Postcards, The New Antique Collectible

I was looking around on iTaggit last night and I came across a really cool collection of postcards owned by Stoney. Postcards aren’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when I think about an antique collectible, but if you think about it they are one of the best. They are easy to find and easy to display. They can be very inexpensive and they give us a wonderful snapshot into all areas of the past, from specific locations to important people or even just fashions and products of the time.

I liked all of Stoney’s vintage postcards a lot but my favorite would have to be the postcard for Gaidos Restaurant in Galveston Texas. I’ve been to the restaurant many times, so it was really cool to see how it looked a long time ago. Another interesting card Stoney has is of Balanced Rock which has been written on. I love how that adds a human touch to the card. The person dated it 1908. What an amazing piece for any collection.

After seeing all the cool postcards on itaggit I decided to do some research. Apparently the study and collection of postcards is called deltiology. If you are thinking about starting your own collection, you should know that it can be difficult to determine the value of antiques like postcards because their production is not heavily regulated. Before you start buying you’ll probably want to pick up an antique price guide or check out a few antique appraisals.

Antique Roadshow Recap #4

Antique Roadshow this week was pretty good. The show was shot in Tampa and like last weeks show, I’m afraid it was a a rerun. The show originally aired in 2006, which was before I really got into watching so again, like last week’s show, it is new to me. I’m not really a history buff, but the historical items on this weeks show were so interesting to me.

The first item I selected was given the highest value of all the antique appraisals this week. I imagine the antique appraisers were pretty excited when they saw what the owner had brought them. It was a Lahcotah Dictionary and Other Native American Artifacts all from the 1800s. Being part Native American myself, I was particularly interested in this item and I wasn’t disappointed at all. Apparently, the owner’s great-great-uncle was one of the authors of the Sioux language dictionary and this copy had his penciled in notes and corrections in the margins. The idea that the author of the book wrote extra little bits of information in the margins is so exciting to me. Wouldn’t you love to see what changes he made? As much as that would affect the antiques value, that is nothing compared to the fact that this was the first book printed in Wyoming. Can you imagine owning an antique collectible with such historical relevance? The lucky owner has two other copies at home of a book that has only been auctioned once in the past thirty years. What an amazing find!

The Native American artifacts that accompanied the book were jewelry pieces owned by two important Sioux Tribe members, worth up to 12,000 each and brought the total lot’s worth up to $150,000. If I were the owner I might have to sell. Even with the sentimental value, that is quite a lot of money for an item you have more than one copy of. You can see how plain the book and jewelry look in the picture from Antique Roadshow’s official site. I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.

The next item I chose because it reminded me of a really cool scrimshaw collection on iTaggit owned by ScrimCollector. The collection up for valuation on the show consisted of five Chinese paintings and one Scrimshaw. The value of antiques like scrimshaws can vary based on the condition, and I noticed that the scrimshaw on the show had some sort of red stain on it. The appraiser didn’t address it so I’m not sure if it affected the antiques value or not. The items featured in the segment were valued at up to $18,000 which is a lot of money. I’ve made a mental note to buy any scrimshaw I find at affordable prices at my local antique dealer.

So that was my take on the show this week, if I missed anything let me know!

By Jamie.

Antique Roadshow Recap Tampa Hour One

What a great Antique Roadshow this week! The city featured this time was Tampa, which seems to be a rerun. Luckily, I had never seen this one so it was new to me. There were too many interesting antique appraisals to choose just two, but I think I picked the best ones.

The first piece was easy to choose, after all what Texan wouldn’t select an artifact from a hero from the Battle of the Alamo? Of all the antique appraisers, Francis Wahlgren was the lucky one who got to value David Crockett’s Unexecuted Marriage License. He didn’t have much work to do since the owner of the document knew the interesting story behind it. Apparently Crockett was supposed to be married when he was 19 years old, but his bride ran away and eloped with another man. Years later, the courthouse was going to throw the document away but a man there was a fan of Crockett’s so he kept it and passed it down in his family until the current owner finally inherited it. Even with all the information the owner had, this seems like such a difficult piece to value. If I were Wahlgren, I would have kept asking myself “how do I value antiques that are one of a kind and can never be replaced?” He seemed to have managed fine though, and determined the antiques value is between $30,000 and $50,000. Check out a picture of the amazing document from Antique Roadshow’s official site.



