The main reason is to aid in theft recovery. The logic goes that if you
engrave your ID someone will be able to track you down if the item is
stolen. (Not that anyone actually WILL.) In addition, I think that a lot
of people do not really conceive of the fact that they may want to sell
the item someday. Many people also don't seem to be aware that this
greatly diminishes the value of the item. For many years police
departments in the US actively encouraged this practice, and would even
loan you the engraving tool to do it!
The good news is that these engraved lenses can make for goo user
lenses. In most cases the engraving is in a relatively inconspicuous
spot, and it does not affect use of the lens, just resale value. In most
cases the damage is purely cosmetic.
Jim Couch
"M. Royer" wrote:
> I see perfectly fine items all the time in photo shops
> and on e-bay. These items can be in near mint/ mint
> condition except for one thing that probably ruins the
> value even more than coating marks/ fungus. Some idiot
> has engraved something on the item, be it drivers
> license, name, some idiot even put their address on a
> camera. These things are just soo ugly in my eyes, and
> most of the times they are done with a clumsy hand
> engraving tool that leaves marks all over the item. I
> just don't get it. Bad engraving can cut half the
> value off an item and can cause unseeable damage. What
> do these people think that they will recover their
> item if they chisel their drivers license or name into
> it? I just dont get it.
>
> Mark Lloyd
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