Northwest Collector

David Chesanow

eBay should tighten its auction cancellation policy for sellers

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Today I am totally pissed off: I made the opening bid of $9.99 on an item six days ago. The auction was due to end tomorrow. I was the only watcher.

Then, this morning, the seller canceled the auction, citing an error in the listing. When I messaged him through eBay, he replied: I meant to start it off at $99.99 and did not realize my mistake until just now. I paid way more than the $9.99 I had accidently [sic] started it at.

I messaged him back: You waited until the day before the auction ended to do that?

His reply: Quote “did not realize my mistake until just now.”

Me: You got only one bid (me) and one watcher (me), and you think you’ll get $99 for it? Good luck. And you’re totally unapologetic. Great eBayer.

Him: I will bet anything that if you had listed either of your two item for $2 instead of $200 or whatever as buy it nows, and someone had won it for $2.00, you would have cancelled the auction. And yes I do. Everyone is not always on at the same time.

Me: If you had canceled the item 5 days ago and apologized, I would have understood. But every seller checks the bidding on his items. And they start low to attract more bids with “no reserve” [per the listing]. More likely you expected more people to bid and weren’t happy with it, so you weren’t taking chances. And I wouldn’t have made the error of listing a $200 for $2. That would be careless and unprofessional. Like listing a $99 item for $9.99 and then canceling the day before the auction was due to end.

Him: ok 1572 feedback [mine] compared to 21988 [his]. You win and I have over 900 items listed and sorry that I just noticed one not listed correctly. You have had your say. Are you hoping I will say, here you can have it for $9.99? Too bad!

(Note: All of his other 900+ listings are “Buy it now or best offer.”)

Me: No, I don’t expect to get it for $9.99, and I wouldn’t want it at this point anyway—and I couldn’t care less about your feedback. You could have been more professional about canceling the listing.

Him: yes it gives you so may [sic] options….nope

Me: I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. And the fact that all your other listings are “buy it now or best offer” also suggests you expected a lot of bidding on this item. Or did you “mistakenly” list it as an auction in addition to the $9.99 starting bid? You’ve wasted enough of my time. Have a great day!

I would have said a lot more, but eBay has a rule about abusive language.

When I tried to complain to eBay, their irritating chatbot informed me: The seller ending the auction early is generally discouraged but can happen. If the seller ended the auction due to an error in the starting price, this is within their discretion.

Which begs the question, as I suggested above: What’s to stop a seller from ending an auction at the last minute just because he feels the bidding is not getting as high as he hoped?

This actually reminds me of a painting that some brain-dead seller in New Zealand listed with a $99 starting bid many years ago. I asked him if he would consider selling it for $150 on “Buy it now.” He said, Oh, no, it’s worth much more than that. So I bid and, predictably, won the painting for $99. Then . . . no reply from the seller. No request for payment. Nothing about shipping. Dead silence, despite multiple polite emails from me asking how much to pay. Needless to say, I never got the painting.

It was the first of only two scathing feedbacks I’ve ever left on eBay.

The second time was when I purchased a historical letter from some nut in Germany. That time I did pay, then waited to receive the letter. It never arrived. I got eBay involved and PayPal refunded my money. When I sent a nasty message to the seller about listing an item, accepting payment, and then not sending the goods, he replied, “Why are you angry? You got your money back and I got to keep my letter!” Certifiable loon.

Long story short, eBay really needs to protect bidders/buyers more:

(1) Sellers should have a deadline—like, five days before an auction is due to end—after which they can’t cancel the auction if someone has already left a bid. You can’t invite bidders to bid in your auction and then end it because the bidding isn’t as crazy as you hoped. Professional (by which I mean ethical) auction houses don’t do that, nor should eBay. And it does waste buyers’ time to bid and plan to up their bids—only to learn that the seller has weaseled out.

(2) Given that, under current eBay rules, sellers can cancel an auction after someone has already bid, ostensibly due to an error in the starting price, they should be penalized for that. It’s their responsibility to proofread their own listings. You don’t get a pass for being lazy or careless.

