[photo-3d] Re: Please don't sell Seton Rochwite's life on eBay!!

[Bruce Springsteen <bsspringsteen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Gotta dip my oar...

The astounding part of all this is that apparently no one close to Mr.
Rochwite ever - or ever successfully - broached the subject of what would
happen to his stereo effects, with an eye to creating a tangible lasting
record of this unique person's unique work.  He's an important figure in
the history of photography, not just to current individual 3D collectors,
and the apparent disinterest heretofore of photo historians and the
organized stereoscopic community in preserving at least the core of his
collection seems beyond remiss.  Am I understanding the situation as
portrayed here so far?

So no one at David White Company saw any reason to seek items that recall
a vital part of their corporate history?  No one in the NSA, ISU, or other
stereo organization ever was in a position or had an inclination to talk
about a bequest, or chance at first-refusal purchase, with an eye toward
creating a unified and irreproducible collection?  Where were the
prominent photography museums all this time - do they really care so
little about stereography?  Who are the guardians of this history? 
Whoever they are, they were apparently not in contact with SR or his
family.  Was he so modest that he never inquired after interested parties
himself? And now a small scramble is underway, one which would have done
more honor, and I assume given more pleasure, to Mr. Rochwite had it
occurred during his life.  Do I have the picture?

The side argument that whoever pays the most for an item in an auction
"values" that item most is a strange logic - and easily refuted.  This is
like saying that whoever puts the most in the church collection plate is
the most devout, or whoever posts the most to P3D loves stereo more than
anyone else.  If someone with a collecting budget of $100 bids 95% of that
amount on an artwork, and is outbid by someone with a $10,000 dollar
budget who wins it with 1% of their resources, is the winning bidder the
one who most valued that object?  I say the loser valued it 95 times as
much, if we insist on playing mathematical games with our values.

Just a stimulus to future reflection.

Bruce




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