One of our archivists monitors ebay on an informal basis, i.e. he buys a lot
of stuff for himself so he keeps an eye out for things which might interest
the office. So far we have bought a couple of things this way. We have also
had a searcher donate to us something which he bought on ebay with us in
mind. One problem would appear to me to be when the office ends up bidding
against someone who intends to buy in order to give to us but I would assume
that this is pretty unlikely. It does seem worth doing, most of the things
seem to sell for small sums and so far we have been able to cover the costs
from our donations fund.
Regards
Pamela Birch
Bedfordshire & Luton Archives Service
----------
From: Postles, Dr D.A.
To: [log in to unmask]; Birch,P CSD-REC.Conservator
Subject: monitoring ebay?
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 12:33AM
Is it worth monitoring ebay? I realise that most record offices will not
have revenue expenditure for contingent purchases, but might it be worth
tracking what is passing through the online auction market? There are
currently many ms items for sale on ebay UK, mostly 17th-19th-century deeds,
but also, for example, a late-15th-century charter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2563833576&category=356
&sspagename=rvi:1:2 (Bucks.);
and a schoolteacher's diary for early-19th-century Leeds (I haven't viewed
this time).
Cheers,
Dave Postles
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