(3) If a seller does cancel an auction after someone has bid, the bidder should be able to leave negative feedback. The fact that bidders have no recourse when a seller is careless or acts in bad faith is really enraging. eBay should do more to ensure the integrity of its auctions, and that means establishing rules that allow mistakes to be corrected within a reasonable amount of time but not allow a loophole for sellers to game the system. Every auction without a reserve is effectively a gamble: You may have a treasure that gets a lot of high bids, or you may get one bid. If a seller doesn’t want to run that risk, there’s “Buy it now or make an offer.” That’s what it’s for: a straight purchase.

About 15 years ago I wrote a story about seven things I love about eBay and seven things I hate about it. I think it’s time to revisit that.

‘Dealer’s Special Pick’: Kol Shaver, Zephyr Used and Rare Books

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Welcome to the first of a new feature here on Northwest Collector: Dealer’s Special Pick, in which an interesting item of my choosing in a collectibles dealer’s inventory is showcased!

Our first dealer is Kol Shaver of Zephyr Used and Rare Books (http://www.zephyrusedandrarebooks.com), located in Vancouver, Washington, here in the Pacific Northwest. Kol got into the rare book business in 1987 while at UCLA, where he was in the PhD program in medieval history with an emphasis in the history of science. He got a job at Rootenberg Rare Books & Manuscripts (https://www.rootenbergbooks.com/), specializing in the sciences and medicine. He worked for Rootenberg until 1994, then started his own business.

He issues ten to twelve catalogs a year, exhibits in six or seven shows annually, and is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (https://www.abaa.org/).

I asked Kol what he specializes in; he answered, “I’m definitely a polymath, as anyone looking at my catalogs can see. I tend to focus on pre–World War II for the most part, with a heavy emphasis on nineteenth- and twentieth-century illustrated books, technology, trade catalogs, sample catalogs, photographs, photography, Western Americana, Pacific Northwest history, world’s fairs, children’s books, mysteries and science fiction in dust jackets, and archives as well.”

I also asked Kol what kind of material he’s looking to purchase. He said, “I usually send people my catalogues and say that if they have items in those veins, then I’m interested. Often, though, I just flat-out need to see them. A key issue for me is condition. I often have people looking to sell me material and state that ‘it’s pretty good for its age.’ I always reply, ‘I’m looking for material that’s as close to what it would look like if you went into the store in 1880 to buy it.’ It should be clean and crisp, as projects are always a hassle to have repaired.”

Looking through Kol’s really excellent December 2025 catalog (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YSzSro5JZWE4NWP3CDd24yQ7oh10iLBW/view), I was especially attracted to a portfolio of British ferns, which reminded me of other British trends of centuries past, like having a resident hermit on your estate, or creating “phantom bouquets” of skeletonized flowers. Here’s the description of the item, which is still available as of this writing:

63673 [BOTANY — CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS]. HEATH, Francis George. The fern portfolio: all the species of British ferns are included in this volume. . . . London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, [Emrik & Binger, Chromolithographers, 15, Holborn Viaduct], 1885. Folio. 12 x 15.5 in. [38 pp (unpaginated).] With 15 chromolithograph colour plates, each with facing text leaf. Olive-green pictorial publisher’s cloth, gilt decorative lettering front cover, British ferns depicted in green & black, decorative endpapers (minor edgewear, minor bumping to corners, head & foot of spine, slight occasional foxing), still a VG– bright copy. $750.00

First edition of this wonderful production by the noted British botanist, designed to depict all British fern varieties in nearly life-size formats through the chromolithography of Emrik & Binger. This was designed to serve as a key visual reference for the legions of specimen and herbarium collectors during the Victorian fern rage, or Pteridomania, where enthusiastic and often zealous collectors during the last half of the 19th Century filled ferneries, created fern cabinets, and herbariums. Ferns varieties illustrated within encompass Royal Fern, Broad Buckler Fern, Hartstongue, Mountain Buckler Fern, Holy Fern, Brittle Bladder Fern, and many others.

Heath (1843–1913) was a noted British botanist, civil servant, editor of Gilpin’s Forest Scenery, and a pioneering force in the Open space and Green Belt movements across Victorian England. Emrik & Binger produced chromolithographs & lithographs for very few British & European illustrated works, and are not included in Twyman’s A History of Chromolithography.

All images courtesy of Kol Shaver, Zephyr Used and Rare Books.

