After waiting over two years for the Government of T&T to purchase her original copy of Michel Jean Cazabon’s Book of Trinidad 1837, Karen Glubis has put it up for sale on eBay for US$25,000.
This is the second time in the past week that a piece of the nation's history has been put up for sale on the e-commerce site. Glubis is a Trinidad-born author who now lives in Florida.
Earlier this week, the Order of the Republic of T&T (ORTT) medal that was posthumously awarded to trade unionist Adrian Cola Rienzi was also put up for sale.
But local conglomerate ANSA McAL stepped in and purchased the medal for US$25,000 and now intends to donate the ORTT to the National Museum. Yesterday, the conglomerate’s Corporate Communications Manager, Sharon Balroop, said the company was unable to say when the medal would arrive in Trinidad to be handed over to the museum.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Glubis said she had followed in the footsteps of Canadian company Crawford CWS, which advertised and sold the ORTT medal on eBay.
“I had it in Trinidad for over two years, waiting for the Government to say whether they were going to purchase it or not,” Glubis said. “The purchase had even gone before the Cabinet as a note, but nothing ever happened. Three weeks ago I had it shipped here and I decided, after seeing the medal being sold on eBay, that I should put the book up for sale on eBay as well.”
Glubis’ copy of the book is one of only two existing copies and was passed down to her by her father ten years ago. She said it has been in her family for 45 years. The other copy belongs to Geoffrey Maclean, a Cazabon expert.
Glubis sent the T&T Guardian a copy of a contract between her and Maclean to negotiate a sale for the book. Her asking price at that time was TT$200,000 and Maclean was to get 30 per cent of that as commission. Late last year, Maclean represented the Government in an arrangement to purchase ten of Cazabon’s paintings from a London auction for almost $2 million.
“He was supposed to be negotiating the sale for the book, when he told the Government about the Cazabon paintings and he organised that sale,” Glubis said.
As of 3 pm yesterday, Glubis said she had had one offer but did not disclose the amount.
“Someone sent me a private message asking to purchase it. But the price was lower than the set bid.”
She said she was unsure yet if she would sell the book for less than US$25,000. But she said she was disappointed in T&T’s Government, after they asked her to reduce her price.
“They went to London and bought the paintings for almost $2 million. Why didn’t they ask for a reduction in the price there? They are coming to the lil Trini’ girl to ask for me to drop my price? I had to laugh.”