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Boston marathon stuff selling for crazy money. (Read 352 times)

    There is always a big market for the Disney medals. People who accumulate that crap love getting their hands on medals for races they didn't complete. I don't get it, and definitely don't get why someone who isn't a runner would want stuff from this race.

     

    Maybe Paul Ryan needs one to accessorize his sub-3 marathon time.

      I didn't buy the Boston Marathon sweatshirt at the expo and now I'm regretting it.  Thinking I might get lucky, I typed Boston Marathon shirt into ebay....what I found blew me away.

       

      There are finisher shirts going for over $250 with 15+ bids and days to go on the auction, I saw one of the space blankets bid up over $25, one of the check bags for $26.  However, far and away the best was this medal.

       

      Funny enough, even at those prices there is no way I would sell my shirt and medal, but if you want to seems like you could pay for your next 10 or so Boston entries.

       

      This falls into the "things I don't like about humankind" column.

       

      Not sure about the integrity of a person who didn't even run Boston who is trying to buy those items, and not sure why someone who would run such an iconic race as Boston would want to sell these items on Ebay to such characters....

      .

      The Plan '15 →   ///    "Run Hard, Live Easy."   ∞

        +1. Agreed 100%.

         

         

        This falls into the "things I don't like about humankind" column.

         

        Not sure about the integrity of a person who didn't even run Boston who is trying to buy those items, and not sure why someone who would run such an iconic race as Boston would want to sell these items on Ebay to such characters....

        .

        GC100k


          People pay a lot for game-worn jerseys from games they didn't play in.  Reggie Jackson is selling his world series jersey and hopes to get over a million dollars for it.  People want a part of sports history.

           

          I don't get the whole collecting thing, but an actual item from a famous event is attractive to some people.  Paying for someone else's Boston stuff from this year seems creepy to me, but it's not inconsistent with the collecting mentality.

           

          Well, maybe if I had the money I might collect something functional like guitars or cars, but I don't get collecting for its own sake.

           

          If I did a race as significant as Boston, I might want to keep my stuff, but any of my medals or shirts are for sale if anyone wants them (if I could find them).  The physical memento means nothing to me.  I might sell my Boston medal (if I had one), but 500 bucks might not be enough to bother, it'd be less than what the race cost me.

          xor


             

            Not sure about the integrity of a person who didn't even run Boston who is trying to buy those items, and not sure why someone who would run such an iconic race as Boston would want to sell these items on Ebay to such characters....

            .

             

            What Mr 100 said.  There's a huge market for sports collectibles and news-worthy collectibles.  This is a place where the two collide.  Will all the people buying this stuff say "yeah man, I was at the marathon!"?  No.  Some will.  I am more depressed about the whole reddit social media aspect and the disintegration of "news" and "journalism".  This?  It's weird, but not a "I weep for humanity" kind of thing.  People collect all kinds of weird shit.

             

            Like gnomes.

             

            GC100k


                I am more depressed about the whole reddit social media aspect and the disintegration of "news" and "journalism".  

               

              I don't see as much revolution as many people do.  I was in the Oklahoma City area in '95 and was listening to the radio when the bombing happened there.  The initial reports were all over the place.  The radio talk shows and internet message boards were crazy with rumors and speculation.  Timothy McVeigh's car sat on the side of the highway for awhile.  I remember a lady called into the radio show and said she drove by the car and "could just tell" it was a terrorist's.  A crazy time.

               

              It was pretty much like now except it wasn't worldwide and we didn't have all the amateur photos and video.  There is now a spectrum between amateur and professional rather than a distinction, but I see it more evolutionary than revolutionary.

               

              By the way, every single OKC reporter got major market offers just because they were there at the time.

              dickchase


                 

                Not sure about the integrity of a person who didn't even run Boston who is trying to buy those items, and not sure why someone who would run such an iconic race as Boston would want to sell these items on Ebay to such characters....

                .

                I never considered selling my medal and shirt from this or any other year until now. If I could get close to $1,000 (medals are going for $400+ and the shirt for $500) which I can then donate to the One Fund or even the charity I ran for - I'm honestly torn. I earned those trinkets, and they mean something to me. But they are still just trinkets. I'm thinking there may be a moral imperative for me to turn these objects into something better than what they are just laying around. I feel it's almost selfish to just keep them.

                xor



                  It was pretty much like now except it wasn't worldwide and we didn't have all the amateur photos and video.  There is now a spectrum between amateur and professional rather than a distinction, but I see it more evolutionary than revolutionary.

