Author: Deanna

Deanna is the founder of Inherited Values, among other sites. She is also an antique dealer.

The Emma Pratt Hall Golden Age Of Illustration Collection

When I stumbled into this auction for original Katzenjammer Kids art, I was excited to read the story behind the piece:

Grapefruitmoon Gallery just acquired an important collection of pen & ink original illustration art comic drawings from many of the leading Golden Age of Illustration comic strip illustrators that were received by a persistent young girl named Emma Pratt Hall who lived in Mansfield Mass. She wrote many fan letters requesting doodles from her favorite comic artists of the era, nearly one hundred artists honored her requests. These are all from the years of 1939 – 1940 and many have letters that accompany the drawings. It really is amazing the response she received this collection is outstanding. I would guess she was a persuasive letter writer and by the personalized content of many of the letters she was likely a young girl. Her comic art collection gained her some recognition as she received a press newspaper mention from a Sheffield England newspaper that is not included in this auction – but we included a scan of it the bottom of the listing as reference and provenance.

The date of the newspaper clipping is unknown to me, and I’ve no idea what percentage of Emma’s total collection this is, but there’s a wide variety of pieces, subjects, artists, and styles.

Beyond the incredible provenance, and even that this was a child collecting back then, what’s really fascinating about the Emma Pratt Hall collection is the sad fact that it could not be done today.

Unlike those autograph collections we hear about, folks — including children — cannot just write in and request a signature, a doodle, or anything like that today. Nowadays, fans are lucky if they even receive a stamped-signed photo when they mail their favorite celebrities. But to take the time to respond to an individual’s request for a “doodle” from an artist or illustrator?! No way. The more established or famous the person, the more they are likely to charge for an autograph or reply with a price list of available works. Yet here we have a collection which proves that not only could young Emma make a request of a popular illustrator (for all these illustrators were paid and popular at the time) and have her wish granted, but she’d receive lovely little letters showing how happy the illustrator, comic strip creator, political cartoonist, commercial artist, etc. was to have such a request!

All images via Grapefruit Moon Gallery.

Excuse Me, I’ve Been A Bozo About Vintage Capitol Childrens Book & Record Sets

I don’t collect records by series or any other system, to be honest. Like everything else I collect, I mainly rely on the serendipity of stumbling into something and falling under it’s charm… Then, whether I buy it or not, the obsessive researching begins. So I didn’t know that the old Capitol Records series of Record-Readers were once sold as Looky Talky book and record sets.

These set of records and books for children featured Bozo The Clown, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, Disney and other famous characters of the day.

Image credits:

The 1946 Capitol Records “Looky Talky” ad via Jon Williamson.

The Bozo the clown mechanical store display for Capital Records via Childhood-Memorabilia-Vintage-Items.

Mothers Say The Darndest Things

Did you ever notice that as a mother you have all these little odd sayings… Weird sing-songy ways of announcing bed time, meal time, to comfort your children, etc. Some of them were handed down to you from your own mother — who may or may not have heard them from her own mother. Somethings you say, you picked up from your children — like when your toddler isn’t forming the words just right, but you understand him anyway and use his words to communicate with him. (Speech therapists do not like that; but we do it now and then!) Other words and sayings are just part of that secret world of parenthood, things we sing or say along the way that become recognizable comfortable traditions of communication.

My mother has a whole slew of words that she’s entirely made up. Words and sayings I didn’t know weren’t real until I used them around others and received only quizzical and comical responses. Embarrassing then; much beloved now.

As a society, we have such expressions too. Quite often you can find these old sayings on antique and vintage prints, like this one, from an art deco 1920s calender, illustrated by L Goddardfeaturing. At the bottom it reads, “Baby is Going to Bye-Lo Land.”

Up until now, I’ve never heard of “Bye-Lo Land.”

Images via Grapefruit Moon Gallery.

Antique Rug Shuttle Needles

Like I said, I’m becoming a resident vintage and antiques expert at Listia. Recently I was helping identify an item listed as “Tell Me What This Is” — headlines like that will always pull me in. *wink*

I immediately knew what it was, as I own several of these items myself. It’s a rug making shuttle or a rug shuttle needle. I know because the box on my Betsey Ross Rug Needle tells me so!

I just had to have this one because of it’s ties to women’s history, the fact that it had it’s original box, and the wicked looking nature of the tool itself.

Since then, I’ve been able to identify the other old wooden ones that I’ve ignorantly wound-up with over the years, being in auction box lots of old sewing and things.

I’ve not put any of mine into use yet, but it’s rather simple — the wooden “shuttle” pushes or prods the metal piece which pushes or prods the fabric strips through material backing, such as burlap, etc. It’s rather easy to see the process in these photos of my old wooden 1100 Kirkwood Of Des Moines shuttle.

Rugs including rag rugs made this way are often called “proddy rugs” for this prodding action.

