Immorally making $5,000

[Buffoon1980]

He said you can have 'any and all of the cards'? Then they're yours, to do with as you wish. However, that doesn't absolve you from moral considerations. If you don't give him a cut, and I think up to 50% would be fair, then I think that would be the act of a douche.

Hypothetically, of course.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Personally, I would sell it (assuming there are more than one, I would sell one and hoard the other; at least until the artist who made the thing has died). That's just me though: if you're a decent human being (which you seem to be) then I would tell the guy about it. Maybe there is a second and maybe he could be persuaded to give you the second. Alternatively, the collective value of those cards could exceed the 5K so you could be looking at a situation where he appraises the collection and sells that; leaving you with the one valuable card.

 

[Thaluikhain]

You should most definitely tell him it's valuable.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

You tell him about it. It would be nice if the offer still stands and you can get a bunch of other cards to, you know, actually play with?

After all, you refer to him as a friend. Friends don't rip off their friends - and if they do, they're not friends. Simple.

 

[Amaror]

If you've an ounce of integrity or class, you tell him. If you're a greedy money-grubbing jerk, you just pocket it. Its a pretty black and white issue, no gray area.
Now, the real kicker here is that its a scenario where you don't have a clue if the owner knows what he has, but given that the owner (the brother) played MtG, its quite possible he knows how much its worth and A)doesn't care or B) is testing your integrity.
In a real world situation its hard to believe that a former player wouldn't know that a Black Lotus is worth money, serious money. Its more likely that a deceased player's kin has a box of their cards with no real clue what they're worth.
Either way, for integrity's sake you're a better person for speaking up.

Maybe he's not a player as in: Player in tournaments. Maybe he's a player in: Enjoy a few rounds of Magic fun with his friends. I know i am in the later and i would guess that a majority of magic the gathering players are in the later.
Although you might not call us magic the gathering players.

Edit: My point being: When your in the latter, it's pretty possible that you DON'T know how much a card is worth.

 

[Kaymish]

hell take the money and run i would
well ok i probably wouldn't only because i couldn't keep from twirling my metaphorical mustache with glee at the thought of the booty and i probably wouldn't be able to get off my arse to sell the damn thing but otherwise i totally would

anyway what i am getting at is you all ways gotta look out for yourself first then look out for your buddy shout him a nice gift in return for his nice "Gift" of the cards's he is your mate after all sure he cant be trusted as much as you can trust yourself and hes probably gonna screw you over one day but in the mean time hes your mate

 

[O maestre]

Take the card, sell it but say you made the money some other way, like the award prize for douchiest friend in an unrelated incident.

 

[Odbarc]

Sell it, share 50/50.

 

[SpAc3man]

Take it dude. You can have ANY card. That is what he said.

 

[wickedmonkey]

Wow... a lot of folks willing to shaft their friends for 5k...

Tell him dude.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Hypothetically...yea.

Yea you should tell him, who knows he might reward you for it.

 

[ABLb0y]

Let him sell it. It's his card, you don't really have a right to sell it.
What I'd do is tell him about it and then maybe push my luck and ask him for half, as he wouldn't know how valuable it as if not for me.

 

[chinangel]

i am a bad person. I would be keeping it.

 

[Legion]

Tell them while having a small selfish part of me hoping that they'd give me a part of the profits by way of thanks. I could not keep something like that to myself as it'd go against moral compass, but I am not above hoping they'd remember that if I had kept quiet they'd have gotten nothing. Not that I'd ask for a cut, I'd leave it down to them.

 

[babinro]

Depends on your personal moral compass.

People constantly flip items in games like Diablo 3 or MMO's taking advantage of other players without a care. You'll see the same thing happen constantly at garage sales as well. Someone buying an item for $50.00 knowing it's worth $10,000.

My personal view on the matter is to treat people how I'd like to be treated.
The person is selling this and not donating it.
This means they need the money.
I would feel like I'm stealing from them if I knowingly ripped them off.

Having collected Magic since revised, I've been in a situation where I could have taken advantage of newer players. What I've done in the past is told them the value of the card, informed them that a store will typically pay them about 60% of the cards value and then let them decide if they want to give me a deal or not. 9 times out of 10 I lose out on the good deal because of my honesty (I'd have so many shock lands by now if I were dishonest).

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

I would have taken the card, sold it, told him I ''suddenly'' found out it was really valuable and given him half the amount for giving me the card.

 

[OneCatch]

@SirPlindington

If he said you can take them, then do so, but split the earnings 50/50. Or tell him how valuable it is and hope that he's as generous as everyone here is saying you should be (he probably is, most people are surprisingly decent)

It would be pretty foul of you to take all (or even the majority) of the money. You aren't on Storage Hunters, you don't have to be some pokerfaced-shark-capitalist-mercenary.

And I bet you'd be seriously pissed off if the positions were reversed, and you found that your friend had taken advantage of you being naively generous to the tune of 5 grand.

EDIT:

I would have taken the card, sold it, told him I ''suddenly'' found out it was really valuable and given him half the amount for giving me the card.

Alternatively this if you don't feel able to pass up all claim on the earnings from the card, and are concerned about him taking it the wrong way when you take a 'sellers fee' so to speak.

 

[KOMega]

Let us say that he says I can have any and all of the cards if I so wish.

Well, I would say if he said so, you would be able to take the card with no consequence. This is not good for him, but it is neither a negative action towards him.

The good option, which also lets you benefit, is to take it, then bring it to his attention and say that you wanna split the profits (assuming you do sell it for $5K).

The bad option is to put a pineapple down his pants. You lose karma for this action, and he probably will cease being your companion.

 

[Exterminas]

If he allowed you to take the cards, then take them.
It is his loss if he knows next to nothing about his brother's hobby, or the phenomenon of absurdly expensive collectibles.

Making money off someone else's lack of knowledge isn't morally wrong, it is economics.

 

[Snowbell]

Tell him and as him to split the profits - maybe someone else will do the same for you one day.