Greetings, Fellow Rare Item Collectors And Other Seekers Of Immeasurable Value!
I am back from a Fan Con of a kind where I took part in discussions on topics concerning the future and the present... The general team was about...
Borderlines Hard To Define
As you can imagine, we talked a lot about what we call AI, where we think we are right now, etc.
But it was and always will be about the borders in...well...
Here I am to talk about the borderlines in our minds when it comes to Value and How Much We Would Pay for it.
And I have a specific, and also philosophical question at the end of this article.
The main event and discussions aside, there was this traditional Auction for items of printed literature, A.K.A. paper books, magazines, etc. which happens each year just before departure.
Where I acquired some books also worth mentioning, and I will mention them in another post, but mostly... this buddy...
The first and only issue of Terra Fantastika, the Newspaper. Before it continued as a magazine of the Bulgarian Sci-Fi fandom.
Well, one of my majors was in Newspapermanship, so I have a little something about this aging analogue form of printed word and printed image. ALso, as an item, it is a bit more fragile than a magazine, it ages faster, it...displays better. At least to my taste.
I would later put it behind the proverbial glass.
Sorry about the blurred part of the image.
I was not able to see such detail while bidding for the item, anyway.
What I was bidding for was...
History
And we'll talk about it later.
Back to the Auction from an earlier point.
Most of the books are old and used but there were also new ones.
For most, the bidding would start way below the price they want in the bookstores, the one printed on the cover. Well, sometimes the price tags would come from another era of our currency where 4900 BGN (Bulgarian Lev) would be the equivalent of 4.90 BGN now. Denomination aside, there would be no 4.90 books of serious volume in bookstores nowadays. Prices would normally start at 12.00, 25.00, etc.
The minimum step to outbid anybody was 0.10 BGN or about 0.05 Euro.
The Auction was supposed to be a fun event, after all, the participants keeping to generally liking each other after. Statistically speaking ;)
There would be many cases when a good book would be offered cheap and still nobody would bid for it.
Three Leva going once, three Leva going twice, well, back to the pile with you.
I liked some of the authors but I prefer reading them in English, i.e. original, and not translated. Or I've read them. Or I don't have the time to explore this particular piece, etc. Some books I did join the bid for, and on quite a few occasions, I was the only bidder.
And then, after a few issues (this year or that year, this season or that season, featuring these authors or those authors, etc.) of the Terra Fantastika magazine were auctioned, they pulled out the...
Thirty-Year-Old newspaper that preceded them all. An eight-pages first experiment in the field. Perhaps not overly successful. But it was one of the first attempts of that community to find larger audience, to make its voice heard throughout the whole jungle thing.
Unlike some of the books, it was not easy to find elsewhere. That's a factor when determining the value of not only a readable item but a collector's item now. At least that's where I qualify it, so I was immediately ready to pay a large sum but have it. I would be the winner of this auction. And it looked nice in its blue-ish hues.
The price in 1993 was 3 Leva, that's 3 BGN. But by 1997 those 3 BGN would have depreciated to 0.003 of the same purchasing power due to some heavy duty inflation.
After restarting the currency and tying it to the value of the Deutche Mark, hence later to the Euro but at a rate of almost 1:2, nowadays 3 BGN would still be a hefty sum for a newspaper, especially for one with 8 pages only.
But that was not where the value was. So, when the auction master announced a starting bidding price of 1 BGN, we were off to the races, immediately. Somebody nearby would say:
It is worth at least 50 BGN
but would not participate in the bidding... No clue. Can't judge. But I would agree with him and pay that price and beyond, if necessary.
By the time of this bidding, I had better self control.
Unlike earlier on, when I almost accidentally outbid the team of 
This time, I would only add my 0.10 whenever somebody else would raise. And I would only do it after they said...
... going twice, ...
For dramatic effect, you know.
It would go like this:
Master: 1 Lev going once, going twice...
Me: 1.10
Random opponent: 2.00!
Master: 2 Leva going once, going twice...
Me: 2.10
Random opponent: 3.00!
Master: 3 Leva going once, going twice...
Me: 3.10
Random opponent: 4.00!
Master: 4 Leva going once, going twice...
Me: 4.10
Random opponent: 5.00!
Master: 5 Leva going once, going twice...
Me: 5.10
Random opponent: 6.00!
Master: 6 Leva going once, going twice...
Me: 6.10
Random opponent: 7.00!
Master: 7 Leva going once, going twice...
Me: 7.10
silence
Master: 7.10 Leva going once, going twice...Sold!
It was done.
I was the last man standing.
A short story about The Last Human On Earth by Alfred Bester.
Here's a hilarious modern Punk version of no other than... Bilbo Baggins, Professional Burglar. As illustrated by the newspaper's caricature artist Peter Nenov.
So, here's the promised question...
Why would anybody quit at 7.10 and not raise to 7.20?
Where is the point beyond which you no longer desire said item. Do you deem 7.20 too much for something you would pay 7.00 for? Or is it just that your mental stamina has ran out? Or do you just want to do me a favor and save me more money in the end?
Then why raising aggressively by a whole unit when you could raise by 10 % of that unit each time? Saving other people's time, perhaps. I respect that.
Why not go apesh*t crazy from the start, then? Nobody went near the vocally speculated price of 50 BGN that the not so random dude (we know him to be involved in publishing books, selling books, certainly reading a lot of books, and having the authority of age above the average) suggested?
Reasons for not being attracted by any certain collectible item I understand but why be ready to spend 7.00 and not 7.20?
Well, of course I would have bid 7.30 after that and perhaps my behavior was making it clear.
Still...it's fun to think about where the actual limit is.
Me, personally, I would spend fiat on anything I perceive as potentially keeping and increasing value over time. It's the 7.10 BGN or, 50 BGN, or even 100+ BGN that is not, in my mind, going to keep its value.
I am always keeping one eye open for upcoming hyperinflation situations. Which would be upon us while we sleep, anyway.
Still, looking for things that keep their value over time is my way to go forward. Things money can buy and thing it cannot.
Peace and
Yours,
Manol