Ethics Q: What would YOU do?

[Paddy1951]

This whole thing can be talked about until we are all a year older. As somebody said earlier...

This is pretty simple, really.

Treat others as you wish to be treated.

Everybody likes a deal. Nobody wants to get burned.

[RP]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

...Reality is always different than a written hypothetical question.

I couldn't agree more.....

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan

Let’s actually put the blame where it belongs. The parents of this younger generation did not instill in them the value of quality and antiques.

This could hardly be a more totally subjective arbitrary notion of cause , effect, and blame. The notion of shopping price over value/quality has been part of the human condition for centuries and is not objectively assignable to any single generation. What's actually in play today is simply the sheer quantity of cheap goods, and consumers to purchase them (offset BTW by an equal increase in the number of high quality and high value goods, and consumers who purchase them )

Also note the reality is that the value of antiques is also totally subjective. Not to mention the antiques that survive today that are of high quality, were only a small percent of total goods produced in their time, the masses then as now, bought cheap price point goods. The notion of "things were built better way back when" is rose colored nostalgia, not objective reality.

[Paddy1951]

Originally Posted by KevWind

This could hardly be a more totally subjective notion of cause , effect, and blame. The notion of shopping price over value/quality has been part of the human condition for centuries and is not objectively assignable to any single generation. What's actually in play today is simply the sheer quantity of cheap goods, and consumers to purchase them (offset BTW by an equal increase in the number of high quality and high value goods, and consumers who purchase them )

Also note the reality is that the value of antiques is arbitrary. Not to mention the antiques that survive today of high quality were only a small percent of total goods produced in their time, the masses then as now, bought cheap price point goods. The notion of "things were built better way back when" is rose colored nostalgia, not objective reality.

I do not think lack of appreciation in young people is solely the fault of parents.

It is more societal.

In Europe and elsewhere, many things are valued as being history. Centuries old buildings, nature areas, tools- you name it, are protected and preserved.

A building hits 50 in the USA and it's lets knock it down and put up a nice shiny glass and stainless steel replacement.

I have to disagree with your take on things like antique furniture.

Things of the past WERE made better. Things were made to last and be repaired. One simple example.

I have a a solid butternut dresser built of 5/4" stock. The drawers are dovetailed on all four corners. The piece was hand built in about 1885. Nothing built today would come close.

At one time, I had an antique business. Even things built for "the masses" were made better than most things today.

The reason many things aren't around anymore is because they got to a point of not being valued. Many things were thrown away or outright destroyed.

America doesn't do well learning or respecting history.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Paddy1951

I do not think lack of appreciation in young people is solely the fault of parents.

It is more societal.

In Europe and elsewhere, many things are valued as being history. Centuries old buildings, nature areas, tools- you name it, are protected and preserved.

A building hits 50 in the USA and it's lets knock it down and put up a nice shiny glass and stainless steel replacement.

I have to disagree with your take on things like antique furniture.

Things of the past WERE made better. Things were made to last and be repaired. One simple example.

I have a a solid butternut dresser built of 5/4" stock. The drawers are dovetailed on all four corners. The piece was hand built in about 1885. Nothing built today would come close.

At one time, I had an antique business. Even things built for "the masses" were made better than most things today.

The reason many things aren't around anymore is because they got to a point of not being valued. Many things were thrown away or outright destroyed.


America doesn't do well learning or respecting history.

To each their own, to me sounds like more subjective blanket cliche'
The reality is better made things in past are arguable better made than cheap things made now or then.
But I disagree, you can definitely get a "custom made" piece of 5/4 furniture made today that will equal virtually any antique in quality and durability. It just costs a lot more than high production line cheap machine made goods .
I would doubt anything in your antique store was actually built for the masses.
I would agree there was arguably a period in time when for example US made furniture (before the cheap Asian made really took off and drove prices down) . And it was priced such that the burgeoning upwardly mobile middle class could save up or borrow and afford it. But that was only a period in time.

While some specific things may have been "better made in the past" as blanket statement, one look at automobiles will dismiss that as a universal notion.
As I said to each their own perspective . However we seem to straying pretty far off topic.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by PeteCady

Scenario 3: Husband has gone, left note with wife: "Floozy Belle and I are running away together. Sell my stuff and send me the money." And wife knows EXACTLY what the item is really worth.

I actually know a woman who was the recipient of something along these lines... it was a divorce (not friendly), and the divorcee was commanded to sell certain items of her husband's...

Bottom line is: my woman friend got a very nice Mercedes SLC 450 for some ridiculous price, like $50... this was in 1981 or thereabouts...

[jnidoh]

I haven't been a member of the AGF for too long and blame it on my reluctance to be a follower and join anything. Must say that this subject was the most eye opening of any that I have ever read on this site.

Two years ago, my wife asked me to run over her aunts house and pick up a plate of something-or-other she had cooked. Told me to go through the garage, open the kitchen door without knocking (her aunt would be in the shower) get the plate and bring it back to her mothers house.

Well, I did just that.......her aunt was walking through the kitchen naked and ran screaming through the hallway while I ran screaming to the sink to flush my eyes with cold water (I'm in my late 60's and she's in her 70's.....neither is a sight to behold).

Just have the feeling that I've been watching forum members walking around in their undies. Some are okay to look at but I'd probably ask a few to please get dressed.

In case you're wondering how I feel on the subject, being tools or guitars, about 40 yrs ago a coworker moving to SC offered me a double barreled flintlock shotgun for $25. He brought it over my house and I fell in love with it. No rust and well cared for......scratched into the metal near the trigger was "So & So paid $2, owes .85 and the 1860 or 70 date". The barrels were, as I've been told, steel wrapped around a wooden dowel and then the wood extracted or burned out. Not something I'd be eager to shoot.

Told him I wanted it but thought it might be worth a lot more then I could afford. He went to a dealer and got $800 for it. He was thrilled and needed the money and for some stupid reason, it made me feel good.

john