deaccession stupidly is also a legacy."