What are your ‘rules’ regarding gaining items to donate to the museum?

[IndiaHawker]

So I think I read you can’t trade bugs, fish, or deep sea creatures with others, so these would all have to be self-caught and donated. However you can trade fossils and paintings/statues. With fossils I’ve always been strict about finding them myself to donate, however with paintings/statues I’m not sure that it bothers me as much? I don’t do all that much trading but I did get a painting as a free gift from another player on here, I didn’t even think to be bothered by it just really pleased! But now it’s maybe niggling just a little, but at the same time surely if I only collected art from my own island I’d never complete it lol! So what are your personal rules on fossils and paintings/statues being donated to the museum? Please and thanks!

 

[Corvusrene]

I only ever donate stuff that's found on my island.

 

[Aurita]

For bugs, fish, sea creatures, and fossils, they have to be caught/dug up on my island or on a NMT island.

But for paintings, I’m ok with trading with others bc Redd doesn’t visit too often and no guarantee that he’ll have an item you don’t have yet

 

[aetherene]

When I got to the last few fossils for the museum, my friend said he had a bunch of extras and which ones I needed so he could get rid of them. I asked if he had any of them. He did, and sent them to me lol. I have no qualms with trying to get fossils from others mostly cause I got tired of trying to find all of my fossils on my island, going to Blathers to identify them and then sell off the extras.

For art, I mostly TTed to go back and forth to buy from Redd. I did trade my extra art for whatever it was I was missing.

I guess it really depends on how you want to complete your museum. My friend wanted to complete the fossils on his own but I didn't mind asking for help with that. Art is hard to get so it would be better to trade with others with that.

 

[Pyoopi]

Well, as much as I'd like to say I got my museum junk all natural; I didn't. My last fossil was being so elusive, I ended up asking a friend to give me their extra, lol.

Same with bugs/fish/deep sea critters. I chose to have a southern hemisphere island while most my friends stayed true to their actual hemisphere. I'm like Oprah with the spider crab.

The art is mostly from Redd on my island, however there's specific art I want to decorate with. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

 

[Stella-Io]

-Only and ONLY my main character can donate anythin and everything.
-I have zero problem with fossils so I never need to buy them from trades. I will buy paintings/statues thou.
-I really don't go to other season islands to get bugs or fish, I get them all myself. I'm not against the idea I've just never done it in any game before.

 

[Masenkochick]

I did fossils from my island only but used paintings from other islands and had people come over and buy extra paintings from Redd on my island on the rare times he has more than one real painting and I can only buy one (or it's a duplicate one). I agree with other posters, if I waited for Redd to come and offer every genuine painting, I would never finish the museum! Even now, I still don't have a finished art museum

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

For fossils, especially as we were getting close to finishing up our museum collections, my S/O and I noticed that we tended to find different fossils on our islands. That's when we started swapping around the four fossils that we found each day.

I've bought a few real art pieces from other players via the forums. For the most part, though, my S/O and I again help each other out whenever Redd visits. We figure out what's real and delegate the artwork based on who needs what (to the best of our ability based on how kind the RNG powers that be are being). The only art pieces I've obtained via buying or trading are used for decorating.

At the end of the day, it depends on how quickly you want to finish your museum collections. Art would take a lot longer to complete if you only relied on Redd visiting your island though.

 

[Miss Misty]

So far, I've gotten everything on my own island. Every piece of art has either been a gift from a villager or from my own Redd visits. Got about 10-ish so far I think. I also completed the fossil exhibit on my own.

 

[Imbri]

Bugs, fish, and fossils all were caught/found either on my island or an NMT. I did get a couple of fossils from other people, after my museum was complete, for decoration purposes.

Art must be purchased to from Redd to be donated. I will go to another island for that, but I'll only donate things I've actually got from Redd's ship. I do have some fake art that I'm decorating with that I've bought/traded from others.

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

Everything I donate to my museum is found locally on my island only or on a mystery tour. If an alt catches a new bug or a fish that my main character hasn't, I'm not allowed to donate it. The main character HAS to have the critter in their critterpedia first. This rule doesn't count for art. I buy art with my main and my alt and I'll donate any real ones I get. However, I never use a guide. I guess or use art recognition. I never trade. For me, these rules make my museum feel earned and I'm really happy and proud to see it all! And I like the donation dates matching up to when I discovered or found a critter/fossil/art piece

 

[Zane]

I get it all myself, it’s more satisfying to finish it that way for me even though it takes forever thanks to Redd.

 

[Shinjukuwu]

I get it all myself, it’s more satisfying to finish it that way for me even though it takes forever thanks to Redd.

This is how I feel. Honestly waiting on Redd doesn't bother me at all. It's not like I visit the museum a lot anyway

 

[Imaginetheday]

I don’t have any rules, especially for art. I got my last couple of fossils from my daughter. I let my secondary character donate to the museum. I don’t care.

 

[KayDee]

Except for the australopith fossil, which was the last one I needed, I got everything myself. I’ve played daily since released day and up to now I don’t think I’ve dug up one. For the art, I farmed Redd to complete it.

 

[Imaginetheday]

Edit: I haven’t bought any art yet from other people, but I have visited Redd at friends’ islands.

 

[Hypno KK]

I've been strict about getting them myself (or getting them for villagers). I'm willing to buy paintings and fossils from others but only if I want spares to use as decoration or something.

 

[Mick]

I've traded some duplicates of real art pieces for ones I did not have yet and I also got my last fossil through trading. (We both finished our fossil exhibits with that trade! ) I'm generally just playing the patient game though.

I've never made a real effort to seek out a southern hemisphere island except for the time I dove up my spider crab. I'm sure I'll get the creatures eventually anyway. The only real rule for donations I have is this:

 

[Chris]

I don't have any rules. Whatever means I can use to get hold of something is fine!

 

[tajikey]

I finished my fossils with specimens from other islands. I'd do art the same way, but I don't have the energy to trade with others online.