Styrofoam Cup Ephemera?

As we all know and agree, Ephemera is defined as transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. This is generally thought to include mostly paper items such as trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters, pamphlets, postcards, posters, prospectuses, stock certificates, tickets and the like.

I recently ran across this unstge.com which in its “About Us” page tells us that:

Unstage is a daily updated blog dedicated to showcasing the best artists, graphic designers, illustrations, short and longform films, architecture, photography, fashion, music and gadgets. We try to keep it cool with fresh content from around the world.

Ever think about advertising with us? We’re the perfect place for a low-cost way to support your product, art, blog, or pretty much anything! With over 300,000 pageviews a month, what are you waiting for? Advertise with us!

Styrofoam art

Styrofoam art

One of their most recent posts talked about a Californian, by way of Malaysia, who draws things on cups. Yep, Styrofoam coffee cups.  I have to wonder if this too fits into the category.. or will some day in the future… of Ephemera.  After all it is transitory, written, and probably not intended to be preserved very long.

Take a look at the drawing in this blog.. and then head on over to Unstage and see a whole lot more of his work. He is obviously very very talented.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site

Technorati tags: , Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Seminole Genealogy and History Project

On July 21, 1821, there were two counties that formed Florida: Escambia to the west and St. Johns to the east. In 1824, the area to the south of St. Johns County became Mosquito County, and Enterprise was named the County Seat. This large county was renamed Orange County in 1845 when Florida became a state. For the next 70 years, Orange County would split into numerous other counties. Seminole County was one of the last counties to emerge from Orange County.

Seminole County was created on April 25, 1913 out of part of the northern portion of Orange County by the Florida Legislature. It was named for the Seminole tribe of Indians. The name “Seminole” is thought to be derived from the Spanish word cimarron,meaning “wild” or “runaway.”

Today I ran across this newly built site, named as above, the Seminole Genealogy and History Project.  There is a section of the site devoted to Ephemera, although at the moment it does not appear to have much content. The picture on the left is described as postcard from Lake Monroe, Florida and was apparently published in a Portland, Maine magazine.  The year is unknown.  While the item does not reside in the Seminole County archives, it does belong to the Florida Photographic Collection.

The jury is out as far as I am concerned.. as to the future success of the Seminole Genealogy and History Project… especially when I notice that most recent update was on May 11th, 2010 and the one prior to that was Aug 10, 2009.  In any event, I’ll be keeping an eye on it to see if anything interesting pops up… and if it does, I’ll be sure to let you know.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site

Technorati tags: , Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Ephemera – How to Protect Vintage Paper Collectibles

If you either own or have inherited old paper materials such as postcards, brochures, letters, greeting cards, tickets, pamphlets, trade cards, tobacco cards, calendars or other related items, it is important to care for them properly. Even newer paper collectibles, such as all the really cute drawings your children do in school, need to be protected if you hope to turn them into treasured momentos that you can cherish for years to come.

In the antiques business, these items are referred to as “ephemera.” Ephemera is written material that was only designed to be temporary. For example, once a greeting card, letter or a postcard was received and read, it was expected that it would be discarded. Even though it was suppose to be transitory, people began to save such items as souvenirs or remembrances for sentimental reasons.

When someone passed away, these old reminders of special occasions or special events were handed down to the next generation as part of that person’s estate. After the passage of so many years, much of the artwork and many of the graphics that appear on some of these materials are now considered valuable.

Collecting vintage ephemera is very popular today but a lot of it is quite fragile so caution needs to be taken when either handling it or storing it. With proper care, hopefully it will be around for generations to come. Only true experts in this field have the extensive knowledge needed to successfully stop the aging process or to restore these materials. The basic recommendations listed below are a beginning and will go along way toward maintaining the present condition of any ephemera pieces you may have.

1. If you have postcards in albums, they should be removed. Cards should be separated with pieces of acid-free paper and they should be stored upright on their edges. Stacking them on top of each other could cause damage to cards that are embossed.

2. When postcards or other paper materials are stacked on their edges within a space, and they do not completely fill that space, be sure to use some sort of stabilizers or separators to keep the postcards and other paper materials in a straight up and down position. You do not want the materials to “slump” which can cause curling or bending.

3. Paper materials should be stored in a temperature of 75 degrees or less. Also, too much or too little humidity is not good.