                   

                   

                  Well, those are two pretty major changes.  Plus the immediacy implied by social media.  Sure, there were dumbasses in OKC listening to police scanners and telling people what they heard.  But that's different than what happened when twitter got hold of the wrong person's name thanks to scanner eavesdropping. Within an hour, people around the world knew "the name" (the wrong name) and much fingerwaving occurred to hope the (wrong) dude rotted in hell.

                   

                  If you were in OKC at the time, your experience was probably much more up-close-and-personal than what I was hearing in San Antonio.  And CNN wasn't broadcasting quite as much unvetted bs.  Or so I remember.  I could totally be remembering wrong, I do admit that.  Weird week to process.

                   

                  Here's an interesting thing.  It has bothered me this week that so many folks are into viewing death photos and whatnot.  But that one is not really new.  Crime scene photos in the 20s, 30s, and 40s were big deals.  There are all kinds of photos out there for dead gangsters, bank robbers, etc etc.  Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde are good examples.  So that's not new at all.  But still ewwww to me.

                   

                  ymmv

                   

                  I didn't buy any Boston stuff.

                   

                  Speaking of the immediacy implied by social media - in the movies, the bad guy always (stupidly) reveals his plot to the good guy before he offs the good guy.  The Big Reveal.  The Spilling of the Beans. Of course, the good guy gets out of the predicament and with the knowledge he has of the fiendish plot, sets everything right.  Which he couldn't have done if the bad guy hadn't done said bean spilling.

                   

                  Seems to me like tweets "in the moment" can have the reversi effect of telling bad guys what the good guys are doing.  This is not good.

                   


                  Imminent Catastrophe

                    So apparently the medal is worth $550.

                    The Sam Adams bottle opener that opened my Stone IPA tonight and is now sitting in the kitchen drawer is apparently worth something.

                    The Runners Passport that I just threw out is worth something.

                    My drop bag (torn and taped-up) is worth something.

                    My 26.2 sticker is worth something.

                    The mylar blanket is worth something.

                     

                     

                    Hey assholes, they're not for sale.

                    "Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"

                     "To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain

                    "The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.

                     

                    √ Javelina Jundred Jalloween 2015

                    Cruel Jewel 50 mile May 2016

                    Western States 100 June 2016

                    Nasreddin Hoja


                      After the cancelled NYCM2012, I heard some of the stuff was getting good prices on eBay.  Not $550.00 though, but a medal, IIRC, was worth around $50.00.  Can't imagine what someone would want it for.  To the kids some people gave them to, $50.00 was money.  So yeah, they get cashed in.

                        Ok, If I ran boston a few years ago, lost my medal and saw a medal for 20 bucks on ebay for my finishing year YES I would buy it to replace my lost medal. It seems logical.

                        Paying 600 for a medal because of a terrorist attack is not cool.  I bet in a month no one will be buying them anymore.

                          5k  = 19.48 10/1/13

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                        Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/12  4:39.11

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                        kristin10185


                        Skirt Runner

                          I think that the fact that not everyone finished the race makes the finisher items oddly valuable. I don't get it either. A coworker of mine bought the 2012 NYC Marathon finisher jacket on eBay and wears it all the time. Apparently they are valuable because nobody finished (obviously). For sone reason that makes the jacket cool??? Yeah I don't get it.

                          PRs:   5K- 28:16 (5/5/13)      10K- 1:00:13 (10/27/13)    4M- 41:43 (9/7/13)   15K- 1:34:25  (8/17/13)    10M- 1:56:30 (4/6/14)     HM- 2:20:16 (4/13/14)     Full- 5:55:33 (11/1/15)

                           

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                          LedLincoln


                          not bad for mile 25

                            I imagine this initial flurry of eBay activity is almost all among business people.  They make money on eBay, and the stuff has no meaning to them other than for its (spiking) value in trade.  If you are one of the runners who don't care about mementos, I suppose getting rid of them makes sense, especially if you donate the money to a good cause.

                            heelgrad92


                              Ok, If I ran boston a few years ago, lost my medal and saw a medal for 20 bucks on ebay for my finishing year YES I would buy it to replace my lost medal. It seems logical.

                              Paying 600 for a medal because of a terrorist attack is not cool.  I bet in a month no one will be buying them anymore.

                               

                              Exactly.  I don't understand buying a medal for a race you didn't run.  I do keep my stuff, and my Boston stuff is always the coolest to me because participation is earned.  Now though, people come up to me and ask me about the race or tell me how glad they are that I made it back.  I would think it would suck to have to explain that, no you weren't there, you just bought the item on EBay.  I have to think the market is going to soften pretty quickly.

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