While in my original comments at the auction at Listia I focused on the proddies (the strip of fabric in the Listia auction photo “prodded” me into thinking of those *wink*), these are also used to make “punch needle” style rugs too. Punch needle rugs are much like rug hooking, only you punch the thread or fabric through the back of the canvas rather than using the latch hooks most hobby kits have today.

Here’s what the Betsey Ross, ATK Product, box has to say:

Directions:

Thread as shown, push needle point through canvas and operate handles up and down, keeping the bottom of one of the handles on the canvas at all times and move toward the right. The length of the stitch can be regulated by bending the needle in for short stitches and out for long stitches, always be sure to have the yarn or rag free from tension so the loops will not pull out when the needle point is raised up and down. To get a chenille effect clip the loops with scissors. With a little practice beautiful rugs can be produced with this needle.

Rug shuttles like this may still be made; but I prefer to use older items myself — makes me feel like I’m part of the tradition and closer to the women who crafted this way. I’m no Betsey Ross, either in historic terms or crafting proficiency, but just owning this makes me feel closer to her and generations of women who once had such skills. My hands sweat where another’s once did. Or, rather, mine will once I find the time to sit down and give rug making a try.

I probably need to stop writing about antiques and collectibles to find that time, huh? *wink*

For further reading, I suggest quilt and hooked rug restorer Tracy Jamar‘s article A Few Loops Of Hooked Rug History and this basic page on hooked rugs at Red Clover Rugs.

Charming, Yes; Charmin, No. (Identifying & Valuing Vintage Prints Of Children)

I’ve been running into a lot of new collectors of vintage and antique things at Listia; I kind of feel like I’m becoming a resident expert, both it terms of being able to help folks and because of the amount of time I spend at Listia. *wink* I don’t normally take the time to give detailed responses, let document (blog), all the requests but this time there was great merit in doing so…

This is the question from Sherry:

Hi my name is Sherry and I saw a comment that ya posted on another auction about ya writing about antiques and collectibles online. I have been in search of someone to talk to about some pictures I have that were left here years back. My nephew was living with me as well as his girl friend. When they broke-up she left plenty behind. My nephew thought I had burnt all that was left. He freaked out and said there were photo’s that cost a lot of money, because they were some of the Charmin Toilet Paper Girls.

By the style clothing that are being worn in the photo’s I can only assume they are from the 50’s – 60’s maybe older. I do not recall commercials from back then, so I have no idea if these are even worth anything. Is there away ya might be able to help me figure these photo’s out? Thank You in advance.

I was pretty sure what Sherry had were prints, but since she had called them photos I was glad she had sent me some scans (some of which I’ve included here).

What Sherry has are vintage promotional prints from Northern Paper Mills aka Northern Tissue. The series of prints was called American Beauties, illustrated by Frances Hook. (You can see her signature printed on the little girl’s shoulder that doesn’t have the kitten on the scan above.) Hook is most known now for her religious works, but her career began in commercial illustration for various advertisements as well as illustrations to supplement magazine stories. Her American Beauties begin to appear in the Northern Tissue advertisements in 1958 as the original Northern Girls. On March 23, 1959, the first rolls of tissue featuring the girls were shipped from the mill and tissue sales skyrocketed —

And prompting the corporate response to sell the prints.

The first American Beauty prints were available as a set of four: one baby girl and three little girls.

Not long after, the company released Northern Towel’s All American Boys, a set of three prints of little boys.

Not much later, Northern asked Hook “if she would take our little “American Beauty” girls and cast them into some fresh new poses” — for both the toilet tissue packaging as well as an additional print set (also four prints).

That would bring the total of American Beauty girl prints to eight. As far as I know, the All-American Boys series remained at three prints. Which brings the overall total of the Northern prints by Hook to eleven. All prints were available in multiple sizes: 11″ by 14″, 8″ by 10″, and 5″ by 7″.

You know I don’t like to discuss monetary values, but this is another opportunity to discuss some collecting basics…

Generally speaking, the larger the quantity of art prints (and anything else) made, the less the value they have. According to Georgia-Pacific, who now owns the Northern brand, “Offers for prints of the girls and Northern Towel’s All American Boys break records with 30 million sets of prints being sold by 1966.” Which means there were and still are a large number of these prints out in circulation.

However, as these pieces are advertising collectibles, they do have some cross-collecting appeal. Again, these prints are a bit less desirable as they were mass produced — as well as more likely to be saved — which means more of them are available.

Like most collectibles, these prints come and go in popularity; which means the prices go up & down. Because they are desired primarily for the nostalgia (“I had those prints in my bedroom!”) or a sense of nostalgia (“I love those vintage baby prints!”), their ability to match decor or gender of child for a specific room, the size of the prints (available wall space), and/or for the appeal of individual images themselves (one may look just like their son or grandson, etc.), prices can vary quite a bit for each print.

