About the illustrations – some words on the movie cards and collectibles in these posts
About the illustrations – some words on the movie cards and collectibles in these posts
Unless you're a total minimalist, there's a good chance you collect something, even if you don't tab it your "collection." When it comes to classic films most fans collect the movies themselves with some part of the house reserved for shelves, or at least a shelf, of DVDs, or even some old VHS. Then you have your collectors whose homes are like a trip back to an old movie house with framed original posters on display.
And then there’s the cards and ephemera. This is where the items I offer fit in. The items that I illustrate my entries with here on the Examiner are all items which have moved in and out of my hands over the years. Cards, premiums, supplements, magazines, even clippings have a few things in common which really add up to why I choose to handle these particular items:
1) Affordable - These types of cards and ephemera present no monetary barrier to entry for the collector. If you like an obscure star you can often acquire these types of goods for about $4-$8 per item, sometimes less. If you like a big star, like Gable or Cagney, you're still only going to find yourself paying in the range of $10-$12 an item. Harlow? $12-$15. There are exceptions, Judy Garland items sell higher (but still typically under $40), Louise Brooks higher yet, and specific types of items, such as the popularly collected Dixie Premiums, can range higher than the typical cards or paper items you run across. Movie Magazines from the Silent and Golden Age often price at $50-$100, some more, some less, but basically nobody is shut out of acquiring whatever they may want in this area. As long as it can be found.
2) The items I handle were typically items that the movie fans of the period could collect themselves. For example, if it's 1950 and you want to collect movie posters, well, you'd better either work at a theater or have a really good connection with someone who does. Publicity Photos? Our movie fan from 1935 better have an in at the studio. Or a pal working at a newspaper to get those promotional shots and wire photos. But magazines were on the newsstand; trading cards came with products, especially, of course, cigarettes; those Dixie Premiums I mentioned, buy an ice cream cup and you've taken the first step; Supplements were found in newspapers and magazines; those neat 5x7 fan photos with the fake signatures on them were acquired by writing to your favorite star. The items I handle were accessible, which is largely why they also fall under point 1 today.
3) Collectible. Yes, they were mass produced during the period, but that doesn't mean that everything survived. In fact, in terms of rarity, and I'm going on nothing more than common sense here, I'd say a mid-1930's paper picture of a movie star has a lot less of a chance of surviving until today than a 1950's era baseball card--hey, those are worth some money, aren't they? Go back further to the silent era, and the items I deal in tend to have begun being mass produced in the late 1910's and you're exponentially ratcheting up the rarity. So a vintage mass produced item is by no means common. I can tell you I've handled items in the past which I've believed were more common than others--in other words, I'd see them a lot--but then there'd often be a 2-3-4 year period between the next time I saw them. I can easily think of items I've discounted that I've since been hunting for without success.
So basically every item I show off in my posts here fall under those 3 criteria. There are some exceptions, for instance, I will handle still photos from time to time because many are quite affordable (Point 1) and might comprise the only available items to collect for more obscure stars.
There are other reasons why I like selling these particular items as well, though my favorite is the mystery surrounding some of them. Several types of the collectibles I’ve seen are otherwise uncatalogued, so I get to collect and collate knowledge about them that I can share with others by presenting on my web pages. For someone largely chained to their desk throughout the day it can sometimes give me the feeling of the first guy to the top of a mountain peak.
If you’re interested in collecting items such as movie cards and ephemera feel free to drop a comment below or shoot off an email to me. I’ll do what I can to help. Now, back to the movies …
Note: There was no post for TCM’s schedule of David Lean and Norman Jewison films today, but I promise to back before the first Hitchcock movie tomorrow with the complete Hitch schedule plus a slideshow and then try to do it again for George Cukor on Sunday.
Many tobacco sets from Europe distinguish themselves with blazing colors
such as this 1935 Carreras "Famous Film Stars" tobacco card of Gloria Swanson.
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