What
is Ephemera?
In
collecting terms, ephemera refers to items not
originally
intended to have anything but a limited
lifespan. Paper ephemera refers then to paper items,
sometimes
called 'Printed Collectibles', expected to be
around
for only a short time, for example, bus tickets
usually
paid for and discarded once the trip is completed;
theatre
programmes normally discarded once the production
is
over; newspapers, fully expected to be relegated to the
dustbin,
perhaps the chip shop, once today's headlines are
no
longer news; magazines, invitations, greetings cards,
advertisements,
and so on, all destined to be thrown out
once
they no longer fulfil their intended usage.
Many
items now fall within the collecting category
'ephemera',
to name but a few:
Funeral
Cards sent to advise friends and relatives of
someone's
demise.
Postcards
whether topographical, that is relating to some
particular
geographical area, or relating to some specific
subject
such as cats, dogs, famous artists, comedy,
disasters,
ships, to name but a few of the many hundreds of
categories.
Tickets,
whether for travel or admission to some event or
performance.
Bookmarks
- a big collecting theme this, there are
bookmarks
simply intended to keep one's place when reading,
whilst
others seemed more concerned with advertising the
producer's
services, professing undying love when produced
in
the form of a Valentine gift and presented on the
appropriate
day to the object of one's desire.
Bookmarks
also
served to convey birthday greetings, house pressed
flowers
to remind one forever of certain places or people,
whilst
others served additional functions as measuring
tapes,
calendars and needle cases.
Programmes
for all types of events, including theatre and
cinema
productions, Coronations and other royal happenings,
visits
to famous establishments such as Madame Tussauds and
stately
homes, Horse shows, Dog Shows, etc.
Public
Notices, such as those notifying the public of
Parliamentary
Elections, election of school governors,
auction
sales, particulars of houses for sale, Rail and Bus
timetables,
etc.
Autographs
of notable and notorious personalities.
Advertising
literature.
Illustrated
letterheads and billheads.
Calendars
and Diaries, particularly those advertising the
sender's
services.
Menus.
ETC,
ETC, ETC.
Some
categories of ephemera have developed into specialised
collecting
themes, no longer known simply as ephemera but
taking
on some other title applicable to those collecting
one
item exclusively. So we have stamp
collectors or
Philatelists,
and Picture Postcard collectors engaged in
that
interest known as 'Deltiology'. In
general those
divisions
of ephemera collecting that have taken on
independent
status have developed over many years, and
having
many participants, it is felt that the activities
are
sufficiently specialised to warrant independent status,
usually
attracting clubs and societies aimed at promoting
the
members' collecting interests flourishing on a
worldwide
basis.
Collectors
of paper ephemera in its most general form tend
therefore
to concentrate on areas and themes, each with
insufficient
collectors to justify the formation of clubs,
or
else collectors are interested in a wide range of items
the
only common denominator being that of paper!
Whatever
their
interests, these collectors depend for their
existence
upon a steady supply of highly generalised stock
to
satisfy their almost insatiable demand.
Here therefore
lies
a marketplace of perhaps unlimited potential, and yet
surprisingly
few traders cater for these collectors' and
enthusiasts'
needs. An easy business to get into, and
build
quickly into an extremely profitable venture, much of
the
massive profit potential comes as a direct result of
the
care and attention paid to the labelling and
presentation
of items offered.
What
Items does the term 'Ephemera' cover?
In
this section we will look briefly at the very many items
that
the term 'ephemera' encompasses. I say
'briefly'
since
so many obscure items exist that it is impossible to
compile
a conclusive list of all items within the category
of
paper or print ed collectibles. The
following will
serve
to identify just a few of the better known, more
easily
available items that will form your stock.
