ephemera

Logomachy Game Cards

Recently, I featured an item sent in from Mary Green, which prompted me to take a closer look at her site. Doing so, I discovered another item from her shop that I thought readers might enjoy.

Logomachy

Mary has scanned her collection of antique Logomachy game cards and she wants to share them with you. "The graphics, colors and illustrations on these cards make them memorable - everyone who sees them wants their own," says Mary. She adds, this alphabet game originated in 1874 and continued to be popular up to 1900. There are multiple versions of the cards; I have 4 different styles in my collection, each is included here. Three of the sets follow the same pattern - one style of card for each letter, except for 6 "prize" cards which each have their own design. Two of the sets have a framed bird image; one in black and white, the other is beautifully colored. The third set pictures a little girl watching a bird on a branch outside her window. The final set has different Victorian images on each card, many children and couples, very pretty. There are 114 images in all: each alphabet letter from each of the 4 sets, plus images from the backs of 7 different decks.

Altered Logomachy Images

You'll also receive altered versions of both framed bird styles from Mary, each with the letter removed. This collection of images shows the actual cards in her collection. Most are in excellent condition, some are a bit faded and you may find an occasional smudge or worn edge visible, just as if you had the card in your hand.

Filmmaker Tim Burton Ephemera Display

The Museum of Modern Art will present a major exhibition exploring the full scale of renowned filmmaker Tim Burton's career, both as a director and concept artist for live-action and animated films, and as an artist, illustrator, photographer, and writer. The exhibition will be on view from November 22, 2009, through April 26, 2010.

Tracing the current of Burton's visual imagination—from his earliest childhood drawings through his mature work in film—the exhibition Tim Burton will bring together over 700 examples of rarely or never-before-seen drawings, paintings, storyboards, moving-image works, puppets, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera, and includes an extensive film series spanning Burton's 27-year career. The exhibition explores how Burton has taken inspiration from sources in pop culture and reinvented Hollywood genre filmmaking as an expression of personal vision, garnering him an international audience of fans and influencing a generation of young artists working in film, video, and graphics.

Tim Burton is organized by Ron Magliozzi, Assistant Curator, and Jenny He, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film, with Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.

Magliozzi states: "There is no other living filmmaker possessing Tim Burton's level of accomplishment and reputation whose full body of work has been so well hidden from public view. Seeing so much that was previously inaccessible in a museum context should serve to fuel renewed appreciation and fresh appraisal of this much-admired artist."

Organized in collaboration with Burton, the exhibition presents artworks and objects drawn primarily from the artist's personal archive, as well as studio archives and the private collections of Burton's collaborators. Included are little-known drawings, paintings, and sculptures created in the spirit of contemporary Pop Surrealism, as well as work generated during the conception and production of his films, such as original The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride puppets; Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, and Sleepy Hollow costumes; and even severed-head props from Mars Attacks! Also featured are the first public display of his student art and earliest nonprofessional films.

The Superior Scribbler Award

The ephemera blog has received the coveted Superior Scribbler Award!

I received this prestigious award from my blogging pal, Gina, who l recently interviewed. Thank you, Gina.

For details of this award and its beginnings, visit The Scholastic Scribe.

As with many of the Blog-type Awards, there are rules that go with the award:

• Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to five most deserving blog friends.
• Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
• Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog and link to the original post at The Scholastic Scribe which explains The Award.
• Each blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit the original post at The Scholastic Scribe and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who wins This Prestigious Honor.
• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules to his/her blog.

And with that said, here are the blogs that I have selected for this fine award:

Buzz, Balls, & Hype

Cabbages and Kings

Craphound

Dispatches from Tanganyika

Patti O'Shea

 

NASA Negatives Discovered at Congressman's Estate Sale

An eBay seller claims to have found a rare set of original NASA negatives.

According to the auction listing, the negative came from the estate of a congressman and were included with other ephemera from Washington, DC. The listing states: "Each appears to be an original negative in color. They are encased in double clear folders. The negative is in a sealed proof plastic folder that is in another plastic holder. Each negative is enclosed with paperwork. The paperwork is from NASA. The items are dated from December, 1972 to September, 1988. The seller found them in a brown envelope with the name of Edward K. Harrison, public information branch, Kennedy Space Center.

The auction of these rare negatives ends on June 30, 2009.

To me, this seller's story rings true. It harkens to a number of ephemera items I've uncovered in my travels at estate sales, or, less glamorously, at the bottom of a dumpster. Check out the auction and decide for yourself.

Search eBay for more NASA ephemera.

Tennyson Calendar

Mary Green from Green Paper sent along the following item:

"This Tennyson Calendar for 1896 was designed at the Raphael Tuck & Sons Studios in England and printed at the Fine Art Works in Saxony.

