Prakrit manuscripts on Indian ebay

[Birgit Kellner]

Dominik Wujastyk wrote:

> One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.  Cry, probably.
>
> Illustrations from Kalpasutra MSS are now being auctioned on the new
> Indian Ebay.
>
>   http://search.ebay.in/manuscript_W0QQfromZR40QQsojsZ1
>
>
> At least they are only available for delivery within India.
>
> Dominik

A few years ago, individual pages of some fairly recent Devanagari
manuscripts were auctioned off on Ebay Germany. I contacted the seller,
trying to explain to him that if he wants to sell these items, he should
preferably sell the whole bundle, and not auction them off page by page.
He went on selling individual pages for a while - more precisely put,
trying to sell them, for he rarely got any bids.

I suppose that one will always find such offers, usually coming from
people who don't know what they have on their hands, or who know it's
not worth a lot and try to make the most money out of it. At any rate,
if we really want to cry, visiting antique dealers is more efficient
than Ebay.

Best regards,

Birgit Kellner