Being naturally curious, your Editor decided to assign a staff reporter to follow up on the recent eBay sale of an 1850 Dye's Counterfeit Detector and Universal Bank Note Gazetteer" (reported in the February 4, 2001 E-Sylum, v4, no. 06).

Then I realized, "Hey, I don't have a staff!" So playing beat reporter, your Editor contacted the seller seller himself, asking how he acquired the item and what he thought of the bidding which took it from a $9 opening bid to a final $1225 hammer price. The gentleman wrote:

"I found the item while browsing an upstate NY antique co-op looking for photographs to add to my collection. I stopped at one booth, and the photos were terrible, so I started looking at the paper items available. The detector was priced at the reasonable sum of $15.

After looking through it, I decided it was worth that much as an interesting diversion to read, and then resell. As to its value, I felt sure someone who collected paper money would be interested in it for more then I paid for it, but to be honest, I thought it likely that the amount it would resell for was in the $50 to $100 range. I was surprised by, and don't pretend to understand the reason for the final bid. Needless to say, if I ever see another, I've learnt something useful here."