4. Next to fire, sunlight is the biggest enemy of paper materials. It is best to keep your materials in a dark, dry and cool place such as a fireproof cabinet.

5. Do not eat or drink anywhere near your collection. Spillage of any kind could be devastating.

6. Dirt and dust can cause discoloration and even scratches so use a soft brush to dust materials.

7. Rodents and insects are attracted to some of the ingredients in paper. Even if they don’t eat away at the paper, although they probably will, droppings will leave permanent stains.

8. Try to handle your materials by holding the edges unless you wear gloves. If you handle the paper too much, the oils in your skin will slowly cause erosion.

9. If you must attach a piece of ephemera to something else only use linen or paper tape and never put the tape on the front.

If you are a dealer and are selling ephemera, you probably do not have any pieces in your possession long enough to warrant taking these steps but if you have your own personal collection, it could be worth your while.

Some of these suggestions may not sound all that important but following them over the course of 10, 20 or 30 years can have a dramatic effect on the longevity of these heirlooms. Remember you can never replace theses wonderful old collectibles – time is their enemy. Do what is necessary to protect them.

Anne Benedetto is a former auction house owner and former dealer in the antiques and collectibles business. She presently provides people with important details, behind the scenes information, helpful tips and first hand knowledge of the brick and mortar auction business. Visit Anne at http://AuctionHouseTalk.com which is an interactive site where interested people can talk about the ins and outs of auctions, antiques and collectibles.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Anne_Benedetto

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Only these two pigeons…

… could dress up as woodpeckers

Christmas of 1980 brought out a new film with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder entitled “Stir Crazy”. It was produced by Hannah Weinstein and Melville Tucker. Wikipedia describes it like this:

Stir Crazy is a 1980 American comedy film starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor as two men framed for a bank robbery and each ending up with a 125 year prison sentence, alongside a real bank robber (played by Miguel Angel Suarez) and a man who killed his stepfather (played by Georg Stanford Brown). In 2000, Total Film magazine voted it the 22nd greatest comedy film of all time. It was the third largest grossing film in 1980, behind The Empire Strikes Back and Nine to Five. Georg Stanford Brown’s performance in the film was panned by critics, where he earned a Razzie Award nomination as Worst Supporting Actress, where his character dressed up in drag in some scenes.

Wikipedia also shows the DVD poster that you see on the left. That same image appeared in numerous publications, including Playboy. You can find a page from a 1980’s Playboy magazine here on eBay.

Also in 1980, a film was released with the name “A Change of Seasons” and starred Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Hopkins and Bo Derek. The poster from that film is shown on the right.

And once again, it appeared as a magazine page in a 1980s Playboy.  You can find it here at eBay.

The film was about a fortysomething Karen Evans who discovers her arrogantly self-centered professor husband Adam is having an affair with student Lindsey Rutledge. She retaliates by having a dalliance of her own with young, philosophical campus carpenter Pete Lachappelle. Adam is infuriated when he learns about his wife’s new relationship, and she in turn defends her right to enjoy the same carnal pleasures he does. The four decide to share a Vermont ski house, where their efforts to behave like liberal adults are tested by middle-aged angst, hurt feelings, and teenager Kasey Evans, who unexpectedly arrives to confront her parents with their outrageous behavior.  A fun film!

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site

Technorati tags: , Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

50 Incredible, Historical Speeches

Someone pointed me to this page… I found it quite interesting, perhaps you will too.

The header reads:

You hope that your professors will be good speakers who can keep your interest for at least the length of a class period, but more often than not, you’ll have a teacher or two each semester who drones on and on and doesn’t make you feel passionate about the subject. They could take tips from these speakers who have inspired thousands or even millions of people around the world, some even long after they’ve died. Here are 50 incredible, historical speeches you should watch online.

Click here to see the posting.

 

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site

Technorati tags: , Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

2003 Florida Marlins World Series Card

Occasionally we run across something truly unique. This time we ran across it in a greater quantity than one.

I’m talking about this 2003 Florida Marlins baseball card from their World Series win. This is not your typical bubble-gum size card but rather a full 8×11 inch card that on the one side has a picture of the trophy and a few players and on the reverse, a photo of the entire team gathered presumably at their stadium.

It’s printed on glossy finish card stock and is in near mint condition. And in fact, we have 10 of these on sale currently at eBay.

If you are a Marlins fan, or perhaps better yet – were there when they won the World Series – you will clearly be interested in this little bit of history… and a fine piece of Ephemera.

