Red Brick Census

[TED WILLIAMSON]

Have you ever, like me. wondered just how many of the first 36 issues (the Red Brick issues - 1888 through 1885) are extant? This is my proposal: That a respected member of the National Geographic community (perhaps an employee of the National Geographic Society) conduct a poll among all the dealers nationwide, inviting them to disclose the amount of each number in their inventories. These dealers, in turn, may invite prominent collectors of their acquaintance tp share their  numbers, which the dealers could forward to the Society. The general public may be invited to participate through an invitation in, say, Collector's Corner or even eBay via an addendum to various insertions. The general public in our society, perhaps in all societies of all times, consists of a certain percentage of personality disorders, so they would submit photos of their Red Brick issues. A thank you letter under the Society letterhead, and maybe a small gift may be reward enough to motivate responses - and confidentiality would be assured. When the results are tabulated and published, I daresay veteran and other knowledgeable collectors may be astonished at the results.

If only 30% responded, that may be universe enough to establish relative rarity; it certainly could predict the outcome, to a great degree of accuracy, of political campaigns.