From: Paul Kosmatka (stcloud@home.com)
Location: Minnesota
Date: 4/27/00
Time: 7:29:52 AM
Rusty and Cheryle,
Are you stating that the collectors society as well as the "authors" has this information in the past and chose to ignore it? If you still have this information or samples please share it with us. I personally find the "I've got it but I won't show you"attitude is as equally bothersome as the "I don't believe you because you're not one of us" attitude. Several of us truly are interested in seeing what you've got, so we can form our own opinions.
Cheryle mentions Lyndon Viel as someone who would set things straight, but his book is certainly full of errors as well. There's a lot of confusion, and eBay tends to promulgate misinformation faster than other sources, with unknowledgeable sellers relying on "authoritative resources". It's in the book, so it must be true is the prevailing theme.
I agree that the "clique" nature of the society is troubling, and keeping it from expanding (see discussions regarding web-enabling the newsletter). With the advent of eBay, the society serves very little function any longer for collectors. The annual meeting used to be the only forum for buying and selling to a large group of collectors. It is now certainly still a social event, but for the avid collector, serves little other purpose.
My $.02
Paul