Specifically:
I purchased the Wiscasset Yard slide on behalf of the museum using my ebay account. This effort was coordinated with our archivist (Linda Zollers) and newly-anointed official ebay liasson, Linc Reed-Nickerson.
Linc (in a coordinated effort with Linda and me) attempted to purchase the latest Albion slide on behalf of the museum. He was outbid, possibly by someone who has purchased several of these WW&F slides.
The museum (in any official capacity) did not bid on any prior slides from this seller.
Going forward, if someone sees something that the museum should have in its collection, please coordinate its purchase through Linc & Linda, either in this thread, or via ebaysales@wwfry.org and archivist@wwfry.org.
On occasion, several members have purchased and many donated suitable items from ebay, Discover Live Steam, and many other sources. We just need to try to not trip over ourselves when doing so. We should also be sure that the items are actually needed and are not surplus to our collection. For example, we have no need for the 24" "speeder" currently being sold on Discover Live Steam.