12 Days, Giants and Ethical Collecting

[EurekaDave]

An ethical question...
A friend of mine and fellow collector (I hope he still is if he is reading this) took me to task for publishing the days the Giants were selling game-used World Series stuff.
His reasoning was that I would hurt my own chances to get good afforable stuff.
Mine is that I don't care. I am grateful for the forum and all you knuckle-heads.

What are your thoughts on this?

DS

das1721@att.net Always looking for a good word and a prayer.

[cliffjmp33]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't? I understand both sides of the situation.

Here is my take, assuming the sale is an in-person, first come, first served sale...

I assume the sale was publicized elsewhere, so chances are other collectors know about the sale and likely had a "game plan" of how to get items they want (camp out, get friends to pick up items, etc.).

By mentioning it here, I'd say a few other collectors became aware of it. However, what are the odds (assuming it's an in-person sale) that members from this site are driving/flying a good distance for the sale? Yes, it's possible, but I don't think 100s of us are making that trip. Could they arrange for friends in the area to possibly pick them up stuff, of course.

I think with any sale like this that have been mentioned here (Reds, Phillies for example), we all know what to expect and know big name items go first and thus we have to be there early (i.e. Black Friday) if we want them.

I hope your friend is still able to pick up pieces he'd like and realize that you were doing something nice for a community of collectors who are good-natured people and not money-grubbing people looking to make a buck for the most part (yes, I know there are few here too). And at the end of the day, I hope your friend can see things in a broader scope and realize your friendship is worth more than a few balls, jerseys, etc and you both can joke about it later on.

And if this sale was a private one, you're just a jerk (JUST KIDDING!)

Just my 2¢

[Dach0sen0ne]

Is it ever really a "secret"? I think it's all pretty silly. It was the same thing with the Braves list. I always try to help people out, it's just who I am.

Rob has some awesome, helpful information on his site and it's useful for all aspects of GU collecting. Check it out, but SHHHHHHHH!!!! It's our secret. :D

http://loefflerrd.webs.com/guresources.htm

[ziggy]

The Giants prices on the stuff is pretty outrageous anyway.

[lehmsbobby]

they just released the post season locker tags

[sox83cubs84]

This type of "let's keep it a secret" thinking has been in the game-used hobby for a long time. As far back as the 1980s, I caught flak from hobby people (Mike Montbriand was one) who objected to my revealing secrets of identifying game-used items as opposed to replicas under the guise that forgers would then know how to make their efforts tougher to identify. As another poster said, damned if ya do, damned if ya don't.

Personally, I support your decision.

Dave Miedema

[schubert1970]

The Giants prices on the stuff is pretty outrageous anyway.

Compared to Steiner there stuff is dirt cheap. They could chefs 3 times as much for the Posey items, but they are trying to make it affordable and to spread the wealth amongst the fans.

Game used Posey bats sell for 1500 and higher, the Giants want 600. This is only one of Manu examples.

Also, I believe almost all $ go to charity.

[Sincityson]

Doesn't matter at all if it's posted or not, in fact I knew as well & was going to post if myself before noticing someone else did.

[schubert1970]

An ethical question...
A friend of mine and fellow collector (I hope he still is if he is reading this) took me to task for publishing the days the Giants were selling game-used World Series stuff.
His reasoning was that I would hurt my own chances to get good afforable stuff.
Mine is that I don't care. I am grateful for the forum and all you knuckle-heads.

What are your thoughts on this?

DS



I for one am eternally greatful. I've been on their list for a while and had been waiting to hear something. It wasn't until I looked at your post and was wondering why I didn't receive an email about this. My Giants email was going into my bulk mail for some reason. If it wasn't for your post, I would never had looked at my bulk email and missed the sale. I owe you my a great deal of gratitude for you post. I picked up a great Posey piece that I never would have received.

[ncbadges]

I support you. If it were not for guys like you (and others on here), guys like me would stand very little chance of picking up good items.

ncb

[mariner_gamers]

If it was a private source I would have an issue. When it comes to anything involving the team store it's fair game. In fact I prefer people to buy items from the team store especially in a fever pitch(World Series) just so the items get into personal collections. Then a few years down the line Johnny goes to college has a kid etc, and I get to by his keepsakes off of Craigslist or eBay for pennies on the dollar. If someone doesn't buy it off the team it will be locked away, discarded or wholesaled out to someone 10 years down the line. Since I am never that someone I prefer it gets into play now......