And, of course, condition of the print itself matters; not only in terms of tears, creases, spots, etc., but in terms of the color of the prints, such as fading of the colors or tanning of the paper itself which weakens the contrast of colors (and usually the strength of the paper itself). Those prints with spots and damages on the faces especially will likely have no interest (no value). However, someone, on Lista or elsewhere where you have no seller fees, might want these imperfect prints for altered art or collage projects.

Depending upon the condition of the paper, etc., right now they could be worth anywhere from $1 to $9 a piece in today’s market. How do I get that value range? Based on the information discussed above and years of dealing in collectibles — and by getting a “snapshot” of the market by using eBay. I looked at current sales of these prints as well as recent past (closed) auction sales values, searching for Northern American Beauty prints by Frances Hook, and variations on those words. I also checked searches for Charmin print — as a great number of folks mistakenly think these prints were put out by Charmin toilet tissue.

You can check eBay for current and very recently closed auction sales prices too — anytime, for anything. You can also use Price Miner. Checking periodically does take time, but that’s the best way to see if there’s an increase in demand or a decrease in offerings of these prints — both of which will mean higher prices. If and when that happens, you might want to list them for sale. The prices may rise again; a few years ago, I sold individual prints for $10 to $29 each.  You just need nostalgia and or the appeal of sweet charming children to sweep back into home decorating again.

Additional image credits: Vintage Northern Girls Tissue ad via Jon Williamson; American Beauty Portraits Folder via undoneclothing; All American Boys prints photo via jwenck; Northern Paper Mills ephemera abut the prints via With A Grateful Prayer

Vintage Floaty Souvenir From 1964 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan

Those oil-filled pens and other objects with moveable images are called “floating action,” “tilt” or “action” items — or just plain old “floaty” collectibles. These simple but fascinating things have been popular souvenir and promotional give-away items since the process was invented in the late 1940s. Pens are the most common floaty items, but pencils, letter openers and nearly anything with a cylindrical handle have been made over the years. This example, a key chain (plastic barrel is 3 3/4 inches long; standard 1 inch key ring), is a souvenir from the 1964s Olympics, held in Tokyo, Japan.

Many people know of the Esso oil drum floaty pen by Eskensen, which is called the first floating action pen. But that’s not entirely true… Many attempts had been made before this, and by many other companies and inventors too. But it was Peder Eskesen who successfully found a method of sealing the oil-filled tubes that didn’t have chronic leaking problems. So the Esso pen might be best called the first commercially successful floating action item.

There are three variations on floating action:

The first and oldest type consists of an oil-filled chamber with at least one light object that simply floats; like a snow globe, a shake or movement makes the objects float about.

Next came the “conceal and reveal” type, in which graphics magically appear or disappear on the side of the pen as it is tipped from side to side. These are most commonly recalled as the “tip and strip” pens, in which tipping the pen causes the clothing on the female to disappear, revealing a partially clad or nude figure behind.

The third type is called photoramic float. In these floaty items, the liquid-filled chamber has at least one small pane of film with a graphic design floating inside the liquid; tipping or moving the item causes the panes to float up and down the chamber’s length, creating an animation. The more panes of film, the more fascinating the animation. Eskesen obtained the patent for manufacturing pens this way in 1955.

Souvenir floaty collectibles — vintage and new — are more likely to be found than advertising or promotional ones. Many promotional floaty pens and other items were created for in-house use, to thank employees, vendors, etc., and therefore were made in smaller quantity and so typically bring higher prices. Even true advertising items and promotional premiums for the public are less common because these usually were utilitarian items made to be used and given away so that the recipient would use the items and in doping so would be reminded of the company or brand on the piece. Such utilitarian use, however, means that many of these items were just tossed away — even more often than souvenir and travel items which, even without sentimentality, were purchased and therefore given a higher value.

Photos of the 1964 Olympics key chain is from my eBay listing.

Fashion Crimes: A Vintage Scrapbook

At first look, this vintage fashion catalog from the 1930s is just a cool piece for ephemera and fashion collectors… But as you know, you should never judge a book by it’s cover!

This is an incredible and unique vintage scrapbook as the 1931 Carlton Fashions catalog used as a scrapbook for crime clippings. According to the seller, Light Years Vintage, the vintage fashions catalog “was used for the purpose of collecting child abduction, murder, and violent crime clippings.”

The very juxtaposition of the graphic crime news against happy illustrated fashion models makes this a fascinating work of altered art! The fact that it’s a vintage voyeuristic preservation of crime news as well as a time capsule of fashions makes it even more rare and collectible.

Cross-Collectibles With Jack Carson — Contest Giveaway!

Vintage Jack Carson Photo

I often am asked, “What’s a cross collectible?” For me, the answer is, “Everything!” But technically speaking, a cross collectible is any antique or collectible which appeals to more than one kind of collector and therefore “crosses areas of collecting.” For example, this vintage promotional photo of classic film character actor Jack Carson.

