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Introduction to Paper Ephemera
As a long time collector and dealer in the ephemera sector of collectibles, I’d like to share what I can with the group. I recently moved from Indiana to North Alabama and have noticed a big difference in the availability of paper collectibles. In Indiana it was abundant. It was no big surprise to go to an estate auction and find it by the box full. Postcards, stamps, old books and magazines went for a buck or two a box. In fact, I’ll share this story with you as it goes to show “ya just never know.” My wife and I were attending a rural Indiana estate auction a few years back. We had bid on and won several interesting items including a 10″ Pinecone Roseville vase for 7.00! As the auctioneers worked through the stuff they came to two hay wagons piled high with items. On one of the wagons was a 55 gallon metal trash can with a lid. I won it for a 1.00 and left it sitting on the wagon until the end of the auction. When it was over, I jumped up on the wagon to grab the can and to my surprise it weighed a ton. I popped open the lid and saw that it was filled to the top with old books and maps! I was elated to say the least. After going through it at home we found a leather bound bible from 1812 with the complete birth, marriage and death history of the family that owned it hand written on the inside covers and blank cover pages. We also found a huge leather bound US foldout map from 1881 printed on linen instead of paper. To think, this stuff was discarded as trash.
Now getting back to my original train of thought. Since moving to Alabama, paper related collectibles are virtually non existent in this area. I’ve traveled all over the Mississippi, Alabama area to numerous antique malls and shops and found the same thing. Very little in the ephemera field. When I did find it, it was priced far above normal retail value. I spoke with shop owners and dealers and got the same interesting story. During the civil war, the union soldiers would burn down buildings and homes and a large amount of the period paper was destroyed. This in turn causes the premium prices in the southeast. An interesting piece of historical trivia that I did not know.
I hope you found my introductory post interesting to read. I look forward to meeting everyone and would be honored if you would share your thoughts and expertise on my antiques community also. It’s located at Tennessee Valley Online Flea Market. Just click on the antiques community icon.
In my next topic I will go in depth on vintage war related tobacco cards.
