Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 12, 1993 TAG: 9302120276
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JIM STRATTON and BOB BLATTNER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium
$20? TO STUDENTS IT'S A PRINCELY SUM
The sign, scribbled on plain white paper, was almost hidden by the dozens of other announcements tacked to the William and Mary Post Office bulletin board."I NEED A RIDE TO UVA." "A taste of Asia." "Anyone going to MARDI GRAS?"
But this one had nothing to do with rides or food. This one, written appropriately enough in purple, was about royalty.
"I have a few tickets for Sats. Charter Day Ceremony for sale," the statement proclaimed. Under the message, a number told ticket seekers where they could reach "Tam," the ticket holder.
Tam and a handful of other young entrepreneurs are part of a small underground market that sprung up in the days after all the tickets for Prince Charles' visit were handed out. The students, who either have an extra ticket or just don't plan to attend Saturday's event, know they're holding some of the hottest property in town, and they're not about to let the economic opportunity slip away.
They're the suppliers, and there's plenty of demand. Across campus, signs tell of students "desperate" for tickets. The college saw a similar phenomenon several years ago when actress and W&M grad Glenn Close spoke at graduation.
Jen Jolly, a junior biology major, hawked her ticket for $20. The going rate is at least $10, but some profiteers are commanding as much as $25 a piece.
"It's sort of a marginal benefit thing," Jolly said of her decision to sell her ticket. "If I can sleep in and get $20, I'll do that."
Jolly's not the only one cashing in on her ticket, but she doesn't know how much company she has. Neither do campus police, who say their main worry would be someone standing outside William and Mary Hall on Saturday morning waving dozens of passes around. Jolly does say she has heard "quite of few" classmates considering a sale.
For Jolly, the royal visit isn't worth getting overexcited about. She says she would have chosen the cash and the sleeping-in even if it had been Princess Di, not Charles, giving the address.
"They're pretty much the same in my mind," she said of the recently separated royal couple. "I'd go see Sting."