Religious relic trading

The Reli Relic Traders community
A tradition dating back to the medieval times, the Reli Relic is one of the world's oldest hobby communities that are still active today. Not only is the group still active, the last couple of years it has grown exponentially due to the introduction of the Intarweb.
==History==
Originally a small group of insiders mostly within the various religious institutes, the community does not have a history of letting commoners trade or join. The first participants were mainly Popes, kings, Emperors, magical beings and some men of the cloth in high positions. 
Some fanatical traders from before the digital reli-relic-revolution :
* St. Anthony
* Pope Benedict IX 
* St. Constantine
* The Dalai Lama
* Pope Honorius II 
* King Charlemagne
* Leonardo Da Vinci
* King Richard The Lion-hearted
* Several Temperas
* Pope Pius II 
===Early years===
In the early years, trading religious relics was mainly viewed as entertainment by the traders, but as some collections grew bigger and bigger, and some traders even put some of their collections on display in churches and holy places, it became much more important within several religious communities. After several hundred years, the community was set up in such a way that many regions had their own relics to worship, all thanks to those early pioneering traders.
===New impulses===
The first outsiders came into the game somewhere around the early 20th century. The power of the religious institutions was lingering, and funding was at an all time low. Lots of churches missed the income they were used to from extortion, pillaging or war. These activities had mainly shifted to a newer institution called an Independent Government. To compensate for this loss, a select group of outsiders was allowed to trade relics for currency, something that had never happened before.
Around the 1930's, more commoners were able to take up this new fascinating hobby of Reli Relic collecting. As it turned out later, lots of people had family possessions that later turned out to be some of the most valuable relics ever. This gave a whole new impulse to the traders' circuit, and this was the main reason the community became a stable and thriving one instead of being a temporary sell off of items by the religious institutions.
===E-Reli-Relics===
But still, regardless of the new impulse the community got, Reli Relic trading and collection was a rather unknown and obscure activity. That is until the mid 90's with the advent of the IntarWeb Trade Portals like Ebay. The Community embraced this technology, and the Reli Relic activity has tripled every year since then. Now no longer a misunderstood underdog in hobby collecting, Reli Relic trading is serious business with billions and billions of Rupiahs involved.
==Fraud, fakes and scams==
But, like any popular trade community, the Reli Relic community too is prone to fraudulent individuals who prey on the innocent naive relic collectors. This is especially true for smaller, more common items like :
* Finger bones of Saints.
* Relics of the Popes.
* Leisure time slave clothing.
* Vials of holy blood, snot, or other bodily juices.
and of course the famous splinters from the cross of Jesus.
To illustrate the magnitude of the global trade scammers the following simple example is used:
This example is based on estimates and averages that are known to hold true within the community.
These variables are known :
* Average mass of oak wood per cu.m : 730Kg
* Average Volume of a Roman cross : 0.42 Cu.m
* -Average Mass of a Roman cross : 306.6 Kg
* Average cross splinter size : 7 Cm ,0.4 Cm , 0,4 Cm.
* Average cross splinter volume : 0.000112 Cu.m
* - Average Mass cross splinter : 0.082 Kg
This accumulates to :
* Number of offered cross splinter lots on ebay alone : 4033
* Average number of splinters per lot on ebay : 14.2
From this data we can conclude the following :
 
* Rough estimate of the number of splinters based on these averages : around 9000.
* Average number of cross splinters on offer on ebay alone : around 57000
With the available amount of splinters found on ebay alone it would be possible to
construct 6 complete crucifixes of Jesus Christ, with splinters to spare. The total amount of splinters available worldwide stacks up to a grand total that would make it possible to construct 1.5 Arcs of Noah.
This global scam is worth billions of Zloty each year, and is the biggest problem the relic traders have to deal with.
Other obvious scams include :
* Multiple complete Holy Grails.
* Thousands of broken pieces of the Holy Grail.
* Nude pictures of Mary Magdalene
* Fake original bibles ( Mostly the Da Vinci Code with fake cover )
* Jesus's Levi 501's
* The real beard of Moses
* A 1978 Ford Cortina once owned by God
* The Virgin Mary's 'used' panties (as owned by hundreds of churches across southern England and America's Bible belt )
==Future==
Despite recent setbacks within the community regarding bad trades and fraud, the future of the Reli Relic community looks bright. The is no shortage of enthusiasm and with more and more religions coming out every year, the new supply of relics is estimated to last until 2065.
In short, If you like history, or are a very involved religious person, then Reli Relic Collecting can be beneficial for you. You also help the religious community with it. Lots of collectors build a public accessible shrine for their collected items for the religious public to worship.
==Famous Items==
* Jesus's bed ware.
* Joseph's left hands.
* The ( genuine ) Holy Grail.
* Relics of the Popes
==Most sought after items==
* Relics of the living Pope
* Items that give the owner superpowers
* The Da Vinci Code
==See also==
* Religion
* Judaism
* Islam
* Jesus
* HowTo:Find_God
* Fast Religion Switching
category:Economics
category:Religion
Category:Middle Ages