Jim wrote:
>>When you think about it, it is only a hat band. One with an interesting history, admittedly, but still only a band. The thing of real value was your friendship with Mr. Drew, which was, and is, something which could not be bought.<<
Jim, you beat me to posting thoughts along these lines.
The thing that I treasure most are the numerous close friendships I have developed with various other ocean liner collectors over the past twenty five years.
Over the last ten years these friendships have only grown closer.
As I can remember being asked by Steve Sweeney to join and assist in the development of little private mailing group on "Prodigy" run by Phil Haywood back in 1993.
I quickly joined this group along with eleven others and we when on to discuss privately in great detail the Titanic and other ocean liners and our various collections. Over time more people were invited onto this little group as they were other "friends" that the members knew.
In early 1994 this mailing group was taken off "Prodigy" an onto a mail server on the world wide web by Phil Haywood. When this group reached about 40 to 45 members it started to swap and overpower Phil's server and another member of the group "John Davis" stepped in and transferred the mailing list to a new server.
Along about this time it was also determined that the group should open itself up to anyone who wanted to join. This was done in early 1994, and after getting several of the same basic questions over and over again by the new members it was determined that a FAQ need to be written.
This original Titanic FAQ was written by Steve Sweeney, David Wong, John Davis, Phil Haywood and myself back around 1994-1995 is has gone through various updates and is still around as it can be found on this sight and various others.
As the friendships and list grew I had to opt in an out of the mailing list due to numerous moves and job changes and flame war attacks by various people. The original members back in 1994-1995 know who these people are/were.
The original list also moved from server to server as it grew. But when the list owner came under a serious flame attack by various members of the list it was determined at this point to shut the list down and transfer it over to a newly created newsgroup www you all should know this newsgroup -- alt.history.ocean-liners.titanic.
Thus the "John Davis" mailing list was then shutdown for a short period of time and then re-openned privately to none trouble casing members again. The list grew along with the numerous friendships, the server and ownership changed hands again this time "Mark Taylor" took over, there were numerous other mailing lists that also started at this time, Jeff Newman's, Brian Hawley's and mine, etc.
Back in 1993, the only Titanic group you could find on "Prodigy" was this private mailing list there were no "Titanic" websites. Do a search today you will find hundreds of thousands of hits for Titanic and various other ocean liners.
It is these original friendships that have developed over the years that I treasure most. However, some of the original twelve members have passed on, they are still remembered with great fondness.
For back in 1993 it was these people who you could tell when you picked up a really good "Titanic" find and they would know what you were talking about and its value.
I would have to say that it is of great importance that if your collection isn't going to an heir, that it be spelled out in great detail where it is going, and that if it is going to be given to a museum that they have to place it on public display or available for public viewing and not just in storage. As I know many items that have been donated to various societies or museums were the items are not on display or ended up elsewhere. (Major parts of my book collection coming from the sale of these collections).
That is why I am glad that
Walter Lord's Collection went to Greenwich.
However, until that final day comes I feel that whatever I buy or whatever I am given should be kept in my collection. If I choose to sell it in my old age for myself that is my choice. However someone should also be aware of the value of your items because I have also seen great collections thrown in the trash. A prime example of this is Cunrad Lines itself back in the late 1960's and early 1970's a lot of its archive items just when in the dumpster. Thank goodness a friend was smart enough to pull a lot of this stuff out of the dumpster before its destruction.
However, several of my prize pieces very few people have ever seen as like many others, I made a lot of my private stuff avalible to others back in the mid-ninties only to find it on various websites without credit (Mostly after the Cameron Titanic caze when almost everyone had to start a website on the Titanic) of copies of original images being sold for a profit.
That is why most of what I share on this ET board is watermarked or noted that it come from my personnel collection.
I to agree that I one is given an object of great value by a friend keep it as, in most cases it was given out of friendship and with the understanding that you are aware of its value and will treasure this item.
As for a key example of one rare 'Titanic' item see my introduction link as the original members of the mailing list will remember this find
