Hi folks...

Server problems company-wide today. Makes trawling for info very tough... Sorry... Tomorrow will be a better day... Happy antiquing...

ntf

Here's your weekly sneak peak at the upcoming Trader, that literally just went to press.

Bad things do happen, even to antiques people and even in the South.

 

This is a story from a Nashville TV station - Newschannel 5 - about a guy whose rental was broken into, in Nashville, and who had $3,000 worth of antiques stolen from his house. A few months later he finds a listing for his property - as someone else's property, of course - on Craigslist.

The address associated with the sale ended up being on the same street!

The police, however, do not think the seller knew he was selling stolen goods, let alone stolen goods from a house on the same street he lived on. I guess the thief, or thieves, took off that piece of yellowed and peeling masking tape with "In case this valuable antique is stolen please return to..." written in Sharpie on it.

"What? This stuff is stolen? And it belongs to you? And you live next door? Man, do I feel stupid..."

Chances are that stuff like this happens quit a bit, really.

The report does contain the rather ambiguous statement from the police that: "We're hopeful this incident will get us to a major player in antique business in the area."

For what, exactly?

Maybe the police are simply looking for some vintage posters to decorate the precinct...

I like this story about eBay after Whitman on the Forbes Magazine Web site, even if it is a bit too much re-hash and a bit too much corporate speak.




The writer, from Wharton College, outlines some interesting options that eBay and CEO-elect James Donahoe might take to shore up some of the problems it has right now. The article is, however, stictly from a business perspective and fails to approach the human side of the story, which is what we all know is going to drive the future of the business.

There still seems to be a disconnect between the corporate side of eBay and Wall Street to the nuts and bolts dealers who live and die in the trenches of online auctions.

One of the main thing I took away from the above article was thatr eBay will be looking to make inroads into Asia in order to beef up its revenue and return to the glory days of bazillions of dollars. Interesting philosophy, but if a bucket is leacking water from a hole, and you simply fill it at the same rate, there's certainly no net gain and - eventually - you're going to run out of water.

I'm hard-pressed to disagree with Daryle Lambert's take on eBay's latest salvo - too late - to it's angered buyers.

Daryle posits, as several in the business have, that it's the mid-level buyer that get's hurt the most. eBay's original attempt to please stockholders was it's first mistake. Then it throws a piece of candy to a starving person and says it's dinner.

Many readers have written and agreed with this stance, and many have said that eBay, because it's eBay, will always have a palce. What alternative is there, right?

Right...

I've been enjoying Marty Weil's ephemera blog for quite awhile now.

Being a great fan of ephemera, especially the really obscure and cool stuff, this site is a breat of fresh air. Marty's a good writer with a keen sense of humor, an excellent touch as a blogger, and he doesn't take himself or his subject matter too seriously - as the Buddha said, or perhaps it was Oscar Wilde, seriousness is the last refuge of the shallow - which allows for good stories and excellent interviews with prominent collectors.

Check it out and enjoy. It's worth a daily click or two...

Good for the Brits! If the U.S. would police and regulate traffic in stolen antiques more often than we might have less of a problem with scammers hurting dealers at shop shows and auctions.

Check out the story here.