eBay blues

[Ruy Horta]

Don't you just hate the fact that these photo collections get split up and thereby losing all their historical context / background?

Fine if the material is from a prior collection, with little or no integrity, but original coherent sets, especially photobooks, should be kept together!

Those (grand)children who are selling their heritage for a buck (even less if they have sold it to dealers) should be ashamed.

OTOH, it wouldn't surprise me if these dealers have connections with retirement homes, clearing up behind the recently departed with no relatives to care for them.

What a laugh most of them will have when they buy this material at € 5,- the bulk and sell it at € 50,-

Well, that's my eBay blues ...




the same could be said for any other collectible on eBay and beyond
and sometimes the reverse applies when original sets get together again...

[Dénes Bernád]

What I also resent is that individual photos are taken out of photo albums, so the line of story is broken.
I'd appreciate sellers to at least write on the rear side of these photos what has been originally written on the photo album page.

The whole photo business is murky. On the other hand - let's not forget - how convenient is for us, sitting thousands of miles away in front of or computers, being able to bid (and sometimes win) photos that otherwise would have been out of reach.

[brewerjerry]

Hi,
I just think that without these e bay sales, how many of the photos would have just been thrown in the bin, sure I can't afford to even think of bidding on most of them, but I at least get to see a poor quality image of the photo.
I hope that as the buyers pay a lot of money for them that they will be preserved as an investment for future generations and maybe appear in books which I can afford.
I do fully agree that the sellers should put the information of whose album they came from, etc , etc with the photo, to help researchers.
Cheers
Jerry

[fsbofk]

I agree with the point of saving the photos from the trash heap. I had an uncle who served with the US Army in France during the First World War, and brought back many photos. Sadly, when he died in the 1950s (in the pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-internet days), his albums were tossed. Today, even though relatives might not be personally interested in a photo collection, they might see there is a market to sell them. That way, at least, there is a chance that the photos will be seen by an interested audience, rather than end up at the bottom of a landfill.