ABSTRACT
An American collector ofTy Beanie Babies (see Chapter 32) noted that indulging in their collecting was a symbol of a stable economy. Auctions exemplify this. Twenty years aga much of the material that finds specialist sales in auction houses would not have got near an auctioneer's appraisal. The auction house (Smith, 1989), however, is only a small component of the network of enterprises that off er collectable goods for sale. Collectors' organisations stage their own auctions and sales. Auctions are tolerated in the pages of collectors' club journals ifthe vendor is a club member, or is known to members through meetings at collectors fairs and so on. The prices and practice are then more likely to be considered 'legitimate' if proffered by one from amongst their own community. Conversely the pages ofthe collecting press are often scattered with scomfulletters and comments about 'extemal' vendors (traders) at fairs and collectors' shops, and the 'ludicrous' prices realised at auctions. Many of these people are perceived as outside of the community because they are looking purely for profit and have no appreciation of the items they are selling. Some collectors see them as hawks who target 'legitimate' collectors. Others, though, strike up long-term relationships with dealers and auctioneers which ultimately facilitate many additions to the collection. Therefore a kind oflove-hate relationship exists between collectors and traders (which category auction houses come into also). Glancy (1988) sees the auction as an adult play-world where each in attendance has their own role to play, with the auctioneer as the ringmaster. Within the context of the collectors' club, however, most often bids are made by post. As such, an invisible relationship exists. This facilitates the adaptation of such activity via the Internet very easily.
