eBay: Innocents Abroad

Bruce McKinney
American Exchange March 30, 2011

Dear Mr. McKinney:

Thank you for forwarding me a copy of your “Kingston Constitution” article for accuracy comments by March 31st.

In terms of accuracy, I make the following corrections:

· The document is not a fragment; it is complete with exception of the cover;

· I did not realize the document sold in 2007 for $5,474 was the same currently being offered for $15,000 by The Reese Co. I, therefore, was mistaken when I said “we can only find four known copies in private hands” I should have said, “we can only find three known copies in private hands.”

· The Printing owned by The Reese Co. and offered for $15,000 is also water stained;

· According to Worldcat.org, the 1777 "Constitution of the State of New-York" published with the Declaration of Independence and printed and sold by Styner and Cist, is in the holdings of the following 11 libraries, worldwide: The Library of Congress (Washington, DC), The Law Library at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), The William Clements Library at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), Columbia University Law School’s Diamond Law Library (New York, NY), The New York Public Library (New York, NY), The New-York Historical Society Archives (New York, NY), Yale University’s Sterling Law Library (New Haven, CT), Harvard University Houghton Library (Cambridge, MA), New York State Library (Albany, NY),Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, WI) National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh). Sadly, neither White Plains nor Fishkill, nor Kingston (all where the NY Constitution was formulated) houses one of these rare printings.

· As for the 200 copies being printed at Fishkill: it was apparently confusion on the part of the reporter (hearing my answer) or my part (perhaps misunderstanding her question). In the course of a lengthy cell phone conversation a few days before my oldest sons wedding, I know we discussed the first printing of the DOI being Dunlap and not including NY, and selling recently for $8.1 million; that approximately 200 of those were printed, with 25 known presently and 1 in private hands. I recall discussing why more copies of the DOI &NY Constitution were not printed in Fishkill. I recall discussing why the there was a need to go to Philadelphia for a larger and second 1777 printing. Unlike the omission of “in private hands” above, I do not see why this would misquote would have a bearing on the auction.

o The document sold on eBay was clearly represented as the later 1777 Philadelphia printing and not the Fishkill printing.

o The Newspaper Article you quote also clearly indicates it was the Philadelphia Printing.

· As for “eBay: all sales final” this is absolutely not accurate. In fact all our sales of autographs and Historical Documents are guaranteed as described and come with a full money back COA.

In addition to the above, you make a sweeping claim that documents of this caliber have dropped 20% since 2007. I beg to differ, at least with respect to the US documents that are in my area of expertise and interest. For instance, I wish we had held onto our two William J. Stone DOI printings until after 2006 because Christies sold a DOI for over 698K in 2009 three years after ours was auctioned off for under 250K. If I am not mistaken, the recent sale of the Emancipation Proclamation printing broke all records in 2010 at an astounding $3,778,500, and I turned down one that sold for $688,000 in a 2005 Christies Auction. Moreover the Federalist Papers along with Lewis and Clark printings have also increased in auction value since 2007. Also in 2010, James Naismith’s original rules for basketball broke a record for any sports artifact, selling for $4,338,500 (had to through that in being a former NCAA Elite 8 and Italian Basketball player). What about Spiderman’s debut comic selling at $1.1 million this past month? (I am a big fan.) Did you write the buyers in these sales, as well, to make a case that they had paid too much?

Yes, I am perturbed by both your remarks and the negative aspersions you have cast on my business practices, but I do appreciate the opportunity to respond. Bruce, despite your tone, I do believe that your intentions are good, and not designed merely to obtain PR by bashing eBay while promoting your website and clientele’s ephemera auction sites. I accept that you are trying to protect the Ulster County Bar Association’s good efforts to acquire this 1777 printing at what you believe to be an unreasonable market price. As I explained to the purchaser yesterday, when he relayed orally the content of your article, you do not have to buy it, I will just cancel the sale.

Ulster County can wait 25 years (as you suggest) for a Fishkill printing or pay $8500 more NOW to get the Philadelphia printing from the Reese Co. with a cover and fewer water stains (which, as you know, can be treated by many good conservators for a fraction of $8500). Or Ulster County can wait, perhaps, 15 years, to get a less expensive printing of the 1: New York Resolutions leading to the DOI, 2: The DOI, 3: The Resolution Approving DOI making it Unanimous, 4: The NY State Constitution all in another 1777 Styner and Cist publication.

How you manage to come up with $2317 as a value for a 1777 US DOI printing plus the NY Constitution when Gentleman’s Magazine Copies of the DOI sell regularly for 3,000 - 4000 is beyond my reasoning. As a historian familiar with the pricing of US DOI 1776-1777 printings (you don’t know, by the way, of a 1777 Goddard for Sale?) I view this printing as a sleeper when you consider content and date. And with the US 250^th Birthday only 15 years away and the NY Constitution printing birth date 16 years away how could this possible be a bad investment?

Perhaps even more significantly for the historian of American and legal affairs, the document under consideration tells the story of John Jay, ultimately our first Chief Justice, who led the NY provincial Congress in approving the Declaration of Independence on July 9^th, 1776, thus finally making the decision of the colonies Unanimous. He, of course, drafted this New York State constitution. What people do not realize is that he did not return to Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776, because he was too busy formulating the government of the State of New York.

Given all these considerations, had this pamphlet, despite its missing cover, been sent to a conservator for treatment and then placed in a Sotheby’s or Chrisities’ auction, It would have blown out of the water all your valuation analysis because they are based on second and third string auction data. This pamphlet has not had the exposure of either of the two big auction houses that I can determine and consequently, in this exhibitor’s opinion, greatly undervalued. Your higher valuation of Fishkill versus Philadelphia is also debatable as it can be argued the full printing of the DOI and NY’s approval makes this a nationally significant document rather than one of just state significance. It stands to reason, therefore, that the public given a nationally marketed auction may deem the Philadelphia printing, the DOI’s birthplace, more desirable than an obscure town called Fishkill (a different shade of Spiderman type popularity).

I wonder if 80 year old baby boomers will still be paying over a million dollars for Spiderman in 2026 on the 250^th USA birthday . Will anyone even know who Betty Boop -- excuse me, I mean Spiderman – is at our 300^th in 2076? This rare printing, however, will endure as long as this nation stands.

Since 1992, I have utilized many of your clients’ auctions, accessible on your site, to purchase and sell rare documents. I have also used eBay since the 1990s. The Buyer Beware admonition applies to all auctions and my experience has been that when something goes awry, especially with authentication issues at the larger auction houses, one can lose many dollars in the battle of so called experts.

What we have here is a complete and authentic 1777 "Constitution of the State of New-York" published with the Declaration of Independence printed and sold by Styner and Cist minus the cover. This is not in dispute. The purchaser has read your article and the facts are now before them. The purchaser is welcome to pass on the acquisition. We will not lower our price and will not be disappointed should they pass.

Thank for the opportunity to respond

Sincerely,

Stanley L. Klos