Unethical or Just Lucky?

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AtLarge

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"Hypothetical" scenario.

A widow is disposing of some of her recently deceased husband's possessions, including an old pool cue. The cue-ignorant widow is advised to contact Knowledgeable Cue Dealer (KCD) to discuss the cue. KCD goes to her house, inspects the cue, and asks her how much she wants for it. She says she doesn't know, it has just been lying around in the attic for most of the past 35 years, .............., how about $250? KCD pays her the money and leaves with the cue.

The next day, KCD calls one of his cue-collecting customers and sells the highly inlaid Balabushka cue for $25,000.

Was KCD unethical, just lucky, or something else?
 
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Wow. Perhaps a bit of both.

Is this a true story? The old man must not have realized the cues value either, otherwise he would have mentioned it to his wife before passing away.
 
Not really sure I could do that to someone, especially if the widow wasnt very well off and could have used the money for burial expenses or something of that nature. The world if full of all kinds of people I guess.
 
AtLarge said:
"Hypothetical" scenario.

A widow is disposing of some of her recently-deceased husband's possessions, including an old pool cue. The cue-ignorant widow is advised to contact Knowledgeable Cue Dealer (KCD) to discuss the cue. KCD goes to her house, inspects the cue, and asks her how much she wants for it. She says she doesn't know, it has just been lying around in the attic for most of the past 35 years, .............., how about $250? KCD pays her the money and leaves with the cue.

The next day, KCD calls one of his cue-collecting customers and sells the highly inlaid Balabushka cue for $25,000.

Was KCD unethical, just lucky, or something else?
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I personally despise people that take advantage of someone due to lack of knowlege.
 
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws": Pluto. (There is a "slight" possibility I have the wrong Pluto here)
 

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I'd have to agree with this side. But if it was in a pawn shop, all bets are OFF! LOL:D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Jadssons said:
Not really sure I could do that to someone, especially if the widow wasnt very well off and could have used the money for burial expenses or something of that nature. The world if full of all kinds of people I guess.
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If he was called to do an appraisal than it was very unethical. How about the friend that recomended the dealer? NICE FRIEND
 
Its unethical and there is no two ways around it. She contacted and trusted him as an expert. KCD lied and took advantage. He should be hung by his pinky toes for a week and then shot. :angry: (I really hope this was only hypothetical)
 
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Seriously unethical! If you would have to ask yourself whether or not it's the right thing to do, you may want to take a good look in the mirror.
 
This activity happens all the time with people that dable in antiques at flea markets , the art world, people that buy old houses and find thing of value hidden in the walls, and people that do estate closures. Do any of these people go back and add more money to the sale price? It seems a little more sinister by the fact that you add "widow" , but that just adds drama and emotion. I don't particularly endorse it, but sad as it is .. this activity is not uncommon. Best of rolls to ya.
 
AtLarge said:
"Hypothetical" scenario.

A widow is disposing of some of her recently-deceased husband's possessions, including an old pool cue. The cue-ignorant widow is advised to contact Knowledgeable Cue Dealer (KCD) to discuss the cue. KCD goes to her house, inspects the cue, and asks her how much she wants for it. She says she doesn't know, it has just been lying around in the attic for most of the past 35 years, .............., how about $250? KCD pays her the money and leaves with the cue.

The next day, KCD calls one of his cue-collecting customers and sells the highly inlaid Balabushka cue for $25,000.

Was KCD unethical, just lucky, or something else?
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KCD was unethical, but the widow very careless. When you own something that may or may not be valuable -- pool cue or anything else - the value of which you don't know, you don't sell it to the first bidder.

This could have made a heartwarming story on The Antiques Road Show.
 
AtLarge said:
"Hypothetical" scenario.

A widow is disposing of some of her recently-deceased husband's possessions, including an old pool cue. The cue-ignorant widow is advised to contact Knowledgeable Cue Dealer (KCD) to discuss the cue. KCD goes to her house, inspects the cue, and asks her how much she wants for it. She says she doesn't know, it has just been lying around in the attic for most of the past 35 years, .............., how about $250? KCD pays her the money and leaves with the cue.

The next day, KCD calls one of his cue-collecting customers and sells the highly inlaid Balabushka cue for $25,000.

Was KCD unethical, just lucky, or something else?
Click to expand...

Unethical. If the cue dealer went there in an advisory capacity then he should have made a deal with her before looking at the cue concernign how to handle it if it turned out to be something valuable.

That cue was his wife's inheritance and if she had put it on Ebay it probably would have fetched $10,000 at least.

In my mind he has stolen a large amount of money from her.

Look at it this way. If I take a diamond ring into the Jeweler's for an appraisal and the jeweler tells me it's a fake or somehow downplays the actual worth so that he can buy it from me at a fraction of it's value then he has committed fraud.

If I were the woman I would sue the cue dealer. Sorry but this is just plain robbery.
 
cookie man said:
If he was called to do an appraisal than it was very unethical. How about the friend that recomended the dealer? NICE FRIEND
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Well I am sure the friend didn't expect the dealer to rob her.
 
How many people think a pool cue is worth more than a a few hundred dollars, other than people in the know like on this this message board?

As said, the real crime if any is the original owner not informing his spouse as to the value of the cue.
 
Seems to me if she should have done some homework. Besides why would he have had something like that just laying around the attic??
 
sjm said:
KCD was unethical, but the widow very careless. When you own something that may or may not be valuable -- pool cue or anything else - the value of which you don't know, you don't sell it to the first bidder.

This could have made a heartwarming story on The Antiques Road Show.
Click to expand...

I don't think she was careless. She was being careful by asking a friend what to do and he recommended an "expert" to appraise it. At least this is what I get from the story. The expert made out as if it wasn't worth much and stole it from her.

The story, as laid out, points to an unscrupulous dealer, hopefully no one I know.
 
What makes you all think that the man knew the value of the cue that was in the attic? You can imagine all the people who bought Bushkas and Szams and Palmers and so on who quit pool and never looked back. Or the cue was inherited and no one knew the value of it.

SJM mentioned Antiques Road Show and this story is played out all the time about people who bring things that were handed down and they have no clue about. Sometimes those things turn out to be very valuable indeed.

I would love to see something like this happen on Antiques Road Show. I wonder who they would bring in to authenticate it? I doubt that they would have anyone on hand who knew anything about cue.
 
You didn't say she called KCD for an appraisal. From your wording it sounds more like someone told her, "Hey, call KCD, he knows a lot about that pool stuff. He probably knows what one of those are worth." In that case, he was very opportunistic...by your words HE didn't set the price, SHE did. I would call him unscrupolous for taking extreme advantage of her ignorance.

If the countrary is true, he was called in as an appraiser, then he is GROSSLY unethical. He should be held responsible, even if she spouted off a price. He didn't offer any real appraisal (obviously) and he just followed along with her stab in the dark price.
 
Something strangely similar happened with the Antiques Roadshow a while ago. As I recall a family from, (I believe) Pittsboro NC brought some items from a family member, General Pickett, of the Confederate Army for the show and an appraisal. After the show one of the appraisers purchased the items and resold them at a large profit. Word got back to the family and after a lawsuit against The Road Show an attorney helped them reacquire there belongings. Since this incident The Road Show appraisers are no longer allowed to purchase or represent any of the items that are brought in. Perhaps some of the other members here have more accurate info but this is what I recall about it. Unethical but fortunately corrected...
Dan
 
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