Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources to help them determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. So, these are market values based on prices I find on the web, not appraisal for insurance purposes that I suggest for items that have been determined to be of great value.
Today’s question is about Ebony greeting cards.
Question:
I have the above cards. I found them at Target and purchased all of them pictured. My question is, do you have any more? I am an elementary school (teacher) and I feature them every African American History Month. They are not only inspirational for my students but educational.
Answer:
The reader was referring to covers of Ebony magazine that were produced as American Greetings cards. I came across the cards about five years ago while shopping at a Target store. I had never seen them before, and bought a couple of them and wrote about them.
Ebony first introduced the cards in Wal-Mart stores in 2007, a year after partnering with American Greetings to make them. The earliest cover was from 1948, three years after the magazine was founded by John H. and Eunice Johnson.
There were apparently 36 cards in the Ebony Inspirations series, with covers of some well-known African Americans and historical events pertaining to blacks.
As for the reader’s question, I have none of the other cards. I’m not sure if Wal-Mart or Target (they were apparently also sold in CVS, K-mart and other stores) sells them anymore. I assumed it was a fluke that I found them there so many years after they first appeared.
I figured if any were around now that they’d certainly be on eBay. Surprisingly, I could find none for sale there or on any other retail site on the web when I checked. I also came up empty-handed at Wal-Mart (which apparently only sells Hallmark) and Target stores.
The cards may be once-a-year merchandise – like Christmas and Halloween offerings – and this is their time of year. I stumbled upon them in January 2010 right before celebration of African American history. The reader should also ask the manager of a Target store (with a largely African American clientele) about where she can purchase more of them, or if the store can get them for you. Since she uses them in her class, the store may be willing to help. She could also contact American Greetings directly.
Meanwhile, I’d hope that she and other teachers would incorporate these cards and other aspects of African American history into their classes at times other than the month of February. Auction Finds is a good place to stop, because my blog is chock full of history pertaining to African Americans, such as the first black carmaker.
Last February, I wrote a blog post about black history items that came from the estate of a teacher and civil rights activist named Mazie B. Hall. Her more important papers were donated to the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Those items told a varied story of the contributions of African Americans to the nation’s history – their troubles and their triumphs, their music and their patriotism.
