“Deaccession” is the term used when a museum removes a piece from its collection. I ran across a Yahoo photo of a Degas pastel, “Danseuse”, scheduled to be auctioned by Sotheby’s this week, and discovered that it is being sold by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A tiny flurry of news articles immediately followed the MFA’s announcement in March that it would be selling “Danseuse,” plus another Degas work and a Renoir portrait. The proceeds were destined for the acquisition of a major work, the identity of which the museum refused to divulge, calling it only a “masterpiece”. Journalists pressed their sources and the latest news, unconfirmed of course, reports that the MFA is raising money to purchase an 1876 Degas painting titled ”The Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters Elena and Camilla.” Estimated price is $20 million. Proceeds from the auction of the three works is estimated at $17 million. Some may quibble over the loss of the lovely Degas pastel, but with a $425 million building-expansion campaign under way, not to mention a plodding economy, the museum isn’t expecting donors to furnish very high ticket art. There are fewer masterpieces left in private hands, and the MFA is pursuing a rare chance to pluck one out for public view.