I spotted the calendar years ago, tucked into an antique store wood and glass case, almost impossible to see. Although I try not to buy anything pricey just because it's pretty, I couldn't resist this one.

While making copies of some pages to use in my art, I realized that due to the leap year, the 1896 days & dates after March correspond exactly with 2009; allowing me to reference the calendar for the remainder of the year.

The images and colors are very soft and subtle, and the calendar section on each page blends into the background. At just 3 ½" X 5 ¾", it's really a stunning art piece more than a functional calendar.

There are openings at the top of each page for the hanging rings and chain. Because the cover already had a small tear in this area and was showing wear, I removed the rings and chain with my jewelry tools to prevent further damage. They're easily reattached when I display the piece.

Since adding the June page as a calendar on my blog homepage, and offering that image in download to my readers, I've seen it gracing blogs based as far away as Poland.

Since I hope some readers of Ephemera will enjoy the calendar as well, I'm offering the July page for download here first, before it's posted to my blog next week."

Disclosure

BIG, scary affiliate links above. That's right, if you buy this download by clicking the link, I get some beer money (but not enough to buy a pony). Oh, and by the way, I also include--from time-to-time--some affiliate links to such companies as...

eBay. <---Yikes, there's one!

Look, I’m working my ephemeral behind off trying to deliver value to you. I know about products and services (mostly books and other ephemera-related items) that you’ll be interested in, and I make some money by doing it that helps me keep this rolling.

Andy Warhol Films

Up for bid on eBay is a wonderful piece of Andy Warhol ephemera from the 1960's. The item, subtitled, Now In Release from Andy Warhol Films, Inc., includes a thin cardboard color photograph of Warhol attached to a pinwheel which, when spun, shows a different image from one of his films in Andy's right eye and the name of the film in Andy's mouth.

When the the wheel is spun, samples appear from Lonesome Cowboys, Tub Girl, Imitation of Christ, The Chelsea Girls, My Hustler, I, A Man, Loves of Ondine, Bike Boy, and The Nude Restaurant.

The auction closes on June 28, 2009.

Andy Warhol was himself a well-know ephemera collector. You can read about his collecting exploits here.

Search eBay for more Andy Warhol ephemera.

Lincoln Ice House Cover Stamp

A torn but unique envelope bearing a 90-cent stamp portraying Abraham Lincoln, which turned up 40 years after it was stolen in 1967, fetch more than $400,000 when it is offered at auction on June 13 by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York City.

Known to stamp collectors as the "Ice House Cover", the 3¾ by 9-inch envelope was mailed in 1873 from a Boston ice exporter to its icehouse in Calcutta, India. It is prized by philatelists because it is the only authenticated example of the 90-cent Lincoln stamp still affixed to its original envelope.

The stamp comes from the 1869 issue of pictorial stamps, which included the first United States postage stamps printed in two colors. The portrait of Lincoln is printed in black, while the surrounding frame with the 90-cent denomination is printed in red.

Although numerous examples of the 1869 90-cent Lincoln stamp are available to collectors, only this one is still attached to its original envelope. It was discovered in 1914 by a collector touring India and passed from collector to collector until its theft.

The Ice House Cover was one of 250 envelopes stolen on December 9, 1967, from the home of an Indianapolis stamp collector named J. David Baker, now deceased. The crime was part of an organized burglary operation that targeted stamp collectors whose names and addresses were listed geographically in the member directory of The American Philatelic Society.

In 1974 the FBI recovered the stolen Baker collection, except for the Ice House Cover. Mr. Baker gained ownership of the recovered items after suing the insurance company to enforce a provision of his original settlement, which allowed him to buy back any recovered items for the insurance compensation.

The recovered Baker collection was sold by the Siegel firm in 1978. Even without the Ice House Cover, the collection realized $772,000, many times its insured value at the time of the 1967 theft.

For four decades the Ice House Cover remained lost to philately. Most collectors thought the thieves had soaked off the 90-cent stamp to make it more salable.

Then, on a cold winter day in January 2006, an elderly couple walked into a small stamp shop in Chicago and inquired if three stamp items had any value. Two were worthless, but one was recognized by the dealer as having great value. After consulting with another dealer, the dealer determined that the item was the legendary stolen Ice House Cover.

The FBI confiscated the stolen property and began an investigation. The couple who brought it to the Chicago stamp dealer claimed they had no idea that the old envelope in their possession was valuable or stolen. They said it was among items they found while cleaning out the residence of a deceased relative. No charges were filed against the couple.

While the Ice House Cover lay in the evidence room of the FBI's Indianapolis office, several parties filed claims of ownership. Two years later, the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis ruled that the re-opened Estate of J. David Baker was the rightful owner. Baker's widow transferred ownership to a trust and consigned the item to Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, the same firm that conducted the 1978 auction of the other recovered items.