ADVERTISEMENTS PACKAGING
ADVERTISING
INSERTS PAPERBACK
BOOKS AND
COMICS
ADVERTISING
NOVELTIES PERSONAL
DOCUMENTS
AUTOGRAPHS PHOTOGRAPHS BANK
NOTES
PLAYING
CARDS BANKING MEMORABILIA POSTAL
ORDERS
BEER
MATS
POSTCARDS BREWERYANA
POSTERS
BILLHEADS PRINTS
BLOTTERS
PUBLIC
NOTICES BONDS AND SHARE CERTIFICATES
RAILWAYANA
BOOKMARKS RAILWAY TICKETS
BUSINESS
CARDS ROYALTY
BUS
TICKETS SCRAPS
CALENDARS SHEET MUSIC
COMICS SHIPPING ITEMS
CHEESE
LABELS TRADE
CATALOGUES
CHEQUES VALENTINE'S
CARDS
CHILDREN'S
BOOKS COMICS
ANNUALS VIEW ALBUMS
CIGAR
BANDS AND BOX LABELS WINE LABELS
CIGARETTE
CARDS WOMEN'S
MAGAZINES
CIGARETTE
PACKETS COOKERY
BOOKLETS
DIARIES KNITTING
PATTERNS
FASHION
PLATES FILM
MEMORABILIA
FILM
AND THEATRE PROGRAMMES
FUNERALIA GREETINGS CARDS
GAMES GUIDEBOOKS
INSURANCE
POLICIES INVITATIONS
JIGSAW
PUZZLES LABELS
LETTERHEADS LICENCES
MAGAZINES MAPS
MATCH
BOXES AND LABELS MOTORING
MEMORABILIA
NEWSPAPERS
Why
do people want it?
There
are many reasons for people seeking to acquire paper
ephemera,
not all of them concerned with collecting, in the
hobbyist
sense.
Those
who do simply collect ephemera, might collect many of
those
items that fall within the category of 'paper
collectibles';
they may instead specialise and collect only
items
from one category. Their collections may
be even
more
specialised, perhaps they are interested in items
produced
only before a certain date, or else with
a
special
subject interest within the chosen category.
In
the
latter case we might find someone collecting bookmarks
-
but only those issued by insurance companies, or soap
manufacturers.
Some
collectors maintain only a passing interest in paper
ephemera,
usually as a side-line to their main interest; so
we
find people who collect all manner of 'railwayana' -
anything
concerned with railways, and produced in any
material. So the y collect model trains, railway books,
tin
plates and signs from engines and stations, station
staff
uniforms, and as an interesting adjunct they also
include
anything of railway interest which just happens to
be
made from paper: tickets, timetables, posters,
postcards,
and so on.
Amongst
those hobbyists for whom the interest is
specialised
and anything of whatever form will be included
in
their collections, we find people interested in
thousands
of different subjects, including: dogs,
topography,
juvenalia, breweryana, smoking, Disney,
flowers,
motoring, dolls, wars, militaria, gramophones,
social
revolutions, theatre, funeralia, circus, and so on.
Sometimes
the collecting interest is one relating to the
customer's
profession; so we find doctors and dentists
collecting
old medical and dental equipment, billheads and
letterheads
from early medical and dental practices, early
magazines,
copper doorplates, and so on.
There
are also those whose prime interest in acquiring
ephemera,
is one of decorating the home or office; perhaps
to
create focal or talking points. We find
framed
documentation
in doctors' offices, banks, insurance
offices,
estate agents, to name but a few.
Usually the
item
on display will have more than a slight bearing on the
actual
business of the purchaser. Perhaps the
item is an
early
photograph of the street the offices now stand in.
Perhaps
it is an old bill, framed and hung in a Veterinary
surgery;
a talking point for pet owners as they patiently
await
their turn in the queue. Another
customer makes his
day's
purchases on the strength of the present contract of
his
decorating firm; he refurbishes pubs in the
old-fashioned
style.
The
recent upsurge of interest in tracing one's family
history
has led to a great demand for early billheads,
items
of local history, legal documentation, and ephemera
of
all types, as long of course as the family surname is an
integral
part of the wording involved. I've lost
count of
the
number of customer's who, with beaming smiles, inform
me
that something they've picked up from my counter
emanated
from some ancestor's business premises many years
before.
Sentimental
though it may seem, I personally obtain great
satisfaction
from serving such highly delighted customers;
satisfaction
of a type that increased profits could never
provide.
Local
historians too make their way to my stall every
weekend
to locate the background material for the coming
week's
research.
Writers
are amongst my many customers; their purchases are
usually
for reasons of adding to, or verifying, research
for
their current projects. Sometimes they
are involved in
actually
writing about ephemera for the various magazines
dedicated
to the many categories of collecting interest.
Libraries
and museums send their representatives to search
through
my stock. They always find something to
add to
their
archives, be it an old photograph of a nearby street,
an
old wages book from the local colliery, an earlier
edition
of a boo k still on the library shelves, perhaps a
ticket
once used on the tram that now is housed at some
particular
