Masonic Items & Strange Customer Messages

Agree with Jay. We too have sold masonic and Fraternal club items. Copyrighted doesn’t mean you can’t sell it, it just means you can’t reproduce it and make more of them, i.e. copy and mfg. for resale.

Every visual artist, painter, sculptor, photographer, musician in the world has copy rights to their material / art object as soon as they create it and sign it. But onces someone buys it, they can resell it for whatever amount they want. They own the art object BUT you can’t have Giclee prints, photograph it or repaint a copy of it and then turn around and sell your copy.

As Jay would Say [hey that rhymnes], List it and Forget it. Resell it if you can.

Look up Robert Rauschenburg [visual artist] and find the story about where he sold one of his earlier works for $185. Then decades later he was at the Sotheby’s Park and Benet Auction house when it sold for Millions. A reporter asked him if he felt cheated that he had sold it for so little and now it went for so much more. He replied, I thought it was a good price at the time. He [the customer] bought it, he owns it and he can sell it for whatever he can get for it.

We will look for it online and good luck.

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Arts in Atlanta

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

I guess you have to judge the danger. I know many members of the Masonic lodge in our small town. They’re just normal, schlubby dudes. It’s not like the movies where they have magical powers and carry swords.

My advice is to keep quiet.

Silence. Once you engage, he’ll lock onto you. Let him call eBay and explain how his club is special and super secret and “no grown ups allowed”.

We listed a piece of art once that was signed by the artist. Some random person messaged us that she was his neighbor and demanded we return the art to the artist. She said she would sue us.

We ignored her. It sold. All’s well that end’s well.

Regular bullies are bad enough, but there’s seriously almost nothing worse then an internet bully.

Where did you put it?

Sure was. I read it. Here it is again for review.

almasty wrote:

I had one angry Rosicrucian take down like 20 Rosicrucian pamphlet lots of mine a few years ago. That still stings. I paid $100 for them and barely made my money back on them before that happened (I suspect that’s how I ended up getting them for so cheap in the first place!). I still don’t know what to do with the lots I have left, ugh.

It makes sense when it’s the literature of the organization, to an extent. I don’t understand how the patches can be considered in the same class of “belonging” to the organization as the “secret” literature could (it’s really sleep inducing stuff, and it has for the most part been reprinted repeatedly anyway).

If they do contact Ebay, you’ll probably just get an “ebay removed this item” letter from them, even if the vest has already been sold. I know it makes no sense, but I guess they just send out letters like that sometimes to protect themselves.

I bought a late 1800s/early 1900s Masonic robe several years ago off Ebay for really cheap with no problems. That one was issued by the Masonic Supply Company. I see they go for a LOT now! But anyway, they have no problem with their clothing items being resold on Ebay. This organization that tried to buy it back from you is probably just upset that they weren’t able to buy it back first. That’s why they are saying “oh, please return it to us as a gift.”

I find this sort of amusing because I’m listing through a large box of Masonic material right now. Lets see if the crazies come out for me (please don’t)!

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