Pieces of History Are Going - Then Gone - On Ebay ; Some Sales of Rare Public Documents Are Illegal in Maine, but Online Sales Can Be Hard to Catch.
Portland Press Herald › February 28, 2005
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Summary
The seller described the item as a "wonderful, original document dated 1819" complete with signatures of Pownal's selectmen. Bids on eBay started at $14.95 for the historic tax record from the southern Maine town. The seller, however, did not get a bite from Maine State Archivist Jim Henderson. Instead, the online auctioneer got an e- mail warning that the sale was illegal.
Henderson and others in the Maine Secretary of State's Office are trying to prevent the sale of original public documents, a problem they say has increased with the popularity and ease of Internet auction sites. They are contacting traditional auctioneers, working with a national group to push changes in online auctions and trying to educate the general public.See the full content of this document
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Pieces of History Are Going - Then Gone - On Ebay ; Some Sales of Rare Public Documents Are Illegal in Maine, but Online Sales Can Be Hard to Catch.
"Public documents belong to the public," Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said.
The sale of local, county and state documents is a criminal act under state law, punishable by up to a year i...See the full content of this document
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