I know I should just let it go but it keeps nagging at me. The items in question are as common as dirt. Everyone who would remotely be interested in bidding knows what they are yet the description says that "You don't see such things even in museum!!!" and the fact that they are on steel makes them very special. They are TINTYPES! a common cheap type of photograph that was actually on thin steel plates. The statement that they were made in a "machine called camera obscura, the grand-grandfather of the photocameras" compounds the nonsense! They were made in a garden variety photo camera.
A basic search for "tintype" which is the common name for this process brings up 772 items. Expand it to descriptions and you get 1,511. Even if they did not know the proper name for them I would expect they would check out the sections of eBay that sell photographs.
This is a 0 feedback seller from Romania. Still their English is good enough to write a description that does not sound like it was written with Bablefish. What is the point of paying the insertion fees on $500 on something that would sell for only a few dollars?
My first reaction was to hit "ask a question" and tell them what they are. I pulled up short when I realized that it might be an attempt to harvest emails. It still seems like a strange way to go about that. I am puzzled.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on August 26, 2007 05:00:15 PM
Sounds like a very young person- something my 12 year-old would write. Everything that he hasn't seen before is ultra-rare. Edited to add: last time he went with me to an antique mall, he used his money to buy a $10 target shooting medal, which he assured me was quite rare. Imagine his surprise when he found a display case of them at Neglus' house - he may have less awe of his medal now, but more respect for his Uncle who earned them.
[ edited by PIXIAMOM on Aug 26, 2007 08:00 PM ]
posted on August 26, 2007 07:47:11 PM
I think we're all sensitive about our specialties. I went crazy when a clueless seller thought a group of 50 common but old 'rare' postcards would sell for $500 if he put up a hazy photo of them spread out on his floor.
posted on August 26, 2007 08:56:03 PM
Perhaps tintypes really are rare *in Romania* what with war, Communism, civil unrest, anarchy and whatnot. Their history can't have been too friendly to future antiques.
posted on August 27, 2007 03:32:49 AM
I understand your frustration Photo. Regardless of whether this is a clueless newbie or a scammer, they tend to re-enforce the negative (forgive the pun!)image of ebay being a dangerous playground for the unwary.
I'm willing to bet that anyone with $500 to spend on photos has enough experience to stay away from this listing. If not, I guess they will be paying dearly for the lesson.
Karen does bring up a good point. These could be fairly rare in Romania due to their constant conflicts but like Photo, I doubt they are rare in Europe or even the US where we have had plenty of Romanian immigrants.
posted on August 27, 2007 04:36:42 AM
Another possibility is that the guy has no clue what $500 is.Heck it sounds like they don't know how much their own money is worth since a conversion into "new" currency in 2005 when it was converted at the rate of 10,000 lei= 1 new leu
from Wikipedia:
The Romanian leu briefly held the dubious distinction of being the world's least valued currency unit, from January (when the Turkish lira dropped six zeros) to July 2005. However, the 1,000,000 lei bill was not the highest Romanian denomination ever. This distinction belongs to the 1947 5 million lei bill.
"As of 2006, the revaluation is a potential source of confusion, especially to visitors, since both old and new currency values are commonly quoted. When written, the very large amounts in old currency are usually obvious, but in speaking inhabitants might refer to an amount of 5 new lei as simply "fifty" in reference to its value 50,000 old lei."
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posted on August 27, 2007 05:35:29 AM
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. It is not really important why this seller thinks (if he does) that these common images are worth $500 but this is one of a long list of "mystery" listings that have me puzzled. Recently a seller with high, positive feedback had a nice, but not rare, 19th century camera for sale. The current value guides list it for $250. The copy raved about its "unique" qualities and quoted an appraisal value of $15,000. In their dreams...!
It is true that anyone with even a little knowledge would not bid $500 on these but newbie collectors are caught by misguided description, intentional or not. I had some correspondence with a new image collector who had been buying so called "daguerreotypes" on eBay and wanted help in learning how to spot the mis-described items. -----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on August 27, 2007 05:46:50 AM
I often see misguided auction that state something is this when it's really that. Sometimes I take the time to tell them what it really is
Photo - you stated that they could be harvesting email addresses - if you hide it on your questions - how would they get it?
