The T206 Titus Bubble

[SetBuilder]

I spend a lot of my time reading philosophy so I thought I'd chime in here. I've been wanting a Titus card for my set since I started collecting a year ago but I've given up the hunt for now. I'll buy it as part of a larger lot but I don't feel like paying the premium for it knowing what I know about this particular card.

Here we have an unnamed hoarder who has a huge fetish for the Titus 'stache (you can take this literally or figuratively); is trying to realize a profit by driving up prices (i.e. cornering the market), or is trying to stroke his ego by controlling the supply. I don't believe that merely "liking" a card is enough of a motivation to hoard it compulsively, especially when he is in possession of hundreds of copies of the same card.

Ethics teaches us what conduct is to be valued, and what conduct is detrimental, to society as a whole. One test I like to use to determine if a character trait is ethical (or virtuous) is to ask "what would happen if everyone acted in this way?" That is, what would happen if a great number of people began to hoard valuable items compulsively? The world would not be a happy place, I would imagine. This is why vices are toxic to mankind, because if hedonism is valued over everything else, we have chaos.

I do not believe this conduct is acceptable. If you want a profit bad enough, produce something instead of mooching.

[tiger8mush]

Originally Posted by SetBuilder

If you want a profit bad enough, produce something instead of mooching.

I'd argue that the hoarder is producing a shortage

Will he/she actually profit? I doubt it. Every card gets more and more expensive. Eventually when he/she sells, the price realized on each card will begin to diminish with every Titus that is released into the market to the point where it falls back to normal pre-hoard price.

Has it been established that this Titus hoarder is doing it in the name of profit? I can't imagine that is the goal.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by SetBuilder

Ethics teaches us what conduct is to be valued, and what conduct is detrimental, to society as a whole. One test I like to use to determine if a character trait is ethical (or virtuous) is to ask "what would happen if everyone acted in this way?" That is, what would happen if a great number of people began to hoard valuable items compulsively? The world would not be a happy place, I would imagine. This is why vices are toxic to mankind, because if hedonism is valued over everything else, we have chaos.

I do not believe this conduct is acceptable. If you want a profit bad enough, produce something instead of mooching.

How does society benefit if something is borderline and NOBODY does it? Drawing a hard line on wether something is ethical based on benefit to society is quite the challenge.

As an example, I don't think that fast food employees being lazy or not caring about doing a good job is good for society, or for them. But it's not unethical.

How many of our prewar cards are still around because of hoarding? Or other slightly off behavior. You could say that by not sending them off to a WWII paper drive they hindered the countrys efforts. Ethical?
Having a few hundred caramel cards in the attic for a century or so? Surely nobody benefitted over that time, although they have now. Ethical?
Or how about bringing home a sheet of cards your company is printing? They're only going to throw them out, and your kid will enjoy cutting them out and doing whatever kids do with cards. surely the company would think of it as stealing, while to the kid it's a marvelous gift. And a century on, those have become treasures to some people even if they're cut a bit crooked and might be missing a color or six. Ethical?


If someone wants to buy a bunch of the same card that's really not a problem. Some people will pay a bit more and to them it's a detriment. Some will sell for more, and to them it's a benefit. Seems like the net result is nothing.

And sometime get a look at the volume of stuff any large museum keeps "for study" It's usually orders of magnitude more than they display. No immediate benefit there, maybe no benefit in my lifetime. But maybe someday.

Steve B

[tschock]

I fail to see any ethical dilemma at all when dealing with the difference between the want of person A versus the want of person B. Now if we were talking the needs of these 2 persons (food, water, inalienable rights, etc), that is a different story.

Personally what I find unethical and reprehensible is the assumption that "society's wants" trump and individual's inalienable right to "pursuit of happiness" when it doesn't impinge on another's inalienable right to life or liberty.

[ullmandds]

What I find unethical is when someone has a card I want that may be worth a few hundo...and just because I want it it becomes a $1000 card...now that's not cool!

[CTrux]

My apologies to the Titus collector. This discussion has gotten a bit off topic. For the record, the only thing I personally considered unethical was the hypothetical destruction of the cards, which was admittedly my idea and not something I wanted to attribute to him.

I just wanted to know if there really is a bubble. I'd love to get a nice PSA 5 but I don't want to pay too much. Thanks!

[MVSNYC]

"For the record, the only thing I personally considered unethical was the hypothetical destruction of the cards, which was admittedly my idea and not something I wanted to attribute to him."

Thank you for clarifying, as i didn't think that was the Titus collector's intention.