I get hassled buying "used" clothing.

[Retro_GI_Jane]

I have a girl friend from St. Lucia and she said that grave scavenging is so bad where she grew up, that when they buried her mother, they encased the casket in cement (standard practice, apparently). Some people even dig up the bodies to reuse the grave site. She was really surprised it wasn't as widespread here. (Thank goodness it isn't.)

I've read enough news articles of this happening right here in the US to make me think that it is more than we realize.

 

[sheeplady]

Back in my reporter days I covered a local story involving the rifling of a local Civil War hero's tomb -- someone broke in, went thru all the coffins looking for jewelry, and ended up stealing the General's skull, which turned up a couple of days later in a drainage ditch on one of the back roads. Turned out to be some local dopers looking for some fast money to get a fix, and they apparently thought the General would add a festive air to their next party.

lol There was a family feud between two "families" where I grew up. I believe it started when family 1 un-buried and moved the most recently buried member of family 2 and family 2 had to rebury them; family 2 retaliated by stealing the head off of family 1's most recently buried body and dropping it down an old well. (The cops found the head years later when a child discovered the well.) All of which was wonderfully nice to hear on the nightly news.

I'm not sure whatever stopped them, except for they ran out of freshly buried people to dig up and/or they were jailed.

 

[Aerojoe]

Yeah, I even have a bad reaction to archaeological digs at burial sites. It's for history and all, but not something I'm particularly keen on

I agree. I can imagine some Egyptian pharaohs wishing they had been cremated :eusa_doh: When the grave is fresh is scavenging but when the grave is 5,000 years old is archeology. Not fair!

 

[sheeplady]

I agree. I can imagine some Egyptian pharaohs wishing they had been cremated :eusa_doh: When the grave is fresh is scavenging but when the grave is 5,000 years old is archeology. Not fair!

Then they ship the stuff off to the conquering nation (far too often) and separate it and sell off pieces which is the worse part. I have my own beliefs as to what happens in death, but I have absolutely no desire to mess with others- if somebody believed s/he needed whatever for the afterlife, at least leave that stuff in proximity to the body- don't separate it out and sell it to the highest bidder for each piece. And try to leave the stuff with it's rightful cultural owners (who typically have more respect) including allowing them to rebury the person, pay tribute as they feel is appropriate, or even display these items in a culturally sensitive way. I have no problems with science (and we've learned a ton from excavations) or even displaying the dead (tactfully and with respect) in museums for learning purposes, but these sorts of things often involve stealing and desecration. So often these people are not treated like human individuals, but like "things" that have no value except as a display in a museum.

 

[Miss Stella]

I leave you alone for a minute and look where this post went to!!

 

[jamespowers]

Then they ship the stuff off to the conquering nation (far too often) and separate it and sell off pieces which is the worse part. I have my own beliefs as to what happens in death, but I have absolutely no desire to mess with others- if somebody believed s/he needed whatever for the afterlife, at least leave that stuff in proximity to the body- don't separate it out and sell it to the highest bidder for each piece. And try to leave the stuff with it's rightful cultural owners (who typically have more respect) including allowing them to rebury the person, pay tribute as they feel is appropriate, or even display these items in a culturally sensitive way. I have no problems with science (and we've learned a ton from excavations) or even displaying the dead (tactfully and with respect) in museums for learning purposes, but these sorts of things often involve stealing and desecration. So often these people are not treated like human individuals, but like "things" that have no value except as a display in a museum.

Where do you think the pharoahs got that stuff from in the first place? lol

 

[sheeplady]

Where do you think the pharoahs got that stuff from in the first place? lol

I like to think we as a society are better than that. An eye for an eye makes us all blind and all that. The specific examples I was thinking of aren't even on the same continent as the pharoahs.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

This concern about wearing dead peoples clothing bought at Thrift or Charity shops is getting rather out of hand.

Although no doubt some clothing and other items found for sale in these stores may well be from the estate of those who have passed away, many items in fact are brand new, some have never been worn, or may be just used once or twice, then no longer required as people don't don't like being seen in the same dress etc more than once. I think people often see something they like the look of in a main store, but then when they get home decide they don't really like what they have bought, but can't be bothered to take it back for exchange or refund and give it to the charity shops. At the charity shop I work in, we often have garments that still have the orig shop labels in. We always press and steam all clothing item before they are put out for sale and we don't sell any clothes that are soiled or torn etc.

If we see anything we would like to have from our store, we have to pay for it, we are certainly not allowed to take items for free either.

 

[kiwilrdg]

The original topic was kind of related to the recent tangent about grave goods. The people who think it is creepy to wear used clothing are thinking something like the exapmles of removing chothing from a corpse. Hopefully not as extreme, but by looking at the extreme it does allow one to examine the attitude and hopefully understand other's fear of something that many of us enjoy.

The possibility that there is some dander from someone else that was not removed on cleaning does make a little more sense if you think in the extremes. I would not buy my wife a dress that belonged to Mary Mallon is perhaps an example that is at the extreme but not as absurd.

The example of the shop that I discussed that gives the homless workers clothes does a very good job at regulating the clothing that is given to the workers and people who donate clothing to the shop know that the clothing that is donated will help the homeless either by being sold to help them or by being given to them. It is more cost efficient to give items directly to the homeless than to sell the items at a low price and buy lower quality new items at a higher price. As long as that is what is happening and it is done openly so the people donating know that I think that is a good thing. If I don't like it I can always donate items to the large scale shop that pays 10% of the profit to the charity that is renting it's name to the shop.

 

[O2BSwank]

I like thrifting and find quite a lot of nice clothes. If I was skinny I could have a great wardrobe of better quality clothing then I could by at JC Penney for less.

 

[Mojito]

I nearly became sidetracked into writing about the "kidnapping" of A T Stewart's corpse in 1878 after reading the above

My brother once tried to needle me by asking me how I felt about wearing "dead woman's clothes" - I proceeded to give him the names and life histories of several of the dresses for which I have a provenance. He never tried again.

 

[Kishtu]

When my late other half died, I had a full wardrobe of vintage suits, Jermyn Street shirts, handmade shoes etc to clear out. - If it's a point of interest to anyone, he died wearing a very faded "Father Ted" t-shirt and clean underwear. No conflict of interest there, I feel ;-) Everythingl went straight to the Salvation Army hostel. He was buried in one of his good suits but other than that I felt much happier to know that all his good clothes had gone to people who would wear them and get pleasure and use out of them, either because they were nice clothes in their own right, or because they were warm and clean.

I've always got my clothes from charity shops....

 

[rocketeer]

It's unfortunate for us but now many charity shops have specialist's who pick out anything worth a decent amount of money and either appraise it at a collectors price or else have an eBay or such outlet. Naturally the charity needs to make as much money as possible but it's a shame if something you would like is just a little out of your pocket range or gone to that great auctioneer or the internet.

 

[kiwilrdg]

It's unfortunate for us but now many charity shops have specialist's who pick out anything worth a decent amount of money and either appraise it at a collectors price or else have an eBay or such outlet. Naturally the charity needs to make as much money as possible but it's a shame if something you would like is just a little out of your pocket range or gone to that great auctioneer or the internet.

What I think is even more unfortunate is how many of these "specialists" cannot tell a shill ad on Ebay from the actual value of an item. Many of then have no concept of condition either. At least a few stores near me will still keep items out that are higher quality. They have learned that if people find a great item a few times they will buy lots of good and OK items the rest of the time and the shop makes more money.