Datu Ivory Kris

[BSMStar]

Originally Posted by Ian

I hope this dealer did not get hosed. Certainly looks as though he may have been. I think someone, somewhere is always looking to drive up prices on eBay.

Ian

You mean Hosered.

This is just crazy... to have a not overly spectacular layered blade with flaws, rehilted (at least sometime in its history) with ivory… stand back and watch the eBay insanity play out. Not worth the closing price, even as an investment... and to be clear, I am not blaming the seller on this. I'm talking about the shark like insatiable feeding frenzy, even when a minnow is placed in the water.

This is just hurting all of us who are trying to collect for the culture, heritage and history.

[spiral]

The buyers got suitable & deserved feedback, but presumably whoever wanted there "rival" piece to sell high, has done well? The second highest bidder & others will have gone elswhere , I expect?

Sadley Arms dealers have not been famous for there morality at any time in history.

{present company & all forum members excepted of course! }

Spiral

[Battara]

Originally Posted by BSMStar

You mean Hosered.

This is just crazy... to have a not overly spectacular layered blade with flaws, rehilted (at least sometime in its history) with ivory… stand back and watch the eBay insanity play out. Not worth the closing price, even as an investment... and to be clear, I am not blaming the seller on this. I'm talking about the shark like insatiable feeding frenzy, even when a minnow is placed in the water.

This is just hurting all of us who are trying to collect for the culture, heritage and history.

Thank you BSMStar - on the nose. Sickenly insane. Rising prices is one thing, but insanity only hurts when the frenzy ends and the prices plummet to "corrected" market value, making the inflated values hurt everyone.

[Tim Simmons]

BSMstar, you are too late door knobs are really expensive. I was Lucky and got this Victorian set cheaply, I sprayed them gold. Go to London and you would pay the earth. As to collecting weapons, there is so much out there- use your loaf, move on and buy something else, the prices will come down. The prices are high because you pay it.

[BSMStar]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

BSMstar, you are too late door knobs are really expensive. I was Lucky and got this Victorian set cheaply, I sprayed them gold. Go to London and you would pay the earth. As to collecting weapons, there is so much out there- use your loaf, move on and buy something else, the prices will come down. The prices are high because you pay it.

Hi Tim!

Awesome door knob! You just don't see those around any more.

I normally agree with you... that the prices are high because people are willing to pay it.

But in this case, and to bring the point home, I purchased an Ivory Moro Kris with a twisted core last year for just under $500 (similar to the one in this auction without the flaws). This year this one is passing $2600?? That is over a 500% change in one year.

Look at the bidding... the "sane" bidding died out in the $600 range (the price the majority of people were willing to pay).
The desperate bidding died out in the $1200 range (that was crazy).
Three drove it to the loony price range of $2200...
And the two bidders drove the price pass the insane $2600 range.

One can not reason (based on the top two bids) this is what the "average collector" truly believes this Kris is worth... that $2600 is the price "people" are "willing" to pay. Then to back out of the deal (if I were the seller, I would want to reach through my computer, grab Hoser by the neck and shake some bloody sense in to him)! It is pure insanity and no good can come of it!

[Rick]

I guess I must repeat; this auction was 'cybertaged' for the sole purpose of creating price confusion in this particular collecting niche .

The ultimate hope (as mentioned before) was to somehow re-adjust prices lower for Moro pieces.

I just don't participate on eBay any more; IMO it has been the bane of the serious collector for some time now.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by BSMStar

This is just crazy... to have a not overly spectacular layered blade with flaws, rehilted (at least sometime in its history) with ivory… stand back and watch the eBay insanity play out. Not worth the closing price, even as an investment... and to be clear, I am not blaming the seller on this. I'm talking about the shark like insatiable feeding frenzy, even when a minnow is placed in the water.

This is just hurting all of us who are trying to collect for the culture, heritage and history.

I agree completely. Normally, I'm a big advocate for the free market, and more than willing to allow that market to set prices where appropriate. However, there can come a point where manipulation (intentional or otherwise) affects the intrinsic, non-monetary value of an item/group of items. Once that happens, collecting for the joy of learning and, yes, preservation of culture and heritage, take a back seat to lucre. I think that is a real shame.

Unfortunately, I was probably a force in driving the prices up on dha in recent years. I recall a point, perhaps 2 years ago, when I was considering a bid that was significantly higher than I would ever pay because I was caught up in my desire to acquire. I checked myself, bailed out of that auction, and have since changed my buying/bidding habits.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still bid aggressively on stuff I really want. I suspect when certain bidders see me place a rare bid these days, they either drop out or prepare to do battle.

[Bill]

For those of us in the USA, we have a falling $, which makes collecting more expensive in a world market. Not to say, that is the reason but it does play a part.

[Bill M]

Corkscrews. Collect corkscrews. Saw a corkscrew collection lately. He even had a corkscrew collectors book.