ephemera

Bumpersticker Van

 

Paper Airplanes

Are you an expert at making paper airplanes or have a collection of vintage paper airplanes? If so, I'd like to feature you and your collection in an upcoming post. Leave a comment here, and I'll follow up with you.

In a similar vein, one of my most popular post was my interview with a man who builds model airplanes out of old 7-up cans. The post consistently receives dozens of hits each week via Google searches.

[Photo attribution: paper airplane image by Dmitri Krendelev.]

Ephemera Accessory Item for Vintage Auto

It's been a while since I featured an example of ephemera that could act as a value-added accessory (crossover collectible) to a three-dimensional collectible like a vintage automobile. This sealed package contains a Tonco Oil Paper Cleaner, circa 1920. It would be nice accessory item for the trunk or glove box of an antique car. Imagine popping open the glove box and seeing an authentic, factory sealed package from the 1920s. Pretty cool.

For a more in-depth discussion of the importance of crossover collectibles, click link.

Bert Weiman WGN TV Ford Man Linn Burton

Anyone who grew up in Chicago in the 1970s will remember Linn Burton--for certain. Linn, the dapper old huckster, was Bert Weiman's TV Ford Man.

The cheap TV spots were never meant to last beyond the time it took Bert to clear out a 1978 Pinto (only $1,898 fully loaded). Filmed at Weiman's lot at 3535 NORTH! Ashland Avenue, Linn's commercials have become as precious as any baseball card or vintage wine poster.

So, return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...It was Saturday morning and all you had to concern yourself with was a Little Rascals rerun on WGN and this message from your TV Ford Man.

Motorcycle Postcard and Ephemera Collector

Jerry Hooker, a retired tool shop owner, collects motorcycle ephemera. Motorcycle ephemera is an area that's bound to be of interest to a lot of people who ride as well as those who love anything related to transportation. Jerry's comments are fun, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the following interview.

ephemera: I understand you've owned the same BMW motorcycle for 36 years that's the favorite means of transportation for your four grandchildren. You sound like a cool rockin' grandfather. How did become interested in motorcycle ephemera?

Hooker: As with many collections, they just happen and begin to grow. While in England in 1995, I was browsing through an antiques mall and found a postcard of an old motorcycle with a young couple on it that was taken in a studio. It intrigued me and after returning home I started looking for more of the same.

My first serious foray into collecting postcards came when I contacted a dealer who specialized in antique stock certificates and postcards. We ended up making a trade for my certificates and his motorcycle postcards. From that point on, I was hooked and continued to build the collection. Years later, when the cost of motorcycle cards became so expensive, I diversified into early motorcycle advertising and general interest magazine covers depicting motorcycles. Since I was a teenager, I have liked motorcycles and ephemera is an extension of that love.

As my collection grew, I tried to conceive of a way that the hobby would be something other than a deep money pit with no return on investment. I began by developing a web site where I offered reproductions of my postcards. Initially, I began by offering matted photo's and later added 11" x 14" poster size prints. At some point, I decided that I would develop a catalog of my offerings. I worked a long time on that and finally came to the realization that what I was doing was not much different from conceiving a book. I went on to forget the catalog and self publish a hardcover book called Motorcycling Through History During The Golden Age Of Postcards with more than 700 of my postcards illustrated in color with identifications and descriptions of each card as well as a reproduction of the stamp box or postal cancel. I wanted the book to appeal to motorcycle enthusiasts as well as postcard collectors in general.

My collection of postcards is now comprised of almost 1,000 pre-1940 cards. They are stored in archival albums by subject matter that follows the chapters in my book: American Cycles; European cycles; Racing, Sidecars, Advertising; Holidays, Military and Humorous.

ephemera: It's a wonderful collection. Truly some amazing items. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in finding new items to add to your vast collection?

Hooker: The greatest obstacle to collecting specialized postcards is availability and price. I follow the listings in eBay on a daily basis and bid on items now that are unique in content or rarity of the motorcycle. I try to find examples of motorcycles that were short lived and rare unlike Harley-Davidson, Indian or Excelsior that are very common, but because of the name recognition they command high prices. Sometimes a postcard of a lesser know cycle can be purchased for a lot less money and to my way of thinking, the far better card to have. I have come to the point where I rarely "have to have" a particular card.

ephemera: What are your favorite items in your collection?

Hooker: By category, my favorites are the Santa cards from my holiday section of motorcycle cards. I have about thirty with this subject matter from around the world. With these particular cards collecting becomes even more difficult as I am competing with motorcycle and Santa collectors. I am also partial to Victorian era romantic cards and some of the real photo cards that are unique in content including the cycle and overall balance and composition of the subjects.

ephemera: What’s your advice for achieving success as a collector?

Hooker: To be successful one has to be persistent, determined and have an understanding spouse. The more specialized the area of collecting, the more expensive it becomes and many of the best motorcycle postcards can cost from one hundred to over two hundred dollars each, with the average probably being more in the thirty five to sixty dollar range. One needs to study his or her subject matter to learn what to look for in terms of quality and content as well as being aware of fakes and scams that unfortunately do happen. It always comes down to buyer beware.

ephemera: That's sound advice, Jerry. What resources and tools do you recommend?

Hooker: I am a subscriber to Postcard Collector that keeps me well informed as to postcard and ephemera shows as well as dealers to contact. In addition I visit many web sites that offer what I am looking for. Sometimes that is unrelated to my motorcycle cards. I am a long time family historian and have published two books an my family history, one for my paternal side and one for my maternal side. To add to these histories I search the web for postcards from the areas that my ancestors once lived. I have traced my mother's family back to the late 1500s in Germany and have found some very nice complimentary images from the area that the family originated. My postcard collection is stored in three large albums made by SAFE that are archival, and allow clear viewing of the images in a binder format. I would advise using the best of care in handling cards and other ephemera. My advertising and magazines are also stored in archival sleeves.

ephemera: Thanks, Jerry. This has been an entertaining and informative interview, and I imagine this will inspire a lot of people to begin collecting motorcycle ephemera.

