[cfhofer]

Originally Posted by Mark

Private collectors should display their bats to those who are interested. As for your museum point, I suspect that more people would pay attention to a Tony Lazzeri bat in somebody's private collection than if it, and all other pre-war, game used bats, were displayed in museums along with several thousand other pre-war, game used bats. What would happen if every GU bat were sent to Cooperstown? There would be row after row of Yankee bats, along with thousands of other bats, and the importance of any one bat would be very diminished. I think that the present situation works: there are a few museums with great bat collections, curated by collectors with intelligence and taste. There are some private collections that are similarly well managed. Their goal, I think, is not to get rich but to put together a collection that reflects their own knowledge of the game and of bats. Some are very impressive. True, some of us might live in basements with our old bats, but I think that such people have bigger problems than greed.

However that may be, at least the private collector does not destroy the artifact but passes it along to others, eventually.

Yes Mark. I completely agree. As collectors we are only temporary custodians of these treasures. We have a responsibility to preserve them for future generations. Most get that (especially on a forum like this). However, there are some who will just consign to auction to maximize their return or worse just keep them until they are cold stiff in the grave. Then the family sells them off for peanuts. This is how card companies get these national treasures to destroy. So who do we ultimately blame? The card companies for making a buck or the collector who had a myopic view? The drug dealer or abuser question....