Will you be in the San Francisco area between February 27 and March 1? Visit the 57th California International Antiquarian Book Fair. See https://www.abaa.org/events/57th-california-international-antiquarian-book-fair for details!

Butch Cassidy wanted flyer: The upshot

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In case you missed it, the 1901 Pinkerton wanted flyer for Butch Cassidy and fellow gang members that Freeman’s auctioned off on January 29 realized $12,800 including the buyer’s premium. The estimate was $8,000 to $12,000, so it didn’t do badly at all, although I expected it to go for more, based on earlier auction results. The original listing can be viewed at https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6465-printed-and-manuscript-americana/lot/152.

Meanwhile, look forward to a couple of new features on this page: “What the Experts Collect” and “Dealer’s Special Pick,” in which a dealer will be invited to talk about an exceptional item he or she has on offer.

We’re also interested in what subjects you’d like to see featured and any questions you’d like to have answered.

And, as always, we’re grateful for feedback here at NorthwestCollector.com. Let us know what you think!

Robert LeRoy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy. Carte de visite photograph taken in 1893 at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, Laramie, Wyoming, and mounted on a card from Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency with information about Parker, giving his aliases as George Cassady and “Butch” Cassady. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, lot 15027, no. 28 [P&P].

Where have you gone, Butch Cassidy?

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Just when I thought I’d said pretty much all I had to say (for now, anyway) about wanted posters, I’m eager to report that Freeman’s in Philadelphia (FreemansAuction.com), in their Printed and Manuscript Americana auction on January 29, will be auctioning a rare Pinkerton flyer for Butch Cassidy, Harry Longbaugh (aka the Sundance Kid), and other members of the so-called Hole-in-the-Wall Gang (alternatively the Wild Bunch—not to be confused with the Sam Peckinpah film), issued after the robbery of Great Northern Railway Express train no. 3 near Wagner, Montana, on July 3, 1901, in which $40,000 (almost $1.25 million today) was taken. The estimated hammer price for the flyer is $8,000 to $12,000.

From the Freeman’s Printed and Manuscript America auction on January 29 at 10 a.m. EST: [Wild West] Cassidy, Butch, and the Sundance Kid. Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency Wanted Poster for the Wild Bunch. Courtesy of Freeman’s, 2026. 

I find this exciting on so many levels . . .

For one thing, it’s not just one of the rare Pinkerton flyers for Butch and Sundance (who is not pictured); it’s an early example I’ve never seen before—circulated a good three years before the better-known one of November 14, 1904, issued after the gang knocked over the First National Bank of Winnemucca, in Winnemucca, Nevada.

I asked the great Marshall Trimball, former columnist for True West and my go-to authority for all things Old West, if he knew of this particular flyer; he told me he’d seen it in an old book some years ago—further evidence of the flyer’s rarity, because if Marshall Trimble has seen it only once, then there have gotta be precious few of them in existence.

For another thing, as readers of this blog already know, a 1901 wanted flyer with printed photos rather than affixed photos is really early.

As for the auction estimate: it beats the hell out of me. All I know is it’s out of my league. That said, a somewhat damaged example of this flyer came up in a Heritage auction in 2011 and sold for $14,340 with the buyer’s premium—and Heritage notes someone offered $19,000 for it in 2014. So Freeman’s estimate may be on the low side. (Incidentally, I note that an example of the more often encountered but still extremely rare 1904 flyer with the Sundance Kid’s photo sold in a Morphy auction on June 24, 2023, for $19,965, including the buyer’s premium.)

For those who would like a really interesting description of the train robbery that prompted the issuance of the 1901 flyer—which offers a $6,500 reward, incidentally—have a look at the listing for the auction lot at https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6465-printed-and-manuscript-americana/lot/152. The Freeman’s folks note that, “while this circular lists Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as having participated in the July 3rd crime, there is debate as to whether one or both of them actually took part in the heist. Some accounts indicate that at the time of the crime they were in Argentina, having fled there earlier that year, while other accounts record them arriving there the following year, in 1902. Furthermore, the exact number of perpetrators or members who participated is unclear, and while this poster lists Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and Deaf Charley as the culprits, others such as Bill ‘News’ Carter and Ben Kilpatrick could also have participated.”

