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A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

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21–30 of 116 posts

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#21
post #5

You must have pretty specialised knowledge to look at that photo in the junk shop and say to yourself, "You know, that might be Billy the Kid. I should get this appraised."

Now imagine, sometime, somewhere, someone got a written manuscript from Plato, or the Buddha, or another figure and just used it to make fire.

That might be unfortunate, but we've set fire to priceless manuscripts intentionally far more often. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_the_Library_of_...

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#22

If you had bought this picture for $2 later to find out it's worth $5,000,000, would you feel an obligation to share some of the proceeds with the shop from which it was purchased?

If you buy a winning lottery ticket would you give part of your winnings to the store you bought it from?

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#24

If you had bought this picture for $2 later to find out it's worth $5,000,000, would you feel an obligation to share some of the proceeds with the shop from which it was purchased?

If you buy a winning lottery ticket would you give part of your winnings to the store you bought it from?

I might give them a tip if I'm a regular customer, but it's not as obligatory as tipping waiters. I think it is customary to tip the dealer when gambling, though.

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#25
post #5

You must have pretty specialised knowledge to look at that photo in the junk shop and say to yourself, "You know, that might be Billy the Kid. I should get this appraised."

Now imagine, sometime, somewhere, someone got a written manuscript from Plato, or the Buddha, or another figure and just used it to make fire.

There's no need to imagine. When Henry VIII ordered the supression of the monasteries, manuscripts from monastic libraries were sold as toilet paper and shining rags. Though this has less to do with unnapraised items being lost due to clulessness than with a monarch being a dick.

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#26
post #10
post #6

The caption says the image was taken during the summer of 1878 but there are no leaves on the trees. So either the trees around their hide out were all dead or it wasn't summer.

It can be hot and dry in summer in New Mexico. Not great for leaves. "The loss of numerous leaves from trees is not uncommon in New Mexico in June." -- http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/1997/063097.html

Yes it's also dry here in CA and trees will lose leaves but not all of their leaves. The trees in the photo are completely bare. Note also that the grass in the foreground shows up in the image as dark. This implies that the grass is green. So even if you are correct and all the trees have lost all of their leaves then you would expect the grass to be dormant (not green) and show up as light in the image if it were summer.

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#27
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy a winning lottery ticket would you give part of your winnings to the store you bought it from?

I might give them a tip if I'm a regular customer, but it's not as obligatory as tipping waiters. I think it is customary to tip the dealer when gambling, though.

Tipping is very dependent on the local customs, tipping a waiter in Germany for example (especially in the more rural areas, or traditional restaurants) will be somewhere between unexpected to outright insulting.

Tipping dealers in UK casinos is actually forbidden by the 'Gaming Board' (gambling commission) to discourage "cheating" since they believe that if dealers might get a cut of the winnings they might be inclined to stack the odds in the player's favor.

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#28

If you had bought this picture for $2 later to find out it's worth $5,000,000, would you feel an obligation to share some of the proceeds with the shop from which it was purchased?

If you buy a winning lottery ticket would you give part of your winnings to the store you bought it from?

It may vary but usually the store gets a cut from the lottery commission if they sell a winning ticket.

Re: A $2 photo from a California junk shop is the ‘holy grail of Western Americana’

#30
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might give them a tip if I'm a regular customer, but it's not as obligatory as tipping waiters. I think it is customary to tip the dealer when gambling, though.

Tipping is very dependent on the local customs, tipping a waiter in Germany for example (especially in the more rural areas, or traditional restaurants) will be somewhere between unexpected to outright insulting. Tipping dealers in UK casinos is actually forbidden by the 'Gaming Board' (gambling commission) to discourage "cheating" since they believe that if dealers might get a cut of the winnings they might be incli…

In horse racing however, it is polite to tip when collecting your winnings. This applies if you're actually at the race, not sure if it's different in betting shops.
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