In a message dated 11/22/2004 4:45:54 AM Eastern Standard Time, Melinda Haunton <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>As the question of eBay is once more causing some concern,
Were the same concerns raised when items were placed on sale at physical auction houses? What has happened is that eBay has made it somewhat easier for the archival and museum community to spot items that are up for sale. Previously I believe you had to subscribe with various auction houses to receive copies of the upcoming sales catalogs.
>
>However, there is usually no legal barrier to selling private records on
>eBay, so this question will continue to recur.
Just as I believe there is no barrier to placing the same items for sale at a physical auction house.
> We do monitor eBay on a
>regular basis, and have not found that large quantities of high quality
>material are being sold,
archivists here in the States do the same thing. No large quantities have been found, some old government records (early 19th and late 18th century) have been recovered as a result of seeing them on eBay.
--
Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Richmond, Va
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