 

 

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site

Technorati tags: , Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

International Advertising

The greatest percentage of the vintage advertising we and others sell on eBay are of course from American magazine.  But due to our international business travel we are often able to include some very lovely items from well known overseas publications.

Our most recent upload to eBay included a number of ads from the German edition of Elle magazine as well as several ads from a number of different Chinese magazines.

 

Ad for Triumph Lingerie

Triumph

What often makes these unique and appealing to our local audience is that they are the same ads that we see here in US magazines, but with an international character set.  Take for example this Triumph lingerie ad that appeared in the 2006 edition of Elle magazine in Germany.  A the same ad appeared in the US version but with English wording.  So a collector whose Ephemera collection focused on either the Triumph brand or lingerie in general might want to have several versions of the same magazine ad.. but in different language sets.

 

Cosmetics from Bobbi Brown

Bobbi

Here’s another one for Bobbi Brown cosmetics that appeared in a Chinese edition of Cosmo in Hong Kong.  Most of the text in the ad is in Chinese characters.  Again, a very similar ad appeared in the US around the same time.  I’m sure if you are able to read Chinese you will notice that much if not all of the copy reads the same as the US version… after all, they are selling the same product, just to a different market made up of a different audience.

 

Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone

Sometimes of course the picture says it all.

What caught the eye of the readers as they flipped through this Chinese magazine was not necessarily the name Dior, but rather the wonderful picture of Sharon Stone.   The product is Dior’s Capture Totale but the ad agency was hoping that the international stardom of Sharon Stone would be what caused the Chinese audience to stop ad read.. and of course hopefully buy their product.

 

McDonalds

Just to show that I am not totally focused on just beautiful women, here’s yet another German ad, for our well known fast food chain McDonalds.  It appeared in a 2006 publication called Brigitte but was of course all in German.  The German text reads something along the lines of “I like the clear answers that I get at McDonalds”.

As I continue to post these international advertisements, I am trying to link them all so that one can search either on “Chinese” or “German” or whatever other publication languages we have, and get a complete list of all the ads available in those languages. Try it yourself, click one of the languages above and see what we currently have on offer.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site

Technorati tags: , Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

War Era Ephemera

As most of you know, I spend a fair amount of time scouring the Internet for both interesting pieces of Ephemera… and sites that are Ephemera related or contain interesting Ephemera articles.

Today I came across the “War Relics Forum” which describes itself as “A place for serious military historians and collectors. A Forum dedicated to 3 Reich and Soviet Red Army units before and in the WW2 period…” There is nothing I can find which tells me about the creator of the site or location.. but judging from it’s .eu (as opposed to .com) address, I of course assume it originates somewhere in Europe.

War EphemeraWithin that Forum is a section entitled Documents, paper items, photos, propaganda. The Administrator of that section is a fellow named Adrian Stevenson from South Derbyshire, Great Britain.  As you look through the various posts you will find an amazing collection of Ephemeral items such as the propaganda brochures shown on the left and the 1968 Vietnam Christmas card shown below.

The text that goes along with the Christmas card posting reads “A little Christmas humor. I had this card made while serving with the 240th AHC at Bear Cat, Vietnam in Dec 1968

1968 Vietnam Christmas Card

Not to steal from your enjoyment when visiting the site, let me add just one more item from the site.. to wet your appetite a bit more.  This apparently (from the forum) was a poster by the celebrated American artist Joseph Hirsch (1910 – 1981) . War Bonds PosterHe worked for Abbott Laboratories during WW11 producing artworks to illustrate the war effort . ” Till We Meet Again” was his first work for them and became the most widely produced war bond poster . He also covered themes for naval aviation, naval medicine, as well as the Italian front and operations in North Africa for the Army. Thirty-two of his works are in the Naval Art Collection, and many more are in permanent collections in museums and fine art institution. During his lifetime Hirsch won every major award offered for American artists.

So if you have any interest at all in war ephemera, I’d suggest a visit to the War Relics Forum and most particularly to the Documents, paper items, photos, propaganda sub-forum.  I think you will find many interesting articles and items of interesting ephemera.  Be aware that the Forum has a viewing limitation but once you register (for free) you can peruse to your hearts content.

 

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site

Technorati tags: , Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Twitter links powered by Tweet This v1.6.1, a WordPress plugin for Twitter.

Site update: May 23, 2010