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Just hit a jackpot at an auction. Ethical dilemma, though.

Started by shadroch,

43 posts in this topic

The Silver-Age

The Silver-Age

Posted
Posted

Didnt some guy find an original copy of the Declaration of Independence behind some old painting he bought at a garage sale for $5.00 that he sold for a mil?

 

That made worls news and nobody thought that it didn't belong to him. What you pay for, you own.

 

Sometimes you get more, sometimes less......

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kdoginohio

kdoginohio

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Obviously, you feel guilty about this or you wouldn't have posted about it. Now, any shmuck who reads this can drop the auction house a line about it. Also, when were these players in the Justice Society of America?

 

 

 

 

 

BTW, nice find. I'm always checking re-sale shops for that one item that slips thru the cracks.

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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I just got back from an auction on Long Island and what I thought was a nice score turned into a homerun, although it comes with an ethical predictiment.

I purchased a 16 X 20 framed photo of Ted Williams for $175. Its got a JSA COA and the frame is nice, but the glass itself was cracked.

I have some 20x24 plexiglass that I thought would be a perfect replacement so I took the frame apart. Under the photo is another copy of the same picture, signed but no COA and a 8X10 of Joe Dimaggio, Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle, signed and a COA from JSA.

I intend to keep them, frame them them and sell them.

Would anyone return the two I didn't pay for?

 

Congratulations, shadroch!!! :applause:

 

I'm not a baseball guy, but it sounds like you really hit the jackpot with that lot, and NO ethical issues as far I can see. Enjoy your auction booty, you earned it! (thumbs u

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Weird Paper

Weird Paper

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I think I'm with the consensus... especially, since it sounds like it was a live auction (I'm assuming, run by a professional auction house?)

If it was some sort of charity auction, you may want to make an additional donation... you know, just for the karma. Otherwise, you're in the clear, so enjoy! :applause:

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hockey&comicsguy

hockey&comicsguy

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Interesting from a relationship standpoint to me.

 

Personally, i'd be stoked and feel absolutely no compunction to do anything but revel in my good fortune.

 

However, my guess is that if you/I bought these items off of one of our closest pals, you'd probably return them, no? That's not to say your pal wouldn't let you keep them anyway. He's a pal after all, right.

 

Depending upon who you got the stuff from might affect your decision making. So is it ethical to notify the seller b/c its your buddy but not to do so when its a "faceless" auction house?

 

hm

 

 

 

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comicparadox

comicparadox

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BTW, nice find. I'm always checking re-sale shops for that one item that slips thru the cracks.

 

On Friday last week, I was at the coast and went to a row of "upscale resale" shops. I saw a framed print of Chez Panisse from 1980. (It's a justifiably famed restaurant in Berkeley). Tagged for $20 in an adequate frame, it's a craftsman-style self-portrait of the artist. I liked it, and bought it, hoping it was an original and not a reprint. I checked the artist and image out on the web - it is an original and lists for $900 on the artist's site.

 

It's interesting - as a comics geek, I've never been able to make a "find" like that despite literally decades of looking. Yet I find this, check it online in the shop, and do well. (shrug)

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MK Ultra

MK Ultra

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All the auctions I've been to have been "as is where is", and the auction house, as professionals, have a duty to maximize realized prices for themselves as well as the consignor, so the onus is on them for full research and disclosure.

 

So I would keep it for myself.

 

If you feel obligated, you could contact the auction house saying you have a question for the original owner, ie, where signed or something, and when they contact you explain there was something under the one bought and you want to pay them for it.

 

Keep in mind no good deed goes unpunished though and it will just end up causing grief and problems.

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Boba

Boba

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A few years back I remember reading that someone found a copy of the bill of rights underneath an old picture they bought at an auction. It was super rare, one of only a few known to exist of the original letterpress copies that were sent to the 13 colonies. I recall that the owner sold if for around a million dollars and no one ever raised the issue of where it was found as far as I know. I mean you could have sold the picture without re-framing it, and never discovered the hidden photos.

 

 

Just saw this, someone else sited the same article.

 

Didnt some guy find an original copy of the Declaration of Independence behind some old painting he bought at a garage sale for $5.00 that he sold for a mil?

 

That made worls news and nobody thought that it didn't belong to him. What you pay for, you own.

 

Sometimes you get more, sometimes less......

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