It obviously appeals to fans of Jack Carson or classic film fans, but it also might appeal to collectors of vintage photographs (based on the period, fashions, etc.). If the signature was genuine, and not a printed facsimile, then it would also appeal to autograph collectors. And then there are collectors of smaller niche areas, like those who collect bow ties and all the ephemera and photos about them and maybe those who collect “all things Jack” because it’s their son’s name.

Generally speaking though, the more categories of collecting an item is in (crosses along category lines), and the larger the number of collectors collecting in each of those categories, the more popular (and pricey) an item will be.

And now that Mr. Carson has served his purpose, I’m ready to set him free — to whatever collector wants to have him. So, if you want this vintage photo of Jack Carson (likely from his days at Warner Bros., circa 1940s), enter to win it!

Ways To Enter:

* Post A Comment: Just tell me why you want it — you love classic film, you collect things with big ears (sorry, Jack!), you just love free stuff, whatever!

* Follow Inherited Values on Twitter: @InheritedValues. (Please leave your Twitter username in your comment so I can check.)

and/or

* Tweet the following:

I love classic film, antiques & vintage collectibles so entered the giveaway @InheritedValues You can enter here http://bit.ly/tVFY64 !

(Remember to come back here and leave a comment with your tweet for me to verify.)

You may tweet your entry once a day.

and/or

* “Like” us on Face Book: Inherited Values on Facebook

and/or

* Post about this contest at your blog or website — if you do this you must include in your post to this contest post or Inherited Values in general. (Please include the link to your blog post in the comments section so that I can find your post.)

You can do any or all of these, but remember, the only one you can do daily is Tweet. Thanks!

Here’s the giveaway fine print:

* Giveaway is open to US residents only
* Contest ends November 16, 2011; entries must be made on or before midnight, central time, November 15, 2011. Winner will be announced/contacted on November 17, 2011. Winner has 48 hours to respond; otherwise, I’ll draw another name.

Of Pinups & POWs & Dealers Of All Sorts

Sometimes dealers and other sellers of antiques and collectibles get a bad rap — OK, a lot of times they do, and I’m not going to go into all of that, but…

As a collector there are times when your auction lots runneth over and you end up with more than you want (or can even house). So it seems only natural to trade or sell a few things here and there… That’s pretty much what a dealer is, you know; someone who deals or trades in antiques and vintage stuff, with the most agreed upon fair trade equity being money, honey. So it’s all good, right? Right.

Anyway, there’s another time a collector becomes a seller. Such as when they find themselves in the possession of something they feel someone else would value so much they feel guilty holding onto it. That’s how I feel about this particular item.

I do collect vintage pinups and I’ve been paring down my collection (making more room in my house and wallet), but this particular vintage matchbook struck a chord…

On the front of the vintage matchbook it reads:

Greetings From Joe Gorenc
Skat Trounament
Every Wed. & Third Sun.
Ice Cool Eights
Any Time
2413 Calumet Drive
Sheboygan, Wis

Despite the condition issues, this is cool enough for the pinup and the reference to the old Skat tournament games too — but, you see, I know that there was a Joe Gorenc who was a POW in WWII. He did live in Sheboygan after the war, until his death in the 1950s, and I just feel like someone else should have this. So it’s up for sale, in my listings at eBay.

And I don’t think it’s unfair to charge for it.  After all, I did pay for it — and I’ve kept it safe another decade or so before realizing what I had and then carefully describing it, making it available for the person or persons searching for it.

In most cases, this is what dealers do. It’s what collectors do, sooner or later.

And it’s not dirty. It’s a good thing.

We do it for love. And money. Not necessarily for the love of money.  But there’s no reason we can’t lovingly spend the time to make sure things are preserved and available in the marketplace.  After all, as collectors, we are there putting our time and money back into that marketplace.  Usually at a hugely disproportionate rate. *wink*

Antique Advertising In Japanese Travel Guide

More scans from that antique, turn of the century, Japan travel guide; these are advertisements found in the back of the book.

S. Nishimura, “one price silk store,” founded in 1604.

K. Kawata, another silk vendor ad, this one targeting “Ladies desiring Embroideries or Drawn Work.”

K. Tamamura, “the leading photographer of Japan.”

K. Kimbei, a photographic studio promoting magic lantern slides, among other items.

An ad for the Nagasaki Hotel.

The top half of this ad is for the Batchelor’s Hair-Dressing Rooms, “Ladies’ Department under the sold supervision of Mons. Mogaillard, a clever Parisian Artist.” (Note that cigars are also available — for gentlemen only, I’m sure!) The bottom half is for C. & J. Favre-Frandt, an import-export shop.

Pope & Co. worries that you’ll perish from hunger on trips to the interior! The small print mentions tinned goods, but the large print mentions wines, liquors and cigars. The next page is a continuation of their ad which meantions specific champagnes, whiskey — and Schlitz Beer!

