|
Dear John,
I think we can all agree that eBay is the largest, most efficient garage sale in the world today. Without it, we would still be scrounging through antique stores buying Prussian glass. The six million people with Prussian glass collections will hoard them, display them, and when they die, they will either be trashed or put up for auction, perhaps on eBay instead of at an estate sale right on the old homestead.
Each of us has a pet passion and, to each, eBay has been a godsend to find that there are a whole slew of people, say, who collect "War of the Worlds" memorabilia. Unfortunately, for us Luftwaffe nutters, we end up with 2 people who love the Ju 160 and are bidding at each other's throats for anything that comes along. Sometimes you can get cooperation, other times, not. In those cases, the person willing to shell out the most, money be damned, willl be the victor.
What they do with it, much as what all those Prussian glass collectors do with it, is up to them. Sure, like you, I hate to see something that really matches my interests slip out of my grasp or get buried in a collection never to be published. But, as Ed infers, that's life.
I think the closest we've currently got to a JK Rowlings best seller is the long-awaited camouflage and markings book by Ken Merrick. Somewhere, I believe, I've read that 1700 copies are already on order. For a book that isn't even out yet, that's a best seller for us.
Regards,
Richard
|