On 9 Mar 2011 at 22:58, Carol DeVolder wrote: > From the New York Times: a look at why people pay bajillions for > famous peoples' stuff. Personally, I don't think I would do it, > although I would be sorely tempted by Mr. Clapton.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/science/09guitar.html?_r=1&src=recg >From the article: "The Yale team found that a sweater owned by a popular celebrity became more valuable to people if they learned it had actually been worn by their idol. But if the sweater had subsequently been cleaned and sterilized, it seemed less valuable to the fans, apparently because the celebrity´s essence had somehow been removed. " True story. I spent a year with my family on sabbatical in beautiful Wales. My wife joined a community centre tennis group there for some afternoon social tennis, nothing serious. Wimbledon happened. One of the tennis women was there, and when a victorious Andre Agassi peeled off his sweat-laden T-shirt and threw it into the crowd, she was the one who caught. it. She brought it back to the centre and all the women took turns posing for photos while wearing it. My wife must still have hers somewhere about. But the women were aghast when the T-shirt catcher revealed that she had laundered it before bringing it to the centre. "Oh, you couldn't have!", they protested with that charming Welsh accent. Of course, that was long before Agassi revealed that he wore a wig and had always hated tennis. Had they known, it might have diminished his essence more than the laundering. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=9272 or send a blank email to leave-9272-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
