Posted on 10/17/2013 5:35:18 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
If Rufus McDonald were white, you'd already know his name, and he'd be on the path to pushing George Zimmerman aside as the most hated man in America. But because he is black, you probably have never heard of him, unless you live in Chicago. You see, Mr. McDonald was cleaning out an attic and discovered some papers. As Kim Janssen of the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday:
Hidden in a dusty trunk in an abandoned and looted Englewood home, the papers of Harvard's first black graduate, Richard T. Greener, had long been thought lost to history. (snip)
Several museums and Harvard University itself expressed a keen interest in the historically significant 140-year-old Greener documents. An excited Gates, who leads Harvard's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African-American Research, even said the discovery gave him "gooseflesh."
But now McDonald says the irreplaceable collection could go up in flames - literally.
McDonald - who recently sold just two of the documents for $52,000 to the University of South Carolina, where Greener also studied and taught - is threatening to torch the rest unless Harvard offers him more cash.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Your view that Harvard's offer is low-ball is based on two assumptions:
1. That Mr. McDonald is telling the whole truth and that Harvard will pay no more than $7500. From the article, Harvard is disputing that.
2. That the documents are actually worth more than whatever Harvard actually offered.
From my own perspective, both assumptions are unproven.
When I see Mr. McDonald threatening to burn them rather than to sell them to Harvard, even if their low offer is the highest bidder, it makes me think, he's not a trustworthy source. It makes me think that either he's irrational, or he's playing a con.
Or possibly both.
sitetest
Harvard's a big place. So is Yale. I appreciate how you feel, but the stereotypes and generalizations are a little harder when one gets a little closer to take a look.
sitetest
I think we’re all a little sensitive the past few days.
I get discouraged to see FReepers take at face value what is in the Chicago Sun Times. Harvard disputes what this man says about the appraisal and the offer. A Chicago junk man’s word is gospel, why? Because he’s black?
I also get sensitive about bashing other people’s schools. Many of us may have attended Harvard or have children there. Other than feeding class envy it accomplishes little and diminishes the site.
But you’re right - it’s hard not to be sensitive these past few days.
If it were me, and if I got a ridiculous low-ball offer (you dispute all the "ifs" so I don't know why I bother to finish this sentence), I'd tell them to go to Hell and they can't have the artifact at any price. I'd rather burn it. End of line.
Have a nice day.
Well, if it were me, and I knew I was being low-balled, I'd just laugh. Then, we'd proceed from there.
If I didn't get satisfaction, I'd look for other bidders. Frankly, I'd be doing that, anyway. If I got a higher bid, and the low-ball bidder wanted to top the higher bid, all things being equal, I'd take it.
I'm certainly not going to cut off my nose to spite my face.
I've owned my own businesses for nearly 30 years. If I got mad and stormed off, refusing to do business with the other party, every time someone gave me a low offer on the value of what I was trying to sell, I'd be mighty poor.
This guy, apparently, is trying to play the angles. And what I see is an attempt to get the highest actual bidder to go higher through bad publicity. Here are the clues:
“Several museums and Harvard University itself expressed a keen interest in the historically significant 140-year-old Greener documents.”
Okay, there are at least a handful of institutions interested in the stuff. One institution bought the part they thought was particularly valuable, and left the rest.
But then the article says:
“McDonald — who recently sold just two of the documents for $52,000 to the University of South Carolina, where Greener also studied and taught — is threatening to torch the rest unless Harvard offers him more cash.”
He's not saying he's going to torch the stuff if no one else offers more than Harvard has offered, but rather he's going to torch the stuff if HARVARD doesn't offer more than Harvard has offered.
That strongly suggests to me that Harvard has made the highest offer for the material that remains. Because, if someone else from the other institutions had offered more money than Harvard, I'm not sure this article would have ever even been written.
And lo and behold, here's an excerpt from an article on the fellow from 2012:
"Rufus McDonald says he's talked to plenty of people, including archivists and other experts, about the value of what he's found, but he's been disappointed so far in their offers. He says he can't afford to donate the documents, so he's looking for a buyer with deep pockets."
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/23/151227283/discovery-sparks-interest-in-forgotten-black-scholar
I guess that's just too damned bad for Mr. McDonald. That's how markets work - interested buyers make their offers, the seller gets to choose the offer that is most appealing to him. If none are sufficiently appealing, and no one is willing to up their price, well, then, there's just not going to be a sale.
I'll go back to what I originally said - it doesn't matter at what value your stuff is appraised. It's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
I hope Harvard withdraws their offer and tells Mr. McDonald to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. He's already made over $50K on something that almost literally fell into his lap. There are offers on the table from several other institutions for more of the material, but their offers don't suit him. So, he tries to embarrass the likely highest bidder into going higher, threatening to burn the docs because no one will pay him the amount he wants. Looks like a common grifter to me.
sitetest
So what if the picker is a dumpster diver. He saved these historic items from the landfill! Harvard should kiss his ring for that alone.
I deal a little bit in documents, old books, etc. I know the mind set of institutional buyers and collectors. Advanced collectors and universities can be real cheapskates. They think they know everything and don’t want to pay anything. Institutions most often want a donation no matter how rich they are.
So it doesn’t surprise me at all Harvard is trying to pull a fast one here.
Rufus McDonald were white, you'd already know his name, and he'd be on the path to pushing George Zimmerman aside as the most hated man in America. But because he is black, you probably have never heard of him, unless you live in Chicago... Hidden in a dusty trunk in an abandoned and looted Englewood home, the papers of Harvard's first black graduate, Richard T. Greener, had long been thought lost to history... McDonald says the irreplaceable collection could go up in flames... is threatening to torch the rest unless Harvard offers him more cash.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.