New Vintage Reviews #9

New Vintage Reviews Carnival

Welcome to the ninth edition of the New Vintage Reviews carnival, where we review items normally considered “collectibles,” to encourage use of items as originally intended.

Books:

At Bucket List Media Miz parker reviews Beloved (1987) and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) — along with a lot of other new and vintage titles.

At Layinda’s Blog, a review of I Capture the Castle (1949).

Over at Immortal Ephemera, Cliff reviews authorized biography Dwight Frye’s Last Laugh (1997).

Film & Television:

Vintage Rock ‘n’ Roll Examiner Steve Marinucci reviews the Rolling Stones film Some Girls (1978).

At Out Of The Past, Raquelle reviews Quincy M.E. (1976 to 1983).

Cliff reviews Werewolf of London (1935) at Immortal Ephemera.

At Penny Dreadful Vintage, a review of To Sir With Love (1967).

Music & Audio:

Bob Purse reviews his adventures in old reel-to-reel tapes over at WFMU’s Beware Of The Blog.

Casetta reviews Wire’s second album Chair Missing (1978) at Scratch, Pop & Hiss.

Etc.:

Here at Inherited Values, I review another new entry in the online marketplace sites, Yardsellr.

Honorable Mention:

While not a review, The Wealthy Canadian submitted something worthy of reading in Collecting Things: Are You Guilty?, saying, “This article discusses my experiences in collecting comic books and stamps over the course of my life.”

Please submit your reviews (or reviews you liked) of vintage books, films, games, records, etc. to be considered in future issues of New Vintage Reviews!  (And let me know if you’d like to host a future edition!)

Antique Japan Travel Guide For Westerners

There are many charming and antiquated things of note in this antique travel book titled The Club Hotel, Limited: Guide Book of Yokohama, Tokyo and Principal Places in Japan and I thought I’d share a few of them before this book and map sells.

Printed at the “Box Of Curios,” No. 58, Main Street, Yokohama, Japan, there’s no copyright or publication date; but it’s circa 1880s to 1910s. This antique book with blue cloth boards and gilt lettering contains all you’d expect in a guidebook, including hotels, excursions, tea rooms, shopping, bars, geisha, libraries, museums, churches, temples, etc. — including black and white photos, ads for businesses, AND, neatly tucked in the built-in pocket in the back cover, a fragile but pristine color map! (Map opens to roughly 12 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches, so it would not fit completely on the scanner.)

I’ve never longed to travel to the Orient, but if I could travel back in time, perhaps I would change my mind for the book says, “One can go all over Tokyo at any hour unarmed and unannoyed, which one certainly could not surely do in London, Paris, Vienna, or other Western Capitals.”

Apparently, The Club Hotel, Limited was an actual place as there are photos of the building, the entrance, the dining room, and the bar.

According to the text, The Club Hotel, Limited was located “near the landing place (English Hatoba).” More details are found on this page:

Despite The Club Hotel, Limited being a real hotel, this book has ads for many other places rather than really promoting the The Club Hotel, Ltd. (The ads must have paid for the printing, me thinks.) In fact, the first ad in this book, right inside the front cover, is for The Hotel Metropole, “the only hotel in Tokio under European Management.”

Here are some interesting (if racist due to the times) things of note from the text’s Preliminary Remarks:

The Japanese will be found pleasant mannered people. Treated politely, they are invariably polite, and as a rule very kindly disposed towards foreigners. Many of them are incorrigible procrastinators. It is always “to morrow” with them. Hotel servants, however, are often very quick, as well as good and attentive, and seeing so much of foreigners they understand foreign requirements.

The people who stamp about the streets playing a double whistle are blind Shampooers, i.e. “Massage” operators by trade.

Japanese baths are generally heated with charcoal, and it is well to be careful of asphyxia from the fumes. The bath-houses with men and women bathing in full sight of each other, are a curiosity to Europeans.

Geisha or Singing girls, which could be ordered through the tea-house, and are listed on the same page as Japanese Wrestling, Public Libraries, Museums, Places Of Worship, etc. (The scan below also includes the small map of the Temples of Shiba.)

But, of course, the collector in me is most intrigued by all the discussion of “curio shops,” which are heavily advertised in the back of the book.  (Note how the chapter begins promoting the European Curio Shops of Yokohama.)

Most notably, Kuhn & Komor, No. 37, Water Street, Yokohama, which asks you to kindly note the company’s trademark “Stork and Sun” used as a sign board on all their branches.

A few other interesting old ads I’ve scanned will be posted soon!

Your Cash Is No Good Antiquing In Louisiana

This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.

I shared this link on Facebook, but I thought it was interesting enough to note here as well… Louisiana Bans Using Cash In Sales Of Second-hand Goods:

In a new law that could put every trading post, Goodwill, flea market, garage sale and Craigslist merchant in the state of Louisiana out of business, a bipartisan group of elected representatives has opted to ban all cash payments for the buying and selling of used goods.

