Heritage is both a cultural resource and a cultural process related to identity formation. Heritage conservation is one of the prior national policy goals. In Ukraine, a lot of material heritage items belong to private collectors and are stored in unadapted places, often being destroyed by temperature fluctuations, humidity, sunlight, pollution, etc. In 2008, the author met Valentin Shur (1925–2019), owner of sacred works collection, in Chernihiv. The author was mostly attracted by 20 beaded decors («rizas») of the Chernihiv Polesie Old Believer icons of the late XVIII – early XX centuries, almost absent in Ukrainian museums. The fate of the artistic rarities was alarming. The collection was practically hidden from the rest of the world and seen only by a few people. The collector has not kept records of the artifacts and destroyed their authenticity by unauthorized restoration. The author was allowed to photograph only a few artworks. According to the collector’s will his son Victor, a Russian citizen, was supposed to become the next owner of the collection. So, there is the threat of moving the collection to Russia. At the beginning of the RussoUkrainian war, Viktor Shur was detained by the FSB and sentenced to 12 years in prison for espionage in 2015. The current location of the collection is unknown. These and many other heritage conservation problems in private collections were found. The Law of Ukraine On Museums and Museum Business compels a mandatory scientific attribution, examination, classification and state registration of cultural property stored in museums. If artifacts from private collections were also subject to compulsory accounting and professional attribution, as well as included in the Electronic Information Resource of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Values of Ukraine (development in progress), many problems could be avoided and private collections would become a valid part of the national heritage.