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Originally posted by Dwight:
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Originally posted by Skynyrd:
May not be at all immaterial, if Ailsby used his well known status to make his offer as a form of appraisal.
We don't know the details, but most likely he made quite a pitch, and said something along the lines of "Its worth about $15,000 so I'll give you $10,000", which is clearly not the advice of an honest expert, but a scantless scam artist.
I disagree. The seller himself stated that he'd received several PMs telling him it was worth $10,000 plus. There are posts on his original thread about the dagger advising him not to sell it for less than $30,000, another stating $35,000-$40,000, advice to contact Tom Wittmann and a a post linking him to this site concerning High Leader daggers. He also stated that he was a collector, so he wasn't some defenseless widow or aging veteran. Part of selling items is being informed about what you are selling.
No question but the original seller was naive.
Ainsby played up the fact that he is noted, people will tend to trust more a guy whome they can google his name and see his books for sale on Amazon and Barned and Noble, more so than some advice from an anonymous "SS Steve" on an internet forum.
Often, people are aware that they can get more $$ if they hunt around, apparently this guy thought dealing with someone who is well known and seemingly well regarded was worth accepting less.
I'd like to see how Ainsby played this up, I bet he laid it on thick as cement - And to me, callous dishonestly like that most certainly is a factor, I don't care if the victim was a little old vets widow or Craig Gottlieb.
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For example, I recently liquidated my U.S. Purple Heart collection. I set the prices and the collection sold fairly quickly. Some of those medals have already been resold for prices two to three times my asking price. Should I be upset and demand the difference? IMHO, no.
We've all sold things that people have turned around for a profit.
If someone didn't think it was a good deal and they stood to gain, it wouldn't have sold in the first place.
I've bought things that I turned right around for profit, who hasn't ?
I'll tell people I buy from flat out "I can probably get around $250 for this, so I'll give you $175" Or maybe $200.
I explain to them yeah, you can probably get more if you find the right guy.
So do they want to wait around and find the right guy, or get the $$ right now, and accept a bit less ?
Most will opt for cash in hand ... Time is money, and time spent trying to unload something is wasted time.
That is reasonable, a 400-500% profit is not.
I'm sure the margins on your example were no where near this honor dagger ... Plus you seem to be discounting the fact that he never even got paid the scantless price he was offered.
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Also, holding up payment and shirking contact for 1.5 years should be grounds to void any deal in any circumstances,
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As you've said, none of us know the details,only mongo, Ailsby (who I don't know from Adam)and the original owner of the piece. All we are seeing are posts on the internet, a lot of speculation, jailhouse lawyering, some internet heroes threatening violence.
Ailby should pay the guy the agreed price in full and any incurred expenses trying to recoup such payment.
I don't agree, I see the original deal as completely void due to the buyers shameless conduct - Morally, and more importantly legally, there is no deal.
I do agree that talk of violence/illegal activites on forums is not very smart.
