I quite often feel that way about many of the "rug merchants" selling anything in the collectable market. but......... The old addage sometimes comes up in my head.
"Some must die so others can live".
I have been active in another collectable hobby besides radios for many years. It is the wild and wacky world of antique gas engines. I have been active / somewhat active in that hobby for close to 40 years. They had "rug merchants" 40 years ago! ! ! !
There used to be this guy that used to set up shop at all of the local shows in these parts selling parts for old engines. Most of us had many choice words for / about him for destroying perfectly restorable engines to break them up and sell them in parts. It used to break all of us collectors hearts to see him tear a really nice engine apart to peddle it off in parts. We could all see it if you had an engine that was too far gone to repair / restore, but not one that was easily restorable. That was heiresy!!!
But ya know what, where else were you going to find a governor assembly for your 1915 Fuller and Johnson 2hp stationary engine? ? ? ? The shame of it was that we ALL bought parts from him when he had what you needed because it was a lot easier than making them from scratch. He has since passed on and we all miss having him around, even though we disaproved of his methods. He was one of the first ones to most of the shows, and if he could buy something cheap, it got broken down for parts! Many times we had to endure the pain of watching him do it!!
Henceforth we get back one more time to: "some must die so others can live".
But if more survive, the the ones that do become worth less, the less that survive the more valuable the survivors become. It may well suck, and I agree that it does, but it is just a simple rule of economics, short, sweet, and simple
