Quote:
Originally Posted by CTrux
Really? Well... I'd direct you towards an ethicist and/or a historian/art historian. Professionally, I'm neither. (However, from what I know of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and John Stewart Mill, et al., I'm confident that they'd likely think that preserving the cards is the most ethical thing to do).
In my own opinion, I consider it unethical because the cards are part of our collective heritage, both as collectors and as Americans in general. Destroying the cards deprives many, many, many other people from enjoying them and encourages other people to similarly destroy other cards. (Imagine if there were no Mantles to collect). Meanwhile, only greed is served and, in the long term, we would risk losing the hobby in general if/when others decide to hoard and destroy.
So, I think the cards should be preserved and the price left to natural market forces.
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I appreciate your response.
I agree that these cards represent an aspect of the history of baseball and of America in general; part of me even felt conflicted throwing out 1989 Topps cards.
That being said, these Titus cards are the property of the buyer and I feel they are within their right to destroy them if they wanted to. Would it be unfortunate? Definitely. Would other collectors be angry if they were destroyed? Absolutely...but I don't think it's unethical.
I think the market manipulation accompanied by hoarding is an interesting one. The hoarder puts himself in difficult situation; the more they acquire, the competition will become more significant, and prices paid will move upward accordingly. Case in point, the Obak Miller.
I don't think destroying them would realize the most gain for the hoarder. I think the only way it could be done is as already suggested. Hoard them and then slowly bleed them out into the marketplace while perceived scarity and demand continue to make them valuable.