What would you do if you stumbled across a never before discovered baseball "Find"
 

Reading through item descriptions for some of the items in the upcoming REA auction got me to thinking. We see items sometimes described as "Never seen before" or "Only the second one ever found", and this got me thinking.

What would you do if you ever stumbled across and discovered a significant, rare/one of kind piece of baseball memorabilia that held not only a ridiculous significant potential dollar value, but a piece who's value to the history of baseball and Americana was potentially priceless?

I would take pictures/scans and post them on Net54. What I did with it after that would be to determine if it's something I want to keep. If not then figure out the best way to sell it.

I would never give anything to the Hall of Fame. They make no efforts to recover stolen property even when they know where the item is.

I voted to keep them, but it really depends on what it is. If it is not something I really collect, I would either keep it for trade bait or sell it.
JimB

Keep it till I pass away then donate it to a museum. I would not sell it...history is worth more than money to me.

Sell it at a garage sale. :)

+1 All of mine have been posted on Net54

I've been lucky enough to come across three significant finds that I can think of. Each involved history, as opposed to locating a missing card from a set or a cache of supposedly rare cards.

I sold one (and regret it still), and still have the other two. One is a card that I will probably sell, as it's something I don't collect. The other is a collection of items that I will definitely never sell, two pieces going to two different museums, the remainder to be determined (but not sold while I'm alive).

My guess is your opinion on this will change the longer you stick around here. Museums are not always the best custodians of baseball memorabilia.

+1

slidekellyslide

Maybe not but I prefer more people seen it and enjoying it than one person's own personal glory/pride in the dark where no one enjoys it....I am much more for the young kids seen stuff like that than some millionaire/rich owner who needs to keep it for himself.

I'd offer it to the guy that bot the drum backs at the recent Goodwinn auction for 20 million

The museum you donate it to, might not put it on display, or only display it once...it will rot in eternity in the basement of the museum, or they'll sell it someday. I once purchased a bunch of old Nebraska football programs at the yearly local library sale...they were all stamped with the Nebraska State Historical society stamp on the inside cover.

slidekellyslide

I would make sure in my will that it must be displayed at all times if they are to receive it and if they do not agree to those terms then I would have my family sell it and enjoy whatever they enjoy in life. If my family decides to keep it then so be it....once I am dead that will have no impact on me anymore I will be way to far away from human concerns to enjoy it any way it goes down.

If heaven has a ball field I am sure my soul will be there and what happens on earth will no longer be of issue to me.

+1 Some people here in the PacNW donated a pile of valuable, historically-significant (in their minds) items that had been passed down from their parents (stuff from China or Japan - I forget which), to the museum in Tacoma. The museum recently began selling it all off, and the family was kind of appalled. I don't blame them, but from the museum's point of view, they can sell whatever they want.

The above example might explain why it's better to put something on 'loan' to the museum. That way you can take it back if it's not displayed, and they can never sell it.

Thanks for getting me to thinking about this - I had been thinking about leaving something in my will to the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame, but given how few 'real' items they have displayed, and their constant financial issues, I don't know how good of an idea that would be. One of you guys would probably end up with it at some point :)

But in all fairness, sometimes it makes sense for a museum (or university) to sell items. The University of Oregon had a set of Edward Curtis' 'North American Indian' for decades, but then when they had the opportunity to acquire Curtis' personally-owned set (I believe it was donated with the stipulation that it would not be relinquished) they sold their original set. I'm sure it brought a ton of money to the University, and why would they need two sets of the same thing?

Ok, so if I had no heirs to my "immense" estate :rolleyes: I would probably donate it to the Smithsonian or the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it could be placed next to the Burdick Collection. A plaque in my honour would be placed there where all could view it and pay homage to my greatness, generosity and last but not least, my modesty. :D

I'm retired dammit, what do you think I'd do??? A man's gotta eat!!!

Post a description in that month's pickup thread.

Have a friend post images an hour later.

Wait 24 hours, list it on the B/S/T.

Have a friend post images an hour later.

Bump for price reduction.

Bump for price reduction.

Bump for final price reduction.

Bump for one more final price reduction.

Consign to Sterling.

Start thread about the market being soft. Blame it on too much interest in T206s.

Museums
 

Museums have a cool term to use when they decide that they need to offset administrative overhead. The assistant curator will sift through their storage facility to locate items that are deemed appropriate for deaccession and consign them to Nest Egg.

I think I'll start a museum and then you can send me all your items.

Question: What happens to items in a museum if it closes ?

One more question: Who owns the Baseball Hall of Fame ? Also, don't they set the rules as to who gets into the HOF, MLB has no say do they ?

It depends.

Many museums are just a very nicely housed collection. When those close everything gets sold. Others are partly publicly owned and those seldom close, but do sell off things on occasion.

Some find ways to survive in a different form

Higgins Armory in Worcester, Ma is closing due to a lack of funds. Sad because it's probably the best collection of medeival armor in the US maybe in all of the americas. And it's housed in a really great building that is similar to an old castle. But the collection will be moving to the Worcester library where it will eventually be completely on display again.

Harrahs in vegas had a HUGE car collection. When Harrah died everyone was surprised he hadn't left anything in his will to support the museum. The staff trimmed the collection and essentially closed the in house reatoration shop. (Who really needs 3 nearly identical Dusenburgs? Or 100+ model As in various states of disrepair?) The auction took years, and supplied enough funds to keep the place open for years.

The Pedaling history cycling museum has closed and basically everything is being auctioned in three auctions. Part 2 Is coming up very soon.

Steve B

This happens to me with boxing cards. I keep them until I get an offer sweet enough to justify a sale.

I would sell it to Topps to cut up into multiple pieces to produce limited issue inserts.

No question
I'd call Mr Mint immediately!!

I need a little smiley guy that applauds, thought this was rather funny. :D

.

I'd keep it all to my self, then donate it to a museum because no other collector is worthy of its greatness...

Seriously, I know of a few collections that belong in a museum. I think the rest should circulate the hobby. We are the only ones keeping these cards alive. Museums don't care... The general public cares even less. That's why we are all on this forum because nobody around us wants to look at our stuff, if they do they're just being polite. If everything went to museums, there wouldn't be much left to be excited about in the hobby, and IMO the hobby might fade and then nobody would care about the cards anymore.

Put them in a cigar box, bury it under a pile of crap in my shed out back, and wait for my grandkids to find them.

Share them with Net54 collectors of course. I'd set up a card draft.

depends
 

If it was something I collected, I'd keep it. Otherwise, I'd sell it, most likely being rather picky about the buyer. This might be a stupid question but...Has anyone ever donated items to a museum or Historical Society only to find out they were sold to a company who cut them up in a zillion pieces?

Craigslist or Coaches Corner