You Can Go Home Again

 

QUESTION: As with many people today, my husband and I have moved several times since graduating from college and now live over 1,000 miles from my parents. At times, I do get a bit homesick for my hometown, even though I try to visit when I can. Recently, while searching for some old postcards on the Internet, I came across several from my hometown. On a subsequent phone call, I mentioned my finds to my mother. She said she had several items, including a souvenir history booklet sold during our town’s sesquicentennial celebration. I’m interested in starting a collection of memorabilia from my hometown. How do I go about it, being that I live so far away?

ANSWER: Collecting hometown memorabilia is not only fun but can be very enlightening. Most people really don’t know all that much about where they were born. And in today’s mobile society, a lot of them move on to several other places during their lifetimes. So just where do you begin?

The first thing to do is investigate the history of your city, town, or village. This will give you clues to your community’s identity. Many places changed their names more than once during their lifetime.

Just as if you were compiling your family’s social history, so should you begin at your town’s county library and historical society. Both offer knowledgeable resources of information that will help you in your search. If you live a good distance away, you may find links to both on the Internet, but a direct phone call is your best method of making contact. Once you have your foot in the door, you can use Email or messaging to exchange questions and answers. 

As people move farther and farther away from home, there seems to be a need to possess artifacts of that place. Historical societies publish newsletters, plus you may even find someone in your town has published a local history. And knowing the history of your town is the key to finding its memorabilia.

As cities, towns, and villages celebrate their founding anniversaries, they often publish a history booklet that they sell to help pay for the celebration. Sometimes, it’s just a small booklet, but at other times, the town’s newspaper will comb through it’s archives for interesting stories and publish a book of them. This was very popular during the early to mid-20th century. 

If you haven't moved away from home yet, start saving items now that have significance to you. It’s possible that you may already have some items. The old screwdriver packed in an old toolbox sports a Bakelite handle and the telephone number and advertising logo of a local lumber yard. Decorative paper fans from the county fair grace a hall mirror. Search through old housewares, sewing boxes and tool chests. Advertising collectibles evolve from items that eventually become more sentimental than utilitarian. 

Rescuing an item that’s headed for the dump is one of the most exciting and economical ways to collect hometown memorabilia. Perhaps a grandparent or older relative has died and you volunteer to help sort out their belongings or the contents of their house. As you do so, keep a watchful eye out for memorabilia of your town. 

Souvenir glassware can often be found in cupboards, especially ruby-flashed little cups, glasses, and pitchers with the town’s name and date etched into the red coating. If your town is a tourist destination, you’ll find all sorts of items available with the its name imprinted on them. 

And don’t forget to spread the word to older relatives and friends. Both can be an excellent source of hometown collectibles. When people have to move to smaller quarters, they often look for a home for possessions that might have largely sentimental value. 

When all else fails, you can always buy that special hometown collectible. If your community ever contained any type of commercial, civic or church structure, there’s bound to be some advertising memorabilia or paper items connected to it. As you search, you may want to broaden your collection.

Another readily available item is postcards. They’re one of the most popular and plentiful hometown collectibles. Photography flourished in the first quarter of the 20th century and there was a big business in printing inexpensive postcards that would put tiny towns on the map—at least locally. Hometown pride was high and if its claim to fame was a grain elevator near the railroad tracks or a post office with the flag unfurled, some enterprising artist sketched or photographed it.

Most postcards of this type range from $1 to $20 with real photo postcards being at the high end. Where you buy the card also affects the price. Flea market and garage sale dealers often have a box of assorted old postcards on their tables. Since they don’t catalog them, they’ll most likely sell for less. Postcard and mid-range antique shows are another good source. And don’t forget eBay and other online auction sites.

And just with antiques, if you frequent a postcard dealer at a general, regularly scheduled antique show, let him know what town you’re interested in, and he or she may start putting cards back for you.

Churches and schools, the cornerstones of many small communities, also produced many mementos, including programs of special functions, graduation invitations, awards, meeting minutes and photographs of school groups and church confirmation classes. Granges and civic associations brought neighbors together for community improvement and fellowship and also left a rich reserve of paper items.

