The object with two labels

Text: an original contemporary museum-review-style practice extract.

The case contained a small metal tool and two labels. The first described its shape and the place where it had been found. The second began: We do not yet know its purpose. I read that sentence twice. It was an unusual kind of authority to meet behind museum glass.

Below it were three possibilities, each accompanied by a reason and a difficulty. A drawing showed how the tool might have been held, but a worn edge did not fit that account neatly. Another suggestion explained the edge and left the handle puzzling. The display invited visitors to compare these details. It did not ask us to vote the answer into existence. Beside the labels, a date recorded when the interpretation had last been reviewed.

I left knowing less about the tool’s purpose than I would have known from a confident but unsupported sentence. I knew more about the grounds on which a purpose might be proposed. That distinction made the case worth returning to. Uncertainty alone would have told me very little; uncertainty accompanied by reasons gave me something I could examine.

In this extract, the writer tries to show that admitting uncertainty can make a museum display more trustworthy.

Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.