12 Mar
2003
12 Mar
'03
12:33 p.m.
So, you believe that a reproduction of the Mona Lisa
made recently
should be worth the same as the original. Great, I'll have someone whip
up one tomorrow and you can pay me for it what the original is worth.
There's a big difference between a unique work of art and an instance of a
construction of a published design.
Clearly for _anything_ collectible there's a scale of valuation based on
age, 'low serial number', 'made by original inventor', condition,
completeness, whether repairs have been made to it, etc., etc.
All this arguing about imprecise, unquantifiable terms like 'original' and
'new' doesn't solve anything.
The only thing that seems to be in general agreement is that the seller
(probably) intentionally omitted information that might have lowered the
final sales price. Which is something the Romans (well, Latin anyway) had a
phrase for a long time ago...