"During the 40 years the Ice House Cover has been missing, prices for the rarest philatelic items have risen dramatically. It's not that unusual to surpass a half-million dollars or even one-million dollars. The uniqueness of the Ice House Cover and its remarkable story of discovery, loss and recovery will undoubtedly attract the attention of stamp buyers around the world," said Scott R. Trepel, president of Siegel Auction Galleries in the days prior to the stamp's auction.

Photograph courtesy of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, NYC.

Beer League Softball Retirement Announcement

I officially retired from playing beer-league softball in 2002. I wrote the following tongue-in-cheek press release to announce my retirement from the game I loved. If I had a blog in 2002, I'd have posted this letter then, but, since this blog started in 2004, and, since I just came across the release again as I was culling through some old files, I'm posting it now for your amusement.

Fighting back tears as he reflected on a softball career that included virtually no notable personal accomplishments, Marty Weil announced his retirement from beer league softball.

"It was a long, painstaking decision for Marty Weil," said the retiring outfielder. "I couldn't find anyone—past players, present players, family members, or close friends—who cared to see me play. Maybe my decision would have been different if there had been someone I could have turned to."

"It wasn't an easy decision because an athlete can always look in the mirror and say, 'OK, I can still play,'" Weil said during a sparsely attended news conference at his home. "Deep down inside, probably I thought I still could. But why not go out while I'm still mediocre. I remember the words of a former teammate who said, 'You're not seriously considering playing Marty in the outfield during the playoffs.' It is memories like these that I'll look back on and remember most fondly."

Weil said the beer league will do fine without him. "I think the game itself is a lot bigger than Marty Weil."

He referred to himself in the third person at least a dozen times, always when discussing his lackluster softball ability and his total anonymity. He said he wanted to watch his kids (he has none) play basketball, and he wanted to take them to school in the morning. He hadn't had a chance to do enough normal things like that because his Wednesday nights during the summer were so busy, he said sobbing.

"Thanks to my teammates and my coaches, and the support of many other people, my softball dreams have come true."

Theater Ephemera Collector Carla Cushman

A native of San Francisco, and a former Marine, Carla Cushman is now blogging about Theater ephemera on Stage Whispers. In the following interview, we discuss her fascination with old theater paper and highlight some of the interesting things she doing on her blog.

ephemera: How did you become interested in theater history ephemera?

Cushman: Over time, I first became an ardent fan of the performing arts which, over more time, fostered my deep and abiding passion for entertainment history. But I never thought to collect theatrical memorabilia. I'd never even saved a playbill from a production I'd seen! However, because I'm our family historian, I wanted to buy a set of cigar box labels that had become available, depicting my ancestor, Charlotte Cushman, a popular 19th century tragedienne. When I found them, I found my hobby, or rather, my hobby found me.

After I went to a few paper shows and met a few collectors of cigar box labels, I was amazed not only by their beautiful art work, but especially by how many theatricians lent their images to promote cigars. And when I discovered that their images could be found on tobacco silks, cigarette cards, postcards, cabinet cards, pamphlets, magazines, posters, etc., I was really hooked.

ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter as a collector? How do you overcome these challenges?

Cushman: When I was actively collecting, my only obstacle was an occasional shortage of funds. Usually I got the price down to what was workable for me. I stopped collecting about seven years ago, however, and now I'm trying to sell my collection.

ephemera: The process of assembling and then selling a collection. That would be a great blog guest post for someone. Tell me, what are your favorite items in the collection?

Cushman: For vivid color, superb design, and artistic beauty, with lots of embossing and gold leaf, I think the stone lithographed cigar box labels are unbeatable. But the Burr Mcintosh Monthly Magazines from the first decade of the 20th century put you in the era, introduce you to the productions and performers of the day, and offer some of the finest photography you'll ever see.

ephemera: What resources do you recommend for anyone interested in collecting theater ephemera?

Cushman: Resources change periodically, and magazines go in and out of business. Catalogs and price guides are good, so long as you buy the latest editions. But back when I was collecting, the paper shows were the best resource. Now, as I watch my daughter so deftly manage her many on-line projects, I'm convinced that the key to everything exists in cyberspace.

As to the second part of that question, I never really put my stuff on display. But I stored everything next to acid-free paper in plastic sleeves, and put them in deep three-ring binders, so I could enjoy looking at them or showing them to friends. And of course, I created a digital photo catalog of all my collectibles.

ephemera: Thank you, Carla.

Asheville's Year of Bliss Slideshow

For those who missed my February appearance at the Asheville Public Library, you can now view the slides from my talk--Asheville's Year of Bliss (October 2007 to October 2008) at slideshare.

Order your very own copy of A Year in Asheville.