I have been playing UO since 1998, but the sad part is not until 3 years ago then i realise there are actually so many rare items around in the game. So i started to get very curious over those items, and it has been driven me to wanting to get them.
I started out buying lots of gold just to purchase some low-end rares which i myself also did not know where they come from or how it was gotten. I had never been thinking that duping items were so easy and there were so many people doing it. After spending billions of golg buying all those junkie rares for some times, i realised there were actually someones who collects them and probably keep them for as long as they still like it.
The sad part was i had never check out any UO related sites, not until i was told stratics is a wonderful site for rares. That was when I happened to buy over some of those items from someone whom i do not know, who had hacked the account of the owner of those items which he was selling. Then all those rumours started to circulate on stratics rares forum.
At the time, i saw Nail's collection. I was so amazed by all those items which he was going to sell. I quickly PM him and try to negotiate for a deal. Finally, we managed to close the deal and a lot of people knew i bought it.
I was so excited. In my mind, all i wanted to do is to setup a museum and display all those items. I even gotten Nail's to write history for all those items i bought from him, but sadly, he only managed to do it for some of the items.
Shortly after that, people started to PM me to sell some of them items which they wanted. All i can said at that time was, i had never thought of selling any of them. All i said was please wait for my museum to be opened then we talked about it. Everyone is anticipating the opening of the museum. And due to RL, it was delayed for 1 month.
Till now, i have not been thinking of selling any of the items. Now the question is, if i am a person who is going to dupe the item and sell it for cash or gold, will i display them? especially those unique items. If so, does not it will rise some questions on the item and probably devalue it?
Then it comes to another question, is Nail's collections questionable? If so, then is he and his trust questionable? Well, basically i do not have all the answers, because i ony know Nail's through the deal. And furthermore, I have not been able to get him since 1 month ago. Well, if a person like Nails is questionable, how about those other rares collectors who are also actively collecting and trading rares on stratics?
Finally, i do not know how many pieces does each rare is produced in the game and how we know how many pieces are produced or found for each item? All i care is owning it and displaying them in my museum. I hope this can clarify my position. I simply collects them.