Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/06

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica Bargin BAH!
From: Patrick Jelliffe <pbjbike@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 12:24:44 -0700 (PDT)

Sonny,

Here's an urban memory for you:

I purchased my first Leica, a black IIIc with Elmar
and case, from a pawn shop for $10.50 when I was 11
years old.  The pawn broker was mainly a gun dealer
and didn't really know what he had--nor did I really,
but something about the way the camera felt and
sounded told me it was valuable. Soon after, a camera
shop gave me an appraisal, around $250 at the time,
and I was tickled. No remorse or guilt on that one,
and still trying, (in vain), to duplicate that
transaction... 

Cheers,

Patrick

  
- --- "SonC (Sonny Carter)" <sonc@sonc.com> wrote:
> Patrick,
> I think you'll find that managers of those thrift
> stores are not
> dummies.  This whole thing is, IMO, an example of
> the "windfall
> legend."   The person who first posted it, owned up
> to the fact that
> he doesn't know the man who bought the camera, just
> that he is a
> fireman.
> 
> Check out snopes' take on the windfall legend, and
> you'll see the
> amazing similarity.
> http://www.snopes.com/luck/declare.htm
> 
> The moral contradiction in the Leica story is
> similar to that where a
> widow sells her dead soldier son's car for $200.    
> As Snopes puts
> it:  "Deep down we're really nice people, but we're
> still not averse
> to profiting from someone else's misfortune, even if
> in the process we
> have to skin the mother of a dead war hero."
> 
> Notice that you never hear stories like this
> directly from the person
> who bought it?  If you had the opportunity, what
> would you do?
> 
> Kim seems to think she knows exactly what I would do
> if presented the
> opportunity, but I doubt I'll ever find out, because
> having been in
> literally thousands of thrift stores,  pawn shops
> and  garage sales, I
> have seen far more over-priced things than
> underpriced.
> 
> SonC
> (who has donated cases of Peanut Butter to charity)
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Patrick Jelliffe" <pbjbike@yahoo.com>
> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 12:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica Bargin BAH!
> 
> 
> > In the last few years,  some Salvation Army and
> > Goodwill stores are putting much higher prices on
> > collectible items, sometimes more than they are
> worth.
> >  A few of them even sell on the auction site.  In
> this
> > day and age, managers of thrift stores ought to be
> > savvy enough to do a little investigation on the
> rarer
> > items that come their way.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Patrick
> >
> > --- Frank Dernie <Frank.Dernie@btinternet.com>
> wrote:
> > > different societies have different levels of
> > > acceptable behaviour and
> > > greed. The whole bargain hunting ethos and
> caveat
> > > emptor approach to
> > > trade operates at a level of greed I, and
> presumably
> > > Teresa, find
> > > immoral even if it is legal. If somebody steals
> $30
> > > from a little old
> > > lady because they can snatch her purse they are
> no
> > > more dishonest than
> > > an antiques dealer who knowingly pays $30 less
> for
> > > an item they buy
> > > from her. One exploits physical weakness, the
> other
> > > ignorance. Both are
> > > dishonest even though one is legal.
> > > Just MHO
> > > Frank
> > >
> > > --
> > > To unsubscribe, see
> http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync
> to Outlook(TM).
> > http://calendar.yahoo.com
> > --
> > To unsubscribe, see
> http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
> 
> --
> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).
http://calendar.yahoo.com
- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html