The next item was a beautiful collection of Lenox China Sample Plates appraised by David Lackey who is a Houstonian like me. Now antique china is something that most everyone I know has gathering dust in a cabinet somewhere, so I always pay special attention when it is featured. The Owner’s father had rescued the plates from the trash when he worked at Lenox fifty years ago. Lackey explained that the plates were hand-painted treasures worth up to $6,000 for only 7 plates. I’m sure the owner was thanking her lucky stars, since she had even more plates than were displayed in this picture from Antique Roadshow’s official site.



I guess what we should learn from this is to learn the value of antiques before tossing them out. These two people should feel very lucky that their treasured items were rescued instead of ending up at the dump.

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The True Value of Antiques

Lately I’ve found myself wondering “How do I value antiques?” Should the value be based on the age? Maybe the condition should determine the value antiques have, but the more I thought about it, the more it seems to me that the true value of antiques comes from their history and the stories they can tell us.

When I look at an antique or vintage item, I can’t help but wonder who bought it brand new? Who used it every day to give it the wonderful patina it now has? Who loved it before I did? I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels this way. Antiques are so interesting to us because they’ve been around longer than we have. They’ve managed to survive so many years and so many things that we can’t even imagine.

Shows like Antique Roadshow are fun to watch not only because we learn antiques value, but also because we learn the history of the item. This can be even more special and interesting if the item was handed down from family member to family member. In my Fiance’s family an antique sword with their family named etched on it has been handed down for years and in my family the granddaughters inherit jewelry and figurines. So many families have traditions like these, which makes me think that we all feel the same way about antiques. If your family has an interesting item or too that gets passed down through the generations let me know!

By Jamie.

Justice League Now on DVD

DC Comic's Justice League: The New Frontier has been released on DVD. For those of you who aren't familiar with The New Frontier, it is an animated movie based on the graphic novels by Darwyn Cook, Michael Goguen and Bruce Timm. I recently learned that a comic book having a successful movie increases its value. So once this movie hits it big, take your Justice League comics in for new comic book appraisals.

David Borneanaz, or Angel as we know him, and Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser fame are among the interesting voice cast. I might get the movie just to see how those two along with Brooke Shields work in one film. Seriously though, the Justice League alone has enough big names to sell the movie. Who is bigger than Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman?

I think it is pretty smart that the Justice League movie is being released on Blu-Ray. They are also releasing it on HD DVD in March, but since Toshiba has abandoned the format, that probably isn't a really wise move. Check out this video about the end of HD DVD.



All of these format changes are making it hard for me to organize collections of movies at my house. I can't believe DVD's are becoming obsolete. I guess I should start posting some of mine as items for sale or trade on iTaggit. From iTaggit's site www.itaggit.com, users can sell or trade items to other users, post them on eBay, Amazon, or craigslist all from one spot. This makes the process a lot easir. I guess I'll have to sell off most of my DVD collection to be able to afford one of those expensive Blu-Ray players. Most people I know, are just buying a PS3, it plays both Blu-Ray and DVD formatted discs.

By Jamie.

New Antique Price Guide for Mickey

Nearly everyone at one time or another has owned a piece of Mickey Mouse Memorabilia. My most memorable piece was a wonderful Mickey Mouse sweat-shirt. Mickey was positioned on the shirt so that if I put my hands in the pocket it looked like I had Mickey gloves on. I wore it to my 5th birthday party and I'll never forget it. Take a look at me in all my early 80s glory.


Unfortunately, I lost track of my favorite Mickey shirt before I could write in cursive. If you somehow managed to keep all your Mickey Mouse memorabilia you might want to check out the new Official Price Guide to Mickey Mouse Collectibles. Unlike a normal antiques price guide, the Mickey guide has both antiques and newer items. As long as it is a Mickey collectible it should be in there.

Of course newer items are usually easy to price based on retail prices. The problem is finding accurate value of antiques. An antique price guide can be a good reference for collectibles, but in my opinion the best way to go is always antique appraisals. An appraisal allows your specific item to get looked at by an expert. If you really think your item is valueable, it's worth the money to get the item appraised. If you collect or are looking to collect Mickey Mouse memorabilia you should really browse through the book. You can find it from Geppi Entertainment Publishing.

By Jamie.