Though House Bill 195 was intended to make it easier to track the sales of stolen goods by giving police a paper trail to follow, the unintended consequences could be much more widespread. Namely, the law requires second-hand sales be made paid for with credit cards, paper checks, electronic transfer or money orders. Cash is prohibited.

It was signed into law on July 1, but flew so far under the radar that practically nobody in the media noticed until this week, when Louisiana’s KLFY Eyewitness News 10 put a spotlight on the new rules and their likely impacts on local business.

The law also requires second-hand sellers to obtain personal information about each buyer — information like names, addresses, driver’s license number and even, if applicable, their license plate number — and turn it over to state officials.

The prohibition on cash sales is confusing on its face, and appears to contradict the very text on each Federal Reserve note in circulation. “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private,” U.S. dollars plainly state.

In a published opinion piece, attorney Thad D. Ackel, Jr. suggested that lawmakers have decided to sacrifice “individual privacy, economic, civil liberty and freedom” in the name of law and order.

My concerns are that this idea will travel to other states and be used to further sales tax collections, reporting, etc. as well. Thoughts, anyone?

Image Credits: Wikipedia.

A Review Of Yardsellr

Whatever your feelings on it, lots of people are creating places to compete with eBay. One of them is Yardsellr.

We believe people are natural-born buyers and sellers. In the tradition of neighborhood garage- and yard-sales, we make it easy for you to sell or buy whatever you want. Best of all, the buying and selling is done by regular people like you. That means you get great prices from folks you can trust within your network or within a friend’s network.

First of all, it isn’t “easy” because you have to commit to the place before you even know what it is all about as Yardsellr requires you to login with Facebook to use the joint. And that means, if you don’t use Facebook, they don’t want you as a member.

Secondly, don’t you already have access to people in your network? I mean you can already tell them, in person, on the phone, via Facebook, etc. that you are selling something? So what’s the point of using Yardsellr?

When you put something up for sale, Yardsellr will spread the word about your item within your online neighborhood: “blocks” of other Yardsellr-s who love what you love, and in the news feeds of millions of Yardsellr fans on Facebook. No matter where they are online, Yardsellr finds other folks who are buying what you are selling.

OK, so maybe the “blocks” idea is interesting… But finding blocks was not easy. I currently am a “block of one” for Fargo, North Dakota, ruling out the “ease” or working with my geographical neighbors. And navigating the site was not as useful as I would have liked, particularly because, like so many rummage sales, it’s easy to find piles of used baby clothes but not easy to find the antiques and vintage items.

Also, for collectors, a lot of what we sell isn’t what we want to buy; i.e., we bought the auction lot for the two books in the box, not the assorted glassware, so we keep the books, sell the glass. So you’ll have to be in a lot of blocks.

Interestingly, Yardsellr does not charge any fees for sellers — Yardsellr charges the buyer the fees, called the Yardsellr Slice. That’s quite a different shift in fee collecting. In exchange, buyers are given credits called Photon$; more on those in a minute.

For the buyer, Yardsellr is just as easy. Sites like Craigslist and eBay have become pretty crowded and hard to use. It’s tough to know who you can trust and even harder to find great deals from everyday people.

Umm, if you don’t actually know these people because they aren’t really in your network or even your geographical area, you are in the same boats as eBay and Craigslist.

As you can tell, I’m not a fan of the Yardsellr.

Even when they throw free money at you.

The “free money” is called Photon$. You can “find” or earn them by purchasing and by doing random things on the site.

Photon$ are like money that you can use to buy anything on Yardsellr! You can win Photon$ by taking certain actions on Yardsellr.com, like buying and commenting on listings. Look for the $ for opportunities to win Photon$.

It involves some sort of math, which I find confusing. And Photon$ cannot be used to pay the Yardsellr Slice. But worse than confusing, Photon$ are frustrating.

Photon$ have a “half-life” which means they will decay whenever you aren’t using them.

You lose Photon$ at a rate of 1 per second — logged in to the site or not. Which means even if you join and start searching the site intending to buy something, your “free $5 to spend” dwindles quickly. If you don’t start shopping immediately, the next time you login, you may have none. It rather sucks the “free” out of things, if not the fun.

I’m not the only one frustrated by the Photon$ program. There’s a long list of negative comments about them on the site. So you don’t have to join to see it, I’ve put a screen capture at the bottom of this post. (Click to enlarge and read.)

Overall, I don’t see any point to Yardsellr.

It’s confusing.
It’s frustrating.
If the point is to sell to people you know or in your network, just use the social networks you already have.
If the point is to sell and avoid shipping, sell on your own real world block or neighborhood by having a real yard sale or using Craigslist, eBay, Listia, or good old classified ads.