Like paper items, commonly referred to as ephemera, advertising collectibles can often be found at specialty shows as well as at general shows. With some brand name advertising collectibles, the addition of a small-town name on the item may actually make it more expensive because it is specialized and rarer Advertising collectibles are a hot field and the casual collector should do some homework before entering the market.

You may not be able to go home again, but you can certainly bring home some great hometown collectibles.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about militaria in the 2022 Fall Edition, with the theme "After-Battle Antiques," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Little Portraits

QUESTION: I’ve noticed photographic portrait cards of Civil War soldiers  and other people, some of them famous, at flea markets and antique shows. Are these good to collect or do people buy them just to add ambiance to their antique decorating?

ANSWER: The portrait cards you’ve been seeing at flea markets and antique shows, known as  carte de visites, are, indeed, highly collectible, especially if they’re photographs of someone special or famous.

Parisian photographer, André Adolphe Eugène Disderi, patented the first carte de visites, literally meaning “visiting cards,” in 1854. Each card, onto which the photographer pasted a small albumen print,  measured 2-1/2 x 4 inches. They became all the rage for several decades during and after the Civil War, both here and abroad. However,  Disderi's format didn’t become widely used until nearly five years after he patented it.

But once his format caught on, it became an international standard. For the first time, people could exchange portraits, which they could then place into matching slots in specially made carte de visite photo albums. It didn’t matter where the recipient lived since they could purchase these albums everywhere. Another advantage to carte de visites was that people could mail them to each other. Usually each print came with a special mailing envelope, making it easy for the sender to just address it and pop it into the mail. Earlier daguerreotype and ambrotype photographs, both done on glass plates, required the sender to package them in bulky boxes with sufficient packing to prevent breakage during shipment. And because of their small size, carte de visites were also somewhat inexpensive.

Before the advent of carte de visites, people exchanged elaborate calling cards with their names engraved in decorative fonts. During the decade before the Civil War, it was the custom for a person to present his or her calling card whenever they visited someone. Life was very formal at the time, and no one received anyone they didn’t know without a calling card. Most people had a small basket or box in their parlor in which visitors could place their cards. A few photographers created and sold special photographic calling cards, but these weren’t standardized.

Using Disderi's method, a photographer could take eight negatives on a single 8 x 10-inch glass plate using a sliding plate holder and a camera with four lenses. That allowed him to make eight copies of the person’s portrait each time he printed the negative. This reduced production costs and allowed photographers to sell carte de visites at a reasonable price.

People were slow to purchase these new photo cards. However, legend says that after Disdéri published Emperor Napoleon III's photos in this format, the cartes gained widespread popularity.

Historians believe C. D. Fredericks introduced the carte de visite to the U.S. in New York late in the summer of 1859.  After carte de visites of Abraham Lincoln went on sale, they caught on like wildfire as soldiers and their families posed for them before war or death separated them. Carte de visites of famous people, like Ulysses S. Grant, became an instant hit, as people began collecting celebrity portraits of the time.

Civil War photographs are extremely collectible and have crossover appeal to collectors of both military and early photographs. From 1861 to 1865, the most method of portraiture was the tin-type and the carte de visite.

John L. Gihon of Chestnut St. in Philadelphia, was a portrait photographer who captured images of soldiers and prisoners at Fort Delaware off the shore of Delaware City, Delaware. His carte de visites eventually led to the production of early baseball cards for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1870s. He died of an illness at only 39. Gihon charged his customers $2.50 for a sitting and six cards.

These little portraits were very important to Civil War soldiers. Since those, especially the Confederate prisoners, at Fort Delaware had to make do with what they had, they, usually officers, often borrowed pieces of uniforms, especially hats, and props, including swords, belts, sashes, from others confined with them so that they would appear as finely dressed as possible.

Prices of collectible carte de visites vary on condition, pose and subject. A carte de visite of surgeon Robert Hubbard, 17th Connecticut Infantry Volunteers, sold at auction for $374. Hubbard enlisted as surgeon of the regiment in August 1862 and became the acting medical director during the Battle of Gettysburg. He resigned in Dec. 1863.

