Thanks for not mentioning the "real reason" we won't be donating our stuff. I remember when the S&F reprints were first sold. I wonder how much they cost then?
They were offered at $80.00 each on the credit-card installment-pay plan, delivered and charged one-per-month to ease the pain; thus 42 x $80 = $3,360; and at 6 lbs each the shipping & handling added up. Now the retail tab is $5,000 plus trucking; my fine-condition 42 vol's are a bargain for the scant few who appreciate such things, and the fewer yet with the $$$$.
Twenty-one years x 52 issues per year = 1,092 issues in the 39 volumes, plus there are three vol's of index. 1,092 weekly issues of 16- to 24-pages per issue is about 20,000 folio-size acid-free pages of reading material--my rough calculation is 100,000,000 of interesting period-correct words of wisdom.
Besides you and me, who has the time?
As to the "real reason," I have no ax to grind. Yet my real-life experience is that donated stuff often winds up in the "Black Hole of Curatorship," of which I once wrote about in re: donating guns to basement storage (black hole) in Cody WY, rather than recycling s/n 2 or Bill Furnish's rather common wallhangers, for example, to those who really appreciate such things (as Jim Parker did, bless his soul).
Ron Kirby, as Executive Director, bought T-Latch s/n 49 for the PGCA "Museum" with PGCA $$$$ and Oscar Gaddy rehabilitated it--added value--gratis; who has seen it lately? What ever happened to Forest Marshal's catalog collection including the "Flying Ducks," which I reprinted, or the "Clown Catalog" donated by someone else (that once in the black hole could not be reprinted for others to enjoy).
I skipped Sanford this year and attended the National Decoy Show and Sale in St. Charles IL the same week. I came within a few hours of acquiring one of the rarest shotgunning books of all time:
Fred Kimble: Masted Duck Shot of the World by Wm. Hazelton (1922) of which 60 were printed as give-aways (I offered $2,500, the price of my 42 vol's of
Shooting & Fishing, but alas...too late). At least I got to see and fondle it, and I know who now owns it...and maybe he won't live forever...or he'll tire of it...or need money...or...hope springs eternal when collectors' items are in private hands.
Rare guns and collectibles are much more visible when circulating among collectors. The Invincibles are even less visible in the NRA museum in VA than when they were in PA; at least when in private hands one did not need to kneel on the floor during business hours and bring his own light source for a peek. When was the last time you were able to view the Parker factory records that you helped copy? EDM
