The director of my museum regularly scans e-bay for things appropriate to our time period (1890-1930, not much help for you). Everything seems to be as advertised and undamaged, though one wonders about the reliability of provenance info. sometimes. My director purchased a Christmas card that the seller advertised as being from 1902, but there was nothing on the card to indicate a date. So, we really can't be sure when it was produced. We also have trouble getting the receipts from him. As an aside, I wonder how e-bay receipts stack up as legal proof of ownership? Anyway, e-bay is working for us, all in all. We've found some really neat things. Just my two cents. Cheers, Chris Godbold Assistant Curator Heritage Farmstead Museum Plano, TX > >Does anyone have experience with buying items on e-bay for your museum's >collections? Has it been successful? Did you encounter any problems? >What were they? Any recommendations for other museums looking to fill >specific needs for the collection in this manner? We are particularly >interested in any attempts to purchase Civil War related artifacts in this >manner. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).