That’s one of the big things about the Butch Cassidy legend: where he was and when—and even if he was actually killed in the remote settlement of San Vicente, Bolivia (population 50 in 2001), on November 7, 1908, at age forty-two. Family members insist he survived the shootout and turned up in his hometown of Circleville, Utah, in the 1920s, but that’s another story.

What does seem to be widely accepted: Butch never killed anyone himself and was as smart, good-hearted, personable, and charismatic as the character portrayed by Paul Newman in one of the iconic “rebel” films of the 1960s.

Anyway, look for an update with the auction result on NorthwestCollector.com!

The 1969 film that made Butch and Sundance household names, directed by George Roy Hill, from a screenplay by William Goldman.

Life is ephemeral!

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A 1907 wanted poster for an escaped convict in Colorado, recently purchased from Mark Baker of GoldRushPaper.com. (See below.) The escapee had been convicted of “Larceny live stock,” which I take to mean cattle rustling. Author’s collection.

I love ephemera. If you don’t know what that is, Merriam-Webster.com provides this definition: “items (such as posters, broadsides, and tickets) originally meant to be discarded after use but that later become collectibles.”

One thing I love about ephemera is that you can collect it specifically—say, Old West wanted posters and postcards, the subject of an earlier post—or in connection to a larger collecting area, like outlawry in the Old West, which can include books, photos, and other items.

A postally used wanted postcard for horse thief Ira Kinder from Eads, Kiowa County, Colorado, postmarked 1912. Another example of this card appears in WANTED! Wanted Posters of the Old West and Stories Behind the Crimes by Barbara Fifer and Martin Kidston (Farcountry Press, 2003), a great resource. The elusive Kinder is not described in the text of WANTED! but an online search of archived Colorado newspapers indicates that he continued to steal horses. Apprehended in Texas in 1915, he was extradited to Colorado and faced with a possible sentence of three to eight years in the slammer, but he forfeited a $1,500 bond by not appearing in Kiowa County court for his trial. The April 21, 1916, Kiowa County Press remarked dryly, “It is unlikely that Kinder will return of his own accord.” I got this card on eBay in September for $30; another postally used copy sold in the final Holabird Americana auction earlier this month for $160 plus the buyer’s premium.

Another thing that’s cool about ephemera is that it can be very rare. For example, there were more than 1,300 passengers aboard the Titanic, so presumably at least 1,300 tickets sold—plus an estimated few dozen unused tickets for unsold upper-class berths. Where did all those tickets or ticket stubs go? Even if all of the used tickets were discarded or were lost at sea, one would expect some unused ones to be floating around somewhere (no pun intended). Yet, one sold in a Bonham’s auction for $56,250 in 2012, which I assume doesn’t include roughly another $15K for the buyer’s premium.

A third thing I like about ephemera is that it’s, um, ephemeral—which is to say, even if if it’s not a high-ticket item (another unintended pun: sorry!), it can provide some new fact or aspect relative to your collecting area . . . and as I’ve often said, collecting is not just about acquiring “stuff” but about learning something (ideally something new) about the subject of your collection.

An added bonus is that a lot of ephemera can be pretty damn cheap, even on eBay, and especially in in-person venues like flea markets, estate and garage sales, gun shows, etc.

Be aware, though, that there is a flip side: not all ephemera is especially rare, and newly discovered caches can flood the market and send prices plummeting—which is disheartening if you’ve aleady paid a pretty high price. A case in point: about 15 years ago I was looking for the autograph of Otto Mears, the Russian-born railroad builder who oversaw construction of the narrow-gauge Denver & Rio Grande Southern Railroad and linked it the different D&RG lines in the late 1800s. I bought a D&RG purchase order signed by Mears from a New York bookseller for $250 and later D&RG stock certificate signed by Mears in a railroadiana auction for $300. Then, five to ten years ago, I started to see both Mears-signed invoices and stock certificates on an eBay. Every time they sold, new ones would be listed by the same seller–all authentic. The prices started dropping. Even I started picking up the invoices for under $50 and another stock certificate or two at $150, as I recall.

As always, before bidding or buying: Do. Your. Research.

