<P> On the other hand, the heavily commercialised approach of RMS Titanic Inc. has caused repeated controversy and many have argued that salvaging Titanic is an inherently disrespectful act . The wreck site has been called a "tomb and a reliquary", a "gravestone for the 1,500 people who died" and "hallowed ground". Titanic historians John Eaton and Charles Haas argue that the salvagers are little more than "plunderers and armchair salvage experts" and others have characterised them as "grave robbers". The Return to Titanic...Live! television show in 1987 was widely condemned as a "circus", though the 1987 expedition's scientific and financial leaders had no control over the show . In a particularly controversial episode, RMS Titanic Inc. sold some 80,000 lumps of coal retrieved from the debris field in order to fund the rumoured $17 million cost of lifting the "Big Piece" of the ship's hull . It attempted to get around the no - sale agreement with IFREMER by charging the new owners a $25 "fee" to act as "conservators", in order to claim that the coal lumps had not actually been sold . This attracted strong criticism from all sides . Nonetheless, in 1999 Tulloch was ousted by the company's shareholders and was replaced by Arnie Geller, who promised a more aggressive approach to making a profit . The company declared that it had an "absolute right" to sell recovered gold, coins and currency . It was prevented from doing this by a court order in the United States and IFREMER withdrew its cooperation and its submersibles, threatening a lawsuit . </P> <P> Objects from Titanic have been exhibited for many years, though only a few were retrieved before the discovery of the wreck in 1985 . The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia has a collection of wooden fragments and an intact deckchair plucked from the sea by the Canadian search vessels that recovered the victims' bodies . Various other museums, including the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the SeaCity Museum in Southampton, have objects donated by survivors and relatives of victims, including some items that were retrieved from the bodies of victims . More donated Titanic artifacts are to be found in the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool and the Titanic Historical Society's museum in Indian Orchard, Springfield, Massachusetts . The latter's collection includes items such as the life jacket of Madeleine Astor, the wife of millionaire Titanic victim John Jacob Astor IV, a rivet which was removed from the hull before Titanic went to sea, an ice warning which never reached the bridge, a restaurant menu and a sample square of carpet from a First Class stateroom . </P> <P> RMS Titanic Inc. organizes large - scale exhibitions around the world of artifacts retrieved from the wreck site . After minor exhibitions were held in Paris and Scandinavia, the first major exhibition of recovered artifacts was held at the National Maritime Museum in 1994--95 . It was hugely popular, drawing an average of 21,000 visitors a week during the year - long exhibition . Since then, RMS Titanic Inc. has established a large - scale permanent exhibition of Titanic artifacts at the Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada . The 25,000 square feet (2,300 m) exhibit is the home of the "Big Piece" of the hull retrieved in 1998 and features conserved items including luggage, Titanic's whistles, floor tiles and an unopened bottle of champagne . The exhibit includes a full - scale replica of the ship's Grand Staircase and part of the Promenade Deck, and even a mock - up of the iceberg . It also runs a traveling exhibition called Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition which has opened in various cities around the world and has been seen by over 20 million people . The exhibition typically runs for six to nine months featuring a combination of artifacts, reconstructions and displays of the ship, her passengers and crew and the disaster itself . In a similar fashion to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., visitors are given a "boarding pass" in the name of an individual passenger at the start of the exhibition . They do not discover the fate of their assigned passenger until the end . </P>

How many artifacts were recovered from the titanic wreck site