A carte-de-visite of Dr. Mary Walker, taken by noted London photographer Elliott & Fry sold at auction for $1,380. She graduated from Syracuse Medical College in 1855 and was an author and early feminist who gained distinction during the Civil War as a humanitarian, surgeon, and spy. Congress awarded her  the Congressional Medal of Honor in January 1866 on the personal recommendation of General Sherman. She refused to part with it when Congress revoked it for “unusual circumstance” in 1917. Dr. Walker died in 1919, but it wasn’t until 1977 when President Carter officially reinstated the award.

Collectors can find a variety of carte de visites both at flea markets and antique shows and in some antique shops and online. Prices vary from a few dollars to several thousand. They’re great items to collect, especially if a collector can find the special albums to hold them, often sold with their carte de visites removed.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about antique clocks in the Fall 2019 Edition, "It's That Time Again," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

Do Old Stock Certificates Have Any Investment Value?

QUESTION: I’ve been unpacking some old boxes of things left to me by my father. In one of them I discovered some old stock certificates. Are they worthless or do they have investment value?

ANSWER: Old stock certificates, especially those from defunct companies, are only worth the paper that they’re printed on. But some, especially those with signatures from famous people, famous companies, or those involved in major scandals, can be worth quite a bit.

What exactly is a stock certificate? A stock certificate is the physical piece of paper representing ownership in a company and includes the number of shares owned, the date, an identification number, usually a corporate seal, and signatures. They’re larger than a standard letter-size piece of paper and many also have elaborate engraved designs to discourage counterfeiting.

Stocks represent partial ownership in a company. Today, most companies keep records of ownership electronically but some allow their shareholders to request a paper version. Each certificate starts out as a standard design to which the company adds the date of issue, identification number, and other information, including the printed signature of the chief executive. Executives on older certificates signed them in ink.



According to financial historians, partnership agreements dividing ownership into shares began to be used in northern Italy during the Middle Ages. However, these early shares were only intended to be in effect for a short time and only included a small group of people. Eventually the idea of shareholding spread to Belgium, and it’s believed the concept caught on in the trading town of Bruges. It was here that the idea of the stock exchange originated.

Eventually, shareholding took its next big step in Amsterdam in the early 17th century when the Dutch East India Company, formed to encourage trade in spices from Indonesia, issued shares that were tradable. The company compensated its shareholders well for their investments. In 1621, the market saw the issuance of shares for the Dutch West India Company, and much financial innovation ensued. Stock exchanges in the New World didn’t appear until 1790 in Philadelphia and then two years later in New York.

Collectors love canceled stock certificates because of their beautiful and elaborate graphics, as well as their connection to the historically significant companies they represent.

Old certificate values vary depending on their rarity, beauty, collector interest, historical importance, and  autographs, and industries for which they’re issued. Like all collectibles, supply and demand determine value.  Interesting pieces create a lot of demand while supplies vary.

What affects the market for stock certificates? Above all, general economic conditions tend to influence the prices of old stock certificates because many collectors of them are also involved in the real stock market. The law of supply and demand, as with other collectibles, governs this market as well. And Internet auctions have increased not only the availability of old stock certificates but their ease of purchase.

What determines the pricing of old stock certificates? Two important price boosters are signatures of important people and newly formed companies. For example, a Standard Oil Company certificate that John D. Rockefeller signed is worth nearly $8,000 today. Prices have leveled off in the last few years and finding rare certificates at reasonable prices has become a real challenge.



As with postage stamps, pricing can be affected by the rarity of a certificate—the rarer it is, the higher the price. An autograph of someone famous of the stock company with which he was involved also raises the price. Whether a stock certificate has ever been issued also influences it value, as does its age and decoration. The location and history of the company don’t affect the price of a certificate as much as, say, its condition and whether its cancelled or not.

However, no one point is always in control of a certificate’s value. For example, a Cody-Dyer Arizona Mining & Milling stock certificate, from a failed gold mine, signed by Buffalo Bill Cody currently is currently valued at approximately$4,000, while a rare unsigned Buffalo Bill's Wild West Co. stock certificate sold for $20,000 at auction in 2008.

As with any collectible, you should always collect stock certificates that are in excellent condition, have been issued, and are uncancelled. You should also collect certificates from industries that you’re familiar with or in which you’re interested. Early companies issued their stocks in small quantities, thus limiting the number of their certificates in today’s market. But there are lots out there for sale at low to reasonable prices.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about western antiques in the special 2019 Spring Edition, "Down to the Sea in Ships," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

Hurray for Liberty Bonds

QUESTION: I grew up with Liberty Bonds. Back then, we called them just savings bonds. I received one for each of my younger birthdays and paid for some of my college education with them. They were a favorite gift to kids at birthdays and other major events. Recently, I saw a collection of items related to Liberty Bonds at a local antiques show. I never realized that there were so many things associated with savings bonds. Do these things have any value? And what sort of items can I collect?

ANSWER: Your experience with savings bonds is a common one. Although people rarely discuss them, there are probably thousands sitting in safe deposit boxes right now. In fact, these bonds have been around for over 100 years. A Liberty bond was a war bond that the U.S. Government sold to support the allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financial securities to many citizens for the first time.

These bonds were a direct and unconditional promise of the U.S. Government to pay upon a certain date a specified sum of money in gold, together with interest at a specific rate, payable at specific dates until the bond matured Only by holding a bond to maturity could people collect the amount they paid plus interest.

“The Great War,” as World War I was known at the time, was an emotional issue. Not everyone was for it. The federal government knew that to wage a massive offensive against the Germans would cost a great deal of money. One third of the cost came from the revival of the personal income tax and an excess profits tax for businesses. The balance was to be raised by the sale of treasury bonds. The government would be asking people to dig deep into their pockets and purchase billions of dollars worth of Liberty Savings Bonds, as they came to be called.

But to get all Americans to buy these bonds took a Herculian advertising and promotional campaign which began in May of 1917. The various Federal Reserve Banks formed committees, on a state-by-state basis, which in turn organized vast numbers of volunteers. Entertainers, politicians, clergymen and persons from all walks of life took part in selling Liberty Bonds.

People couldn’t avoid the bond salesmen. They stood on street corners. The Boy and Girl Scouts went door-.to-door. Volunteers sold bonds in every movie house, theater and concert hall, and during lunch breaks at thousands of factories. They came to be called "four-minute men" because of the length of time they spoke, appealed, pleaded and lectured on the necessity of buying bonds. From the war front came wounded heroes, especially fliers, to tour the nation and to attend mass public rallies. Banks even offered to lend money for bond purchases. Celebrities conducted frequent public rallies, usually in theaters. Movie stars came out solidly to lead many of them.

It all began on April 25, 1917 when Congress approved the Liberty Loan Act which gave authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue $2 billion of 31/2-percent convertible bonds for sale by public subscription. Interest rates were raised to 4 1/4 and 4½  percent in later offerings. In all there were five subscription drives, the first four being numbered consecutively.

The First Liberty Bond Drive commenced May 14, 1917, the day the United States declared war on Germany. Others followed in October of that year, and in April and October 1918. A Victory Liberty Loan subscription bond drive, the funds of which went to aid our exhausted Allies, took place in April 1919 and it, too, was a success. People could purchase bonds in denominations from $50 to $100,000. The five drives of from 1917to 1919 resulted in 22 million bonds sold.

The sale of all these bonds also produced a lot of memorabilia, mostly ephemera. Collectors became interested in the late 1970s.

Posters were the first items to become popular, followed by pinback buttons and postcards. Soon all ephemera, including handbills, magazine covers and advertisements, postal slogan cancels and promotional literature was being collected.

A federal agency headed by Charles Dana Gibson organized the nation's illustrators and painters to churn out patriotic posters, including many for the Liberty Bonds program. James Montgomery Flagg,  J.C. Leyendecker and Haskell Coffin were just a few of the hundreds lending their talents and donating their time.

War Savings Stamps booklets, used to hold 10, 25, or 50-cent stamps, that when filled were turned in for a bond, delight many collectors as do the various booklets the government furnished to its army of volunteer salesmen and speakers.

The U.S Postal Service issued postcards to dramatize the appeal. Various artists contributed their skills toward creating many fascinating poster art cards. A special effort was a seven-card sepia set that was used to bombard the mailboxes of most every American. Each card began "Liberty Bonds Guarantee.. "with a different listing of objectives, such as "Liberty Bonds Guarantee Unlimited Aeroplanes. ..our Flyers must control the air." This card showed a dozen military biplanes in flight.

The U.S. Army printed another sepia set, taken from photographs in the field, which they gave to doughboys to mail back home. Inscribed "U.S. Army Post Card" on the address side, the pictorials pictured the various implements of war that Liberty Bonds were buying, such as howitzers, tanks and food. Captions emphasized the need to buy bonds: "Liberty Bonds will keep these howitzers thundering at the Huns," etc.

Volunteers handed out small pictorial stickers to bond subscribers who proudly displayed them on their front door or living-room windows. Buying a bond also earned purchasers a special pinback button to wear. Several different varieties issued; some for specific drives, others for general use. Different companies manufactured theirs for the government, including Animated Toy Company of  New York, American Art Works  of Coshocton, Ohio, Ehrman Manufacturing Company of Boston, and Manee Company of Malden, Massachusetts.

Volunteers also distributed small poster stamps so people could paste or glue them on to stationery, envelopes and postcards. These usually had patriotic motifs, especially flags, shields and the American eagle. There were also 10-cent savings stamps that could be purchased and glued into booklets.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about Colonial America in the Spring 2018 Edition, "EArly Americana," online now.  

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words–and Sometimes Much More

QUESTION: My grandfather collected all types of circus posters, programs, tickets and much more. When he died in 1969, they were all given to my Father, and now I have them. Most of the items are from the 30's, 40's and 50's.  Can you give me some insight as to where I can find out their value?

ANSWER: Circus ephemera, those tickets, programs, and posters that this person mentions above, seem to be surfacing everywhere. Perhaps, it’s because people who held on to them stuffed them in drawers and closets. When they die, their family finds them and not knowing much about them, have no idea whether they’re worth anything.

Circus posters, in particular, can be worth more than just something. But like with most collectibles, condition is of prime importance.

Weeks ahead of its show date, a circus would send advance men into town to plaster posters, called “bills,” all over town. These bright-colored graphics enticed men, women, and especially children within a 50-mile radius of town to come to the show. No color was too bright, no word too big for the circus–greatest, bravest, most stupendous, world famous, exotic. These posters  promised showgoers beasts from the Far East and Africa, dare-devil aerialists, and luscious lady equestrians in glittering tights riding

Circus posters were crucial for drawing crowds to what were only one or two performances per location. Many early ads were simple woodblock prints mentioning the name of the circus, the price of admission, and a few acts.

Along with circus posters, the circus created such common concepts as marketing campaigns and the tools that go with them–junk mail and free coupons–plus the idea of “newer, bigger, and better.” Advance men saturated the show location with 15,000 to 20,000 poster sheets, or the equivalent of 626- 833 standard billboards.

Because the poster was the most important element of a circus’ promotion, they constituted one of the principle products of the commercial printers in the 19th century. Printing houses created these posters using the team approach with many artists working on any one design. One artist might specialize in lettering while another specialized in portraits of performers, and another in animals.

Circus posters fall into two categories–stock posters and specialty posters. Stock posters were generic designs that each show printer produced, but that could be used by any circus. These posters featured images of clowns, wild animals, and performers. It wasn’t uncommon for more than one circus to use the same poster designs in the same season, the only difference being the show title on the posters. Show printers produced thousands of these and sold them to any circus promoter that needed them. They designed specialty posters, on the other hand, with life-like portraits of featured performers or depictions of specific acts for particular circuses.

The value of circus posters depends on their condition. Since they’re made of paper, time and humidity can cause them to deteriorate over time. Creases, caused by folding for storage, can actually add to their value. Unfortunately, since so many artists worked on a particular poster, most aren’t signed. The best way to get a ballpark estimate of what a poster is worth is to check what a poster has sold for either through a dealer or at auction–then take half.

For more information on circus posters, read Step Right Up!