Item title: Windows on the World - WTC - Trade Center - plate 9/11
Starting bid: US $9,011.00

I was just scanning the pages of eBay looking for ship memorabilia and came across something that I thought was Unbelievable. I know this is not directly cruise related but I always equate the Towers with sailing out of NYC

There's a guy currently on eBay selling a WTC Windows on the World salad plate with a starting bid of $9,011. There is no mention that any of this money is going the WTC fund. It's all going to him. Unbelievable he's starting with an opening bid of $9,011. This eBayer just posted this yesterday when the World was morning the 5 year anniversary of 9/11 he was thinking how he was going to make money on it.

Click here

For those that can not access the link I copied his story. Is this guy for real?

This salad plate was purchased at the Windows on the World gift cart (located on the 107th floor next to the elevator) shortly before the 9/11 attack. The cart did not even have an employee manning it, and it seemed that few people ever gave much thought to buying anything there. I actually had to call over someone from inside the restaurant to make my purchase. Since the tragic terror attack, all items associated with the WTC are high demand collector items. Even keys to offices that were in the building are selling on EBay for $500, old menus from WIndows on the World go for a couple hundred, and matchbooks go for thirty dollars. Here you have the opportunity to own a truly rare and special piece of WTC history.

A used plate just like this one is featured in the Smithsonian American History Museum's September 11 exhibit:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/september11/collection/record.asp?ID=79

There is probably just a handful of Windows on the World plates in existence. It is with great reluctance that I am letting this go, and I have refrained from posting this plate for the past five years, however bills have caught up with the luxury of owning this special plate. I am including the original bag and original wrapping paper as well.

[ 09-13-2006: Message edited by: Sky Room ]

[ 09-13-2006: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

[ 09-22-2006: Message edited by: Sky Room ]

No one is more sensitive to the WTC than I am, but I don't see anything wrong with this. It's a unique piece of history and the man needs the money. Someone who appreciates it should buy it.

What sickens me are the street merchants in lower Manhattan selling counterfeit NYPD and NYFD merchandise along with poorly produced souvenier photo booklets chronicling the attacks, people jumping and the buildings falling.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tim in 'Lauderdale:
Why shouldn't this man sell it and why should the money go to a fund? Does Eastern Airline or Pan Am memorabilia go to help families that became destitute as a result of those airlines going out of business?

No one is more sensitive to the WTC than I am, but I don't see anything wrong with this. It's a unique piece of history and the man needs the money. Someone who appreciates it should buy it.

What sickens me are the street merchants in lower Manhattan selling counterfeit NYPD and NYFD merchandise along with poorly produced souvenier photo booklets chronicling the attacks, people jumping and the buildings falling.

--Tim

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Simply and totally agree with you Tim.

Artefacts from war and disasters are very collectable; like the ‘Titanic Coal’ that was on offer.

I recall being in a museum and seeing a mummified man in a display case that had been found in a marsh. Although interesting it could be argued that he should be out in a cemetery not a museum.

Such apparent exploitation of historical events seems to be particularly unpleasant if it is in living memory.

As for the World Trade Centre plate, it’s a matter of supply and demand. The person will not sell it for 9K unless someone thinks it is historically interesting enough to pay that price. That's capitalism for you!

By the way Sky Room your original post is a great advert for the plate. Cruisetalk is viewed by a lot of people, so you may have Inadvertently helped the seller, sell the plate?

[ 09-14-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

It's not as though this item were pulled out of the wreckage after the attack--that might be crossing the boundaries of tastefulness. Yet look at how much ANDREA DORIA china has been retrieved from that wreck and sold--and that wreck could legitimately be considered a grave site!