Collecting & Preserving The Typewriter

This past summer, my youngest, age 11, discovered a typewriter at a garage sale. He, like all our children, is fascinated by typewriters and their mechanical means of doing what the younger generation does digitally. His find was a portable blue Royal Sprite from the 1970s, and he negotiated a price of $1 for it. (I’ve taught my kids well!)

Recently, he and his find were featured at Frank De Freitas’ Typewriters Around the World, a site devoted not only to showcasing typewriters but to showing off their typefaces or fonts by having folks mail in letters typewritten on the machines.

In a related note, at Boing Boing, news that a documentary on typewriters is in need of funding in order to be completed:

Christopher Lockett, a director/cinematographer in Los Angeles, began working on a documentary called The Typewriter (In The 21st Century) after visiting Boing Boing and following Cory’s link to a Wired.com article about “The Last Generation Of Typewriter Repairmen.”
Christoper says:

We’re down to our final [7] days in the Kickstarter.com fundraising… and we are woefully behind out goal of $20,000. We are presently at $5,631 with 34 backers.

We’ve shot 17 interviews with typewriter repairmen, users, collectors, authors, artists, street poets, historians and enthusiasts, documented two type-in events and have shot in LA, SF and the Phoenix/Mesa, AZ area. We’ve photographed famous machines once owned by John Lennon, Jack London, John Steinbeck, John Updike, George Bernard Shaw, Ray Bradbury, Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway.

But we’re only about halfway through shooting the film. There is a lot left to shoot on the West Coast, and even more to shoot on the East Coast and abroad. Details of our plans and some of the incentives we’re offering are on the Kickstarter page:

One of the incentives we’re offering at the $5,000 donor level is to type a letter on a typewriter owned by Ernest Hemingway that he used to keep in Cuba. It’s in Los Angeles now in the Soboroff collection.

Of the $20,000 we’re hoping to raise, none of it goes toward salaries. It’s all for travel and post-production.

More details and means to donate can be found here, so, typewriter collectors and fans, take action!

You Know You’re A “Pig” For Collecting When…

You accept a vintage pottery pig as payment for your work.

I happily received this vintage cold-painted piggy bank as my fee for consulting work. I adore her sweet face and the red roses that decorate her — butt but it’s the curly tail that charmed me the most. So this little piggy came wee-wee-wee all the way home with me.

I was told she was made by Hull, but it could be Shawnee… The piece of pottery is not marked and the style looks like other Shawnee pottery pigs I have seen too. The piggy bank is huge — roughly 13 inches long! And this little piggy bank still has her original cork stopper on the belly.

Anyone else work for vintage or antiques? *wink*

Foxy Vintage Postcard Stories

Many people collect postcards for what’s on the front… Maybe they collect real photo postcards, or vintage images of animals on postcards, or antique images of cities… Maybe they collect by artist or publisher. But some of us fall in love with what’s on the backs of the postcards.

Some postcards were used as contest entry forms, or direct response responses, like this vintage postcard requesting a Sergeant’s dog book. But perhaps even better than that, are the handwritten notes — like little glimpses into lives, short stories as sweet as snapshots.

Here’s an example:

Seward, Alaska
Aug. 12, 193(3?)

Dearest Aunts:

At last we are back on the coast again (and much too soon to suit us). The Kenai Peninsula camping trip we have had these last two weeks has been unbelievably glorious. One very interesting place we visited is the biggest and most scientific fox farm in Alaska on Kenai Lake not far from Moose Pass. (?) Mrs. Williamson (she attended the V. of California) showed us around their farm and we handled this very tame silver fox.

Lots of love, Ben

I’m guessing, from this article on the fox farms of Kenai, that the postcard’s Mrs. Williamson was Harriet “Mickey” Williamson; but I have no idea about Ben or his unmarried Aunts.

Call me a romantic, but I like to imagine or create their stories… How the “spinster” sisters enjoyed the postcards from Ben. Who Ben traveled with. For how long… And, of course, that the tame silver fox lived to a ripe old age, despite his “scientific” home at a fur farm.

Image Credits: 1930s real photo postcard of a woman with a fox on her shoulders, via Lynnstudios.

License To Pawn: Behind The Scenes Of Pawn Stars

When Hyperion, the publishers of License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver (by Rick Harrison, of History’s Pawn Stars, and Tim Keown, a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine) offered me the chance to receive a review copy of the book, I jumped at it — I’m a huge fan of the show!

License To Pawn isn’t a “how to” in terms of opening or running a pawn shop, but the book contains more information on the business side of things than I had previously known or even thought of before; it takes a lot more than money to invest to enter and remain in the business.

License To Pawn isn’t a “how to” for collectors, dealers or buyers, but there are tips on how to negotiate, what affects the antiques and collectibles market, etc. Like the show, Rick bluntly lays down the realities.

Yes, there are stories about interesting objects (and persons) who come into the shop (most of the stories about objects are those already seen in show episodes), but that’s not what License To Pawn is really about either.

