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But 33girl, I think you might be mistaking a seller’s conscious choice for stupidity. I often buy large lots of pins when there is a greek badge hidden in there. So after a few months, I’ve got a drawer full of miscellaneous pins and jewelry. I group them as best I can and I sell them off with little or no research. I’ve probably mislisted plenty of Masonic and other fraternal items. It’s not because I’m stupid. It’s because when I weigh the time it takes to do the research against the extra few bucks I’d make, doing the research just doesn’t pay off. Costume jewelry is a better example - I know nothing about costume jewelry, and if I type that into a search engine I’ll get about 205,000 hits. No way I’m going to waste my time researching it. By the way, type in Sorority Pin and you get about 5,500 hits.
If I just found a sorority pin in an old drawer and it’s the only thing I’m selling, then sure it makes sense to do the research. But if I’m a dealer and I just bought 5 estates last weekend, I’m going to describe the little items as best I can, get them listed, get my money and move on to the more valuable items like cars, antique furniture and fine jewelry. If I’m a smart dealer, I know that people are doing keyword searches for “Sorority Pin” and as long as I’ve got those keywords in there someone is going to properly identify it and buy it regardless of whether I call it a teapot or a lamp. That actually sounds like a pretty smart business decision to me.
Some of you write these pleading emails to sellers asking them to understand why your badge is so important. Well, who has taken a moment to try and understand what the seller is all about, and what’s important to them? Just trying to make you see both sides of the argument, which is what educated people like ourselves are SUPPOSED to do. I’m quite sure there are stupid dealers out there, but that really isn’t the issue. The issue is how greeks are perceived by our communities. And when we continue to let emotion lead us to making judgments without real basis, then we continue to present ourselves as spoiled elitist children.
wptw
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