To tell you, numbering cultural relics is not a destruction of cultural relics, and it is very necessary. Cultural relics numbering refers to a group of numbers consisting of excavation year+initials of place names where the site is located+exploration number+unearthed horizon number (or relic unit number)+unearthed secondary number. Friends who often go to museums should often see black or red numbering handwriting on various cultural relics, which is the cultural relics numbering. The numbering of cultural relics is one of the important systems for the preservation and custody of cultural relics. Its function is not only to facilitate the rapid identification of cultural relics, but also to facilitate the location of collections in the warehouse. The raw materials used in this numbering must be non-corrosive, moth-eaten, and not harmful to the cultural relics themselves, and they must also be reversible.

Moreover, cultural relics made of different materials use different label materials, such as lacquerware, porcelain, pottery, etc., which are usually written with special pens, while woven and embroidered cultural relics are usually marked with labels, and these numbers are usually marked in hidden places such as the bottom of boxes and the inside of lids. The label writing should be clear and correct, and the label parts should be regular, which is convenient for searching and does not affect participation in display exhibitions, observation and research. Usually, the numbers written with special pens can be erased. There is a sentence in the Guidelines for the Preservation of Museum Collections compiled by the Beijing Museum Society: If this collection is no longer in the museum and the original number on the device is not needed, it will be sold on the principle.

at the auction, sometimes we can see that some lots have cultural relics numbers, some of which are because they once entered the museum during the Cultural Revolution, and later returned to individuals after the Cultural Revolution. Although there is a sentence in the "Guidelines for the Preservation of Museum Collections", if this collection is no longer in the museum and the original number on the device is not needed, it will be sold on the principle. But in fact, some of them have not been painted out.