What License To Pawn really is, is the stories of the men behind the counters at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. And that’s far more entertaining and inspirational than even I, a huge fan, thought!

The book focuses on Rick, but even if Big Hoss, The Old Man, and Chumlee didn’t have their own individual chapters, which they do, each is included in Rick’s stories; it’s a family business, after all. However, Rick (even without my serious girl crush) remains the focus of the book.

While I am a fan of the show, I’m not one who stalks, even in terms of internet reading and media stories about celebrities so I had no idea that Rick suffered from epilepsy (grand mal seizures) as a child. This led to his belief that he wouldn’t survive to adulthood — and an eventual drug problem. But those seizures, which he eventually did outgrow, led to something else wonderful.

[The seizures] altered my life in nearly every way.  Whenever one hit, I would be out of school for as long as ten days. The muscle pulls were so painful and severe that ai could do nothing but lay in bed with ice packs on my hamstrings and quadriceps.

It was there, in that bed in our suburban home in the Mission Valley section of San Diego , that my life changed again. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t move more than a few inches without pain. I didn’t have a television in my room. Video games and iPads hadn’t been invented. I was left to my own devices.

So I read books.

A lot of books.

…I have a very analytical, mathematical, calculating mind. I know I’m not supposed to believe in things like karma. But certain things have happened in my life that can’t be explained by simple coincidence. How else can you explain the sequence of events and circumstances that led to me turning those bedridden hours — which should have been the worst hours of my life — into something that would provide a foundation for a life of curiosity and fun?

That’s what happened. That’s how profound the discovery of books was in my life. I didn’t like school, but I loved books. Reading has been the basis of just about everything that came after. In that bed, I fell in love not only with books but with knowledge. The experience tapped into something I might never have found without the trying circumstances that led up to it.  So much of the enjoyment I’ve gained from life has stemmed from a book — either researching some arcane item or reading to learn how to do something practical with my hands.

(Is there anything sexier than a man who loves to read — and research yet!)

And then there are the Horatio Alger-esque stories of each member of the Pawn Stars cast’s rise from humble backgrounds to lives of security and comfort through hard work and determination. Passion and skills into profit, yes; but even more than that, the stories in this book are about finding yourself even when you do your very best to get in your own way. Overcoming obstacles — internal and external — with responsibility for personal accountability, education, and a dedicated pursuit of goals. There’s even a “be careful what you wish for” story; now that the show’s made the cast and the store so popular, Rick can’t be out on the floor, doing what he loves. All things worth reading. Even if they weren’t mixed in with stories about antiques and collectibles — and the unique individuals who buy and sell them.

I only have two complaints about this book…

One, Hyperion is often noted for their “strike while the iron is hot” approach to publishing. This makes sense, but I couldn’t help but feel that this book would have benefited from at least one more round of editing; there were several awkward phrasings, etc., which would have been simple fixes to make the book a bit more polished. And I do mean editing — this is not a slight towards Rick or any of the Pawn Stars themselves (or even Keown); another pair of professional editor eyes would have caught the small problems. Something that bothered me more than a bit for Rick, the reader!

Two, my kids are a fan of this show and while I think there are incredible personal stories my children would benefit from reading, I don’t feel comfortable giving them the book to read due to one adult joke. While reading about prostitutes across the street is certainly less shocking than the plethora of police and crime shows on mainstream prime-time television (not to mention song lyrics on the radio), a joke about oral sex is a bit too much for me to feel comfortable letting the 11 year old read the book.

Overall, License To Pawn is easy to read, charms with great stories, and offers an entertaining look at the world of pawn shops as well as the cast of the show and the cast of characters and objects one is likely to find at pawn shops.  It’s definitely worth the read.

For another take on this book, check out Inherited Values semi-regular writer, Cliff Aliperti’s review.

As noted above, I received a free review copy from Hyperion; this did not affect my review or even guarantee publication of my review.

Ever Wonder Where Those Elvgren Pinup Girl Glasses Came From?

Believe it or not, they were free promotional give away drinking glasses. I’d heard that, but until I found this vintage matchbook, I was still suspicious of the legend.

This vintage matchbook featuring Gil Elvgren’s “Sports Model” pinup on the cover was from Trackside Super Gasoline (2004 Calumet Dr., Sheboygan, Wisconsin). At the bottom “free glassware” is mentioned, and when you open the empty matchbook completely, you see Trackside continues the promotion: “This cover is but one of a series of the famous Elvgren Girls. Bring in a set of all five covers — the five different girls, and receive a set of 5 beautiful Glasses absolutely free.”

Not dated per se; but inside the matchbook it reads “This Offer Expired Jan. 1, 1943.”

This gas station also said they saved you two cents per gallon — savings, free girlie matchbooks, and free pinup drinking glasses?! Today, do we get any of that? No. …With today’s gas prices, we ought to get a free date with a pin up model! lol

I’m selling it on eBay; my other auctions are here.