One of my favorite ephemera dealers is Mark Baker of Gold Rush Paper (GoldRushPaper.com), who is well-known among book and paper collectible sellers and enthusiasts. Mark specializes in California material, but he has loads of stuff from other parts of the United States as well—from postal covers, postcards, and letters to billheads, photos, documents, and Civil War items—and I regularly visit his website to browse. I encourage you to check it out!

More on the return of Carlisle Indian School students’ remains

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The Carlisle Indian Industrial School cemetery circa 1990. the cemetery was relocated in 1927. Image courtesy of Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections.

Here are the replies to a series of questions that I asked the Office of Army Cemeteries at the end of August regarding the return of the remains of students who died at the Carlisle Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. My apologies for taking so long to post this: I received these answers in mid-September. Many thanks to Olivia Van Den Heuvel, public affairs specialist at Arlington National Cemetery, for facilitating this communication.

Northwest Collector: The supplementary information [in the Federal Register of March 3, 2025]* indicates that the disinterments are at the request of family members of the deceased students. Are the family members responsible for taking possession of the remains and reinterring them?

Office of Army Cemeteries: Families and tribes participate throughout the disinterment and return process by making key decisions on where the child will be returned to and permanently buried, as well as conducting cultural ceremonies and prayers, and formatting the final interment headstone. The Army funds the disinterment, transportation, and reinterment of the children.

Q: Can tribes request that remains be returned, or must the requests come from family members?

A: The Office of Army Cemeteries requires a notarized affidavit from the closest known living relative, often identified with tribal input, to comply with Army regulation regarding the disinterment of named remains in an Army cemetery. Determining a child’s closest living relative is at the discretion of the family and tribe. Kinship relations vary greatly across tribal nations and the Army does not dictate how families or tribes make that determination.

“Descriptive and Historical Record of Student” for Wallace Perryman (spelled “Berryman” here), a member of the Seminole Nation from Shawnee, Oklahoma. He entered the Carlisle Indian Industrial School on August 30, 1906, at age twenty. Both his parents were already dead. Perryman died on July 12, 1910, after surgery for an abdominal abscess. He was one of the Carlisle students whose remains were scheduled to be returned to his tribe. Image courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Q: How many other students’ remains have been returned so far, and how many graves remain?

A: As of October 2024, the Army has returned 41 children to their families and tribes. The Army is committed to this program and will continue to engage with tribes and families that request the return of their children from the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery. 

Prior to this year’s disinterment program, the cemetery contained 135 graves with Native American or Alaskan Native names, 34 graves belonging to military service members and their families, and 19 graves that are reasonably believed to contain the remains of unknown Native American or Alaskan Native children.

Q: Does the Office of Army Cemeteries have a procedure by which it reaches out to tribes to offer the return of remains?

A: The Army conducts robust nationwide in-person consultation with federally recognized tribes and families whose children are buried in the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery.

Q: Do tribes or families ever prefer not to have remains returned or don’t respond, e.g., out of respect for the dead or because the decedent’s family can’t be notified or can’t take possession of the remains?

A: There are a handful of tribes that have requested their loved ones remain in the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery at this time. Out of respect and privacy for those tribes and individuals, we will not provide further details. 

The Office of Army Cemeteries stands ready and willing to assist tribes and families requesting the respectful and dignified disinterment of their loved ones from the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery.

Q: Is there anything that the general public can do to help?

A: The Army is grateful to have the support of the public and the tribes throughout this program. We encourage the public to reach out to Dickinson College or Cumberland County Historical Society if they’d like to learn more about the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

“The Army is honored to conduct the Carlisle Barracks Disinterment Program once again,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of Army National Military Cemeteries and the Office of Army Cemeteries. “We are deeply grateful to the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes for their brave commitment to bring their loved ones home.”

Renea Yates, director of the Office of Army Cemeteries, added: “The Office of Army Cemeteries team truly appreciates each of these tribes for the kindness, courage and devotion they’ve shown throughout their journey to bring their children home. We recognize that this is no small undertaking, and we hope that our skilled team can assist in bringing a sense of peace and closure that these families deserve.”

* See “Notice of Intended Disinterment from Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery,” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/03/2025-03357/notice-of-intended-disinterment-from-carlisle-barracks-post-cemetery.