Door County Wisconsin - Drunken Sailors

This 1865 Harper's Weekly brought to mind a sailing adventure I took with a group of friends near Door County in the early 1990s.

One night during our three-day excursion on the bay, we took shore leave in the harbor of Fish Creek. We returned to the vessel very late--and drunk. The motley crew made more than a little noise finding its way back to the 42' sailboat called Windwalker, and while on board, the loud party continued until the wee hours.

The Harbor Master was not amused. At first light, he pounded the side of our ship and screamed for the Captain's head. In colorful language, the Harbor Master instructed the Captain to leave the harbor immediately and never return. During the tirade, he threatened to notify the local authorities if we weren't gone in five minutes. My good friend, the Captain, was visibly shaken when he returned below deck to initiate our hasty departure.

What Fish Creek's Harbor Master didn't know is the Captain, my close friend of more than 20 years, was a brilliant, highly-respected Ph.D and a church deacon--revered by all who knew him. Which proves that even the most venerated among us are not infallible. A lesson that my dear Captain apparently never took to heart.

Lambretta Scouters Advertisements & Photographs

This video features a collection of old Lambretta scouter advertisements and photos set to music.

Perhaps these videos will inspire other ephemera collectors to create video montages. I think it's an inspired way to show off an ephemera collection. After all, there's no point in keeping ephemera hiden away in a dark drawer or binder. 

Ford Signs - Memories from Sam Baker's Garage

Sam Baker, 65, is a retired Chemical Plant Mechanic. He's keenly interested in Ford signs, literature (e.g., parts catalogs, brochures, etc.), early Ford V-8s, and Flathead V-8 speed equipment. He shared a few items from his collection, along with a few recollections about his life as a Ford man.

Sam says, "In 1975, I was working on a 1928 Model A Coupe, and went to the Carisle, PA, Fall Show. It was there that I discovered Ford Signs. I could only afford one, but I saw many that I liked."

Not being able to travel very far to shows because his wife was ill, Sam found it difficult to buy signs "sight unseen."

One of Sam's favorite signs is a 6" Ford stained glass window from a 1928 Ford Dealership. He also like his 8" Ford V-8 porcelian sign. When it come to signs, Sam's advice is "Buy what you like and buy it in person or from someone you know."

Transportation Safety Card Collection Ahmet Sonmez Interview

Ahmet Sonmez, whose razor wrapper collection I recently profiled, also collects safety instruction cards from trains, aircrafts, boats, buses, and the like. He supplied examples from his collection, and provided the following commentary:

"This collection challenges you with one hell of a large spread-sheet-matrix. On one axis of the matrix, you have hundreds of airline companies of the world, like Lufthansa (Germany), Aeroflot (Russia), TAP (Portugal)…on the other axis you have different manufacturers, models, and names like Fokker-100, Airbus A319-100, DASH-8, Beechcraft-1900D or Boeing B767-300. The result adds up to thousands of different card designs. I only have about 1500 Safety Instruction cards of 137 airline companies (of different countries). I keep them in alphabetical order, which starts with Adam Air, ends with Zoom Airlines.

How did I start this collection? Well, I started this collection about nine years ago. This plainly proves that I’m a pretty short-sighted person. Since 40-odd years I kept on flying across the world. If I’d had the brains to start collecting Safety Cards, say 40 years ago, I would have had many thousands of cards in my collection today. At least one-third of them would have been prop job aircrafts and relics that you can only find in museums or Web sites. Honestly speaking, I didn’t intend to start a collection at the beginning. My bright idea was to design comic strips, using the illustrations offered on safety cards. Indeed, I succeeded in composing numerous cartoons, making use of those schematic--rather funny--'Safety' illustrations and in due time, I have to admit, that I’ve ended up with a pretty large collection. Things happen. There are very limited numbers of collectors of Safety Instruction Cards in the world. Fortunately, since last five years, fellow collectors started discovering each other through the Internet. I keep on receiving requests and swap offers from fellow collectors. Why? Because, through search engines they’ve found my personal web site, and have read my list. I’m glad to see that I’m not alone. The bottom line is to be able to call yourself a collector, you should be able to contact fellow collectors, you should try to provide them with interesting pieces, and receive new interesting pieces in return. This is how I got Fokker-70 of Vietnam Airlines, Tupolev tu-134 of Air Kazakhstan or Dash-8 (prop job) of Eastern Australia.

It is not an easy task to take a Safety Instruction Card from an aircraft. Why? Because it says, ‘Do Not Remove From Aircraft’. I have never removed a single card from any aircraft ever in my life. I always make sure that I pick the Airline Magazine, on which it says, ‘Your Free Complimentary Copy’. When I get home, I sometimes find a new Safety Instruction Card inserted, or better, encapsulated between the pages of the Airline Magazine. There’s no harm in discovering a new Safety Instruction Card in your luggage when you get home… Yes?"

Mona Lisa Tickets - Takashimaya Department Store

Employees at the Takashimaya department store in Osaka have created four reproductions of world-famous paintings using 320,000 old train tickets obtained from the nearby Nankai Namba station.

The works, which include renditions of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (2.3 x 1.6 meters) and the Birth of Venus, as well as Renoir’s Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, consist of “pixels” formed by overlapping the black and white tickets in intricate patterns. About 300 employees sacrificed their breaks and free time for 3 months to complete the masterpieces, which will be on display at Takashimaya until October 16.  [Via: Pink Tentacle]

This is one of the best examples I've come across of re-purposing ephemera for the sake of art.