And there are still people who don't know what they have on a yard sale. Exhibit A 27 grams sterling for $7.
Or a flea market bourse! Ten years ago, I went to my first ever flea market bourse in Westend Ottawa. About 30K sq ft. of stuff. I went to this old mans miltaria stall, I noticed he had a SS Officers Ceremonial Dagger with chain, perfect. I asked Him, what he wanted for it, he said $75 Can., I bought it. Later, I took it to a well expert, he was astounded, showed me a auction catalogue, its value $10-15K US! Sometimes you can snag a good deal.
Asymmetric knowledge. At a ham fest (flea market for electronic gear), I found someone selling a box of old Popular Electronics magazines from the mid-70s. He wanted $15 for the box. I looked through the box, and I saw that it included the January and February 1975 issues, the ones that introduced the Altair 8800 - the first mass-marketed "personal computer". I bought the box, and sold those two issues on eBay for something like $200.
Old magazines! I had a 105 yr old client, she and her 82 yr old daughter lived in a beautifull Victorian house in Ottawa South. Her great grandson decided to unclutter the house for them. On my reg. lawn service day, also garbage day, I noticed there were two cardboard boxes full of old magazines, even comics from the 1930, 40s. Some were still in plastic, never read. I asked her if I could take them, she said please do. Have them all here now. Best of all there was a old stamp album from circa 1930s, with supberb Newfoundland collection from 1851- 1947! Some stamp catalogued over 1000 UK pds in Gibbons 2024 catalogue.
Panzerman.......is you that said you have an impressive stamp collection? World stamps? US? Canada? I collected when I was a kid. I had a load of them, some some somewhat valuable semi rare ones old US issues. I completely quit when I hit my mid teens. I still have them, in my attic. I've got zero interest in them. About 20 years ago I took my haul down to the Coin/Stamp shop to just get them out of my house. They didn't even deal in stamps anymore. Even though that was the name of their business. Oh well.
No. I did get my Technician license twenty-odd years ago, but never operated. I'm an electronic tinkerer, and thought it would be useful to be licensed for some RF work, but I haven't yet even gotten close to getting around to it.
It's nice to see asymmetric knowledge valued in this forum. One of my negative experiences in this forum many years ago was being lambasted for using my knowledge of Peace dollars to my advantage against a pawn shop. Since it was a veteran (who no longer appears to post), people didn't see the bullying by the member or glossed over it. To be fair I overreacted a bit due to naivete. I realize in hindsight he was just using his veteran status to fortify an implied hierarchy - it's what humans do very naturally, even though we think we are behaving rationally. Anyway, I am glad to see I did not violate any serious ethics by snapping up a good deal due to asymmetric knowledge, and that many of us do it from time to time as part of capitalism.
Interesting. He or she is a professional seller with an establishment, with access to information about the wares they sell. I feel you did not take advantage of the pawn shop. As in ANY voluntary transaction, both sides have the opportunity to say “no”. Ergo, personally, I do not feel you took advantage of them, you facilitated business and profits for them. They probably never gave it a further thought. LOL, sounds like the haranguer had personal problems of their own, and your post triggered a past guilt they have personally. NEXT!
That experience was so bad it was part of the reason why I avoided this forum for years. In thinking about that experience and others similar to it, I think we are apes with a rational veneer, comparing ourselves to others and signaling our status in subtle ways. This member also gave me a hard time a previous time when I posted as a "newb" - he expressed open contempt to newbs (unlike him - lofty with his experience). What both of these experiences showed is you can't always take any one experience in isolation - you have to view patterns of behavior over time to understand motives. He was using moral arguments to shame me and place himself above me (in his mind) socially. Anyway, I am older and wiser, and I learned you have to remain emotionally detached in these forums. This to me is a deep topic that can be a book.