The dissolution of the Higgins Armory Museum and the transfer of its valuable collection to the Worcester Art Museum unfolded amid a bitter proxy fight by a Higgins granddaughter and scrutiny by the state Attorney General's office.
A year after the deal between the two local museums was announced, the art museum will open its first exhibition of the Higgins armory pieces to the public with fanfare on March 29.
But the transaction — which will give the art museum about $6 million in Higgins assets and more than 2,000 pieces of a "core collection" of medieval armor and armaments — was not officially approved by Attorney General Martha Coakley and the state Supreme Judicial Court until late last month.