S3D Re: Termination of auction - please read

["Hayden Baldwin" <hbaldwin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

George,

>From my perspective you have no obligation to trace or track down the family
or relatives in the photos.  However if your source of information is
reliable then it they too must know the family or relatives and they too
could/should contact the family if possible. I am looking at this strictly
as possible stolen property. If the rightful party can be identified and
they want the images returned then it is up to them to reimburse you for
your costs.

If the individual that contact you knows the family it was allegedly
"stolen" from then it would also be their responsibility to contact the
family.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Hayden


----- Original Message -----
From: Dr. George A. Themelis <DrT-3d@xxxxxxx>
To: Multiple recipients of list SELL-3D <sell-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2000 1:33 PM
Subject: S3D Re: Termination of auction - please read


> I have decided to end the eBay auction of the 85 Medium Format
> black & white glass stereo transparencies and viewer, mentioned
> in an earlier message.  The reason is the following:
>
> I received a message from a sell-3d subscriber, raising the
> possibility that these images were lost by (or stolen) from
> the family and suggesting that I have enough information to
> trace the family and bring these pictures to their attention.
> The note ended as follows:
>
> "If you already know from research and letters that the family
> doesn't want the pictures, then I think it would be a good idea
> to mention this in the description on E-Bay, and include copies
> of any relevant correspondence along with the collection in
> order to ease any buyer's concerns."
>
> My response to this is that it is very unlikely that this lot
> was stolen and most likely it was sold as part of the belongings
> of the deceased photographer.  Most likely, someone from the
> family did not care to keep it.  It is not my job to trace the
> origin of these slides to find out if they now changed their
> mind.  I am not destroying this collection. I bought if from
> a stereo collector and I am selling it to another stereo
> collector.  In many cases these collections are better off in
> the hands of collectors or museums than relatives.  There are
> many documented cases of relatives, without any appreciation
> of stereo imaging, throwing away collections of stereo slides.
>
> If I proceed as it was suggested, what will it be next?
> I have a lot of personal Realist format slides in my
> collection, some with enough information to start tracing
> relatives.  Boxes of personal Realist slides are being
> sold every week in ebay.  Should I make it my mission to
> identify and return these images to the relatives?
>
> In any case, I am ending the auction until I decide what
> to do with this lot.  In the meanwhile, I am always
> interested in buying Realist-format slides of people,
> families, etc. :-)
>
> George Themelis
>