In 2002, Margaret and Tony made the difficult decision to move into a nearby retirement community. They took their collection of rugs and the smaller looms with them and thereafter presented a few talks to local groups and to other residents in their community. Unfortunately, their new quarters did not allow for larger looms, so they eventually gave their weaving equipment to local weavers and colleges. Recognizing the uniqueness of their collection and the fact that it represented more than 20 years of their lives, they wanted to keep it intact. They worried more than a little that if it were broken up, individual pieces eventually would find their way onto the secondary market where they might easily be mistaken as authentic Navajo rugs. Several museums in England were approached, but each of them turned down an offer of a donation, saying they were only interested in genuine Navajo-woven rugs. In 2006, they decided to donate the collection of 37 pieces to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where they can be used for teaching and exhibition in much the same way the Shuffreys used them. Before they were shipped in early 2007, the Shuffreys presented their last lecture and displayed the collection one last time for invited friends and fellow residents in their retirement community. To even a practiced eye, these weavings are Navajo in nearly every respect, but because they were woven by English weavers and sometimes include yarns not available to the Navajo, they will always be presented to the public as Navajo-style weavings, lest there be any confusion.

Authenticity and appropriation of cultural property rights are legitimate issues in the field of indigenous arts, especially in this age when the market is flooded with cheaply made fakes intended to deceive unsuspecting buyers. With the Shuffrey collection, however, one must consider carefully the reason this collection was assembled, the manner in which it was used, and how it will be used in the future. None of their Navajo-style weavings was ever sold, and through their public presentations, the Shuffreys introduced thousands of people to a completely different culture. Some of those people followed their advice and visited the American Southwest and the Navajo people. More likely than not, some of them purchased one or more Navajo rugs or some other type of Native craftwork during their travels, thereby helping to preserve the rich traditions that underlie those art forms. Through their weavings, Margaret and Tony Shuffrey unwittingly became cultural ambassadors for the Navajo people, and their collection of rugs is their legacy.