Martin's message raises an interesting general point about online auctions and their effect on manuscript sales. Online document sales have been monitored by TNA's sales team for some years, in response to professional concerns. In particular, we monitor eBay on a weekly basis.

There are undoubtedly some grounds for concern, as we regularly see historical documents offered for worldwide postage in contravention of the Export Licensing Regulations, and as Martin correctly states there have been instances of controlled classes of record being offered for sale. When such instances occur, efforts are made to inform the vendor that he/she is in breach of statutes, but the anonymity offered by online auction sites sometimes militates against a satisfactory outcome. I should point out that there is no law against sales of manorial documents, online or otherwise, although their export from England and Wales without the consent of the Master of the Rolls is prohibited. 

However, we have not seen a significant increase in material appearing on eBay. Quantities of deeds are certainly being dispersed by professionals using eBay as a convenient means of disposing of individual items, particularly those with place and personal names which can be presented as raw materials for genealogy. We do sometimes pick up more substantial sales, but if anything these have decreased during our regular monitoring (since 2004). The reason is a matter for speculation, but possibly people listing historical documents for sale have not found a ready online market: professionals are wary of the lack of provenance offered with items, while few private buyers are scouring eBay for quantities of eighteenth century estate records.

We will continue to negotiate with eBay to put more satisfactory guidance on the site regarding legal restrictions on document sales, and a better means of enforcing these. But the overall message is that eBay has not revolutionised the market for archives.

#################

Dr Melinda Haunton
Sales Monitoring Team Leader
Liaison Officer for the South East Region
National Advisory Services

The National Archives
Ruskin Avenue
Kew
Surrey TW9 4DU
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

[log in to unmask]
020 8392 5330

#######################



-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Taylor Martin
Sent: 18 August 2006 15:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Antiques Roadshow and valuations of documents


Dear All

I see that Karen has asked colleagues to reply off list - but the valuations
of documents on programmes such as the Antiques Roadshow is an issue which
impacts on all of us. 

Increasingly records are seen, not as part of our common heritage, but as
commodities with a monetary value which can be realised via e-bay. 

On two separate occasions in the last year, records of a Hull children's
hospital (other records of which were deposited with us as public records)
have been sold on e-bay. If we had wanted these items, we would have had to
bid for them - and indeed did so, but were unsuccessful. A county record
office of my acquaintance sought advice from TNA when a collection of
manorial court rolls appeared for sale on e-bay. TNA's advice was apparently
to bid for them.

Valuations by Clive Farahar (the Roadshows antiquarian books expert) and his
colleagues surely feed into the increasingly active on-line market in
documents.

Is this a good thing? Should we as a profession co-operate with Farahar and
his ilk? By bidding for the volumes on e-bay was I ramping up prices in a
market which, unchecked, will damage our mission to preserve our written
heritage? Or is it safer not to rock any boats and remain invisible as a
profession?

I'm sorry in a way that this has come up on a Friday afternoon - discussions
of professional issues shouldn't be regarded as a Friday afternoon
irrelevance!

Martin Taylor
City Archivist
Hull City Archives
79 Lowgate
Hull
HU1 1HN
United Kingdom
T: 01482 613559
F: 01482 613051
E: [log in to unmask]

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-----Original Message-----
From: COOKE, Karen [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: 18 August 2006 14:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Antiques Roadshow and valuations of documents


Dear all

We at Gloucestershire Archives would be very grateful if anyone with
experience of dealing with TV programmes such as Antiques Roadshow (or
similar) over valuations of documents, or anyone with policies for dealing
with such things, could contact us as a matter of urgency. (replies off-list
please, to Paul Evans, Head of Access, on [log in to unmask],
rather than to me.)

With many thanks

Karen Cooke


*******************************************
Karen Cooke
Archivist
Gloucestershire Archives
Clarence Row
Alvin Street
Gloucester GL1 3DW

01452 425081
[log in to unmask]

For more information about our services, please see our website:
www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives 


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