Friday, November 14, 2008

VALUE

What is something worth? Since I am an appraiser, I hear this question daily. But I then have to ask questions back to the creator of the question. FIRST question I ask..TO WHOM? I have to ask them becuase in reality the question of what something is worth has no one answer.... If I ask what is it worth to them....I am sure the value will be very high... based on sentimentality. If I ask the person who wants to buy it for resale, the value will be much lower...and If I ask people, who want to own the item for their own collection.....it will vary..from very low to very high.
Value can be ascertain also by knwing if the value is for taxes,..then its low. If its for insurance purposes and replace ment its very high...Then you have to take into account LOCATION. A Gas heater might have very little value in the middle of the AMAZON JUNGLE, but in Wassillia Alaska, when Sarah Palin is freezing her little REPUBLICAN ass off, the value to that MAVERICK might be very high, if the temp is below zero. More realistically, something selling in the woods of upstate New YORK, will be a lot cheaper than in HOHOKUS NJ, and if found in a swanky Madison Ave shop will be ten time HOHOKUS and 40 times that in the mountains. The reverse sometimes might be true...In NYC country collectibles, just might sell cheaply, but to a person with a summer home in the Catskills, they might pay more for it than the city slicker.
So you are already bored and wondering why I am using the above paragraphs as a prelude to something...YEP! I read today in a CHRISTIES auction magazine, that an auction of an EGYPTIAN Sarcoughagus (speeled wrong..but listen its 5 min the morning)
is going up for auction. Its the daughter MUMMY Case of Amenaka, some Princess from 800 years before CHRIST, and in good condition Its estimate is ONLY 20 to 30,00 English pounds....I sold a Tiffany shade a few years ago, mass produced..and not for a dead princess....ANd it sold for almsot double the expected amount for something so rare as a mummy case...from Egyptian ROYALTY. The moral of the story. Supply and demand. I guess there isnt much of a demand for mummy cases....and for real Tiffany shades, the demand is high. I think a mummy cashe in my livingroom woul dscare the crap out of me.. Wondering if there were evil spirits wandering around....and if I hear a noise in the middle of the night, I might panic and think an mideastern royal ghost was in my refrigerator looking for some left over hummous or falafel.
My sleep pattern lately has changed. I work on the computer, and then fall asleep watching TV.. usually something interesting like the Discovery or History channel. I am so sick of reality programs..becuase..in reality..these programs are NOT reality.. People in the real world dont go out into the jungle and live a dangerous life style, while trying to see who they can elminate... Peole in the real world dont go on TV to see who can win prises by loosing the most weight and getting elimiated if they dont loose enough. There are a few new ones that really make be laugh..SEX CHANGE HOSPITAL (I am not joking) They take up the stories about peopel who want to change their gender. I saw only one program and that was enough. The two men, should have stayed men. They looked so bad as women, it was frightening...They looked like truck drivers who went to salvation army, bought a new outfit, put on heels, and wobbled out...wearing tacky red lipstick and makeup and still needed a shave. Their hair seemed to be combed with an egg beater... The alcoholic and suicidal lesbian, actually looked like a real man from the waste up. But I do not think the program added to the understanding and acceptance of people having sex changes...The anguish of the people who are stuck in the wrong body made itself clear...but showing alsoholic and suicidal people, rather than more mentally stable people.. only ads to the stigma that gay people are messed up. All people who decide to have sex changes are not mentally ill, although, being trapped in the wrong body, makes them suffer a lot, I am sure... I intellectually understand what they are going through, but personally I just couldnt imagine having my weeny cut off..you see, I am very attached to it.
There are some shows that I do like like the one called BIZarre foodss with a fat silly guy named Andrew Zimmern. He goes all over the world in search of wierd things to eat..Many of which are revolting, repulsive, nauseating,vile, putrid...I guess you get the idea. Fried grasshoppers are normal. Sticky rotted tofu, scorpions or seahorse kabobs, and various other kabobs made from things like chicken stomachs, chicken vaginas(didnt think they had them--or was it ovaries) never the less...yuk. This week he ate freshly killed camel...raw...and the best part was the bloody crunchy kidney... The poor camels freshly decapitated head was shown on the floor of the butcher shop, that was totally infested with flies...well, this was in downtown HARRAR Eithiopia...later that night, he and his guide, went out side of the city wall, to feed.....HAND FEED the Hyenas... They are usually very vicious killers, but since they get fed nightly, they were almost domesticated and they let the men pet them...(thank you very much, I will pass on that honor.....and the freshly killed camel sushi.

3 comments:

Luigi and Nam said...

Thanks for the laughs and insight.

~ Former customer now residing in CO

Unknown said...

Maury, This is Blanche from yesterday who sat and listened to you read from your book. I put one poem on my Facebook and you will be so proud of the responses to your poem. I already have people who want to buy it. Just wait, we will be a great team, because I believe in you and what you have said and still have in you to say.

Unknown said...

Granny’s attic has everything and anything you could every imagine you would never want until you see it and you have to have it. I was able to find a beautiful original water color framed painting by a well known Bergen County artist and Maury made me an offer I couldn’t turn down and I don’t have the money. I proudly hangs on the wall of honor with my other works of art. Thank you so much for seeing how much I loved that painting and giving me the gift of taking it home for a price I could bear.