Each Friday, I answer readers’ questions about items they have. I’m not able to assess the values of their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. I’ve chosen only one…
Month: August 2012
Nostalgia: Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald road tours
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Music, and Performers
The bold red colors on the booklets were transfixing. They caught my eye before I even got to the faces on the covers, some of which I soon and instantly recognized. The incomparable Nat King…
Nostalgia: Mickey Mouse Club ears hat
Posted in Children, Clocks, collectibles, Toys, and TV
Did you have one of those, I asked the man idling in front of his tables of vintage toys in a far corner of the main ballroom at the nostalgia convention. He had been sitting behind…
Nostalgia: Destination Freedom radio program
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, history, and Radio
Confronted by so many DVDs at a recent nostalgia convention, my friend Rebecca began looking for some Amos ‘n Andy recordings. She collects African American memorabilia, and a collection is not complete without a few…
I was expecting to “revisit the past and reminisce about an era that people over the age of 50 remember with fondness” as I entered the hotel space for a nostalgia convention late last week.…
Inside boxing’s fabled old Blue Horizon
Posted in Architecture/Buildings, Businesses, Culture, and Sports
Are there ghosts in here? The words shot from my brain straight through my mouth without warning. I was standing in the lobby of the Legendary Blue Horizon boxing venue in Philadelphia at the beginning…
Putting a value on a doll collection
Posted in collectibles, and Dolls
With pen in hand and his wife standing over his shoulder, the auction-goer listened carefully and intently as the dolls were bidded on and bought. He jotted down the price of each of the 500 dolls…
Getting a buzz from just being at auctions
Posted in Culture, and flea market
The man was quite honest about his failings. I’m an auction addict, he said matter-of-factly, as if he’d recognized and accepted this condition of his long ago. I’d seen him around auctions for awhile, as…
Collectibles that may not be worth your money
Posted in collectibles, Dolls, Figurines, Movies, and Toys
An auction house recently retweeted a story about items that people bought as collectibles but are not worth the price they paid for them. I found the list interesting because practically every one of the…