[R-390] Black faced R390-A

[Bill Hawkins]

Agree that honesty is the best policy. My conscience and empathy
for other people are strong enough that I couldn't lie about a sale.
Life at 67 is too short to go around with a guilty conscience,
any more than it already is.

OTOH, there's enough Robin Hood in me to not fault the guy for
going for the big bucks. There is another side of human nature
regarding people who have more than most other people. Consider
the buyer's "friends." They are there to gain some advantage
from one with wealth and power. None of them is going to call
the buyer an idiot. See "The Emperor's New Clothes."

The buyer is convinced that he has a very special radio. He (or
remotely possibly she) is very happy, until the next bauble comes
along. The seller is also happy. It's a win-win deal (but not
one that I could do).

It has been suggested that the auction was private so that a
shill bidder could operate. Maybe not. Wealthy people like their
privacy, so a private auction is attractive. Second, if the
buyer was not identified then none of us can send mail that
breaks the spell woven by the seller. Since it's a scam, shill
bidding is not ruled out. Wonder if the seller hit the Buy It
Now jackpot...

Does anybody remember a TV show called "The Rogues" in 1964?
David Niven was one of a family that made big bucks by scamming
the rich. One was a machine to extract gold from seawater. The
show was pulled because there were copycat scams. More likely
it was because the show did not paint the rich in a favorable
light. Same thing happened to the movie "Hudson Hawk."

Regards,
Bill Hawkins