Re: [ARSCLIST] Alaskan Audio collection on eBay

[David Seubert <seubert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's hard to say for sure without knowing if these have real historical 
value, but if these were 50 films of an Alaskan dog sled race or 50 
letters or photographs about dogsledding in the 1940s I'm sure that some 
museum, archives, or historical society would have already clicked "buy 
it now." The fact that we think that $50 is too much to pay for a unique 
sound recording shows how we undervalue aural history relative to other 
types of historical documents.

The seller said that he hoped they'd end up in a museum, and perhaps the 
seller already contacted local institutions, but it's too bad that more 
people don't consider donations. If the seller is in a 28% tax bracket 
and if he claimed a value of $1500 on his taxes he'd have $420 real 
dollar bills in his pocket on April 15th for donating them. Those are 
several ifs, but the benefits are real. Granted, the seller is trying to 
make money on ebay (which I have no problem with) and is not running a 
charity, but he shouldn't give people a BS line about "hoping they end 
up in a museum" just to make them seem valuable. If the stuff is legit 
and he really hopes they end up in a museum he should call one. Most 
institutions would welcome a call about something of historical 
importance that fits into their collection (whether for sale or 
donation) and they would do their best to make sure that the individual 
was fairly compensated and/or received the appropriate tax benefits.

David Seubert
UCSB

Roger and Allison Kulp wrote:
> This price includes the player for 16"
> transcriptions.I still think the opener is waaaay to
> high.
>
>                           Roger Kulp
>
> --- John Ross <johnross@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > There's a potentially interesting collection of
> > historical audio from 
> > Alaska currently on offer through eBay:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200040755108
> > 	
> > $50 per disk sounds like an excessive price, but
> > maybe they're worth 
> > that much to somebody as a collection. Or maybe
> > he'll accept a lower 
> > offer if nobody bites at $1500.
> >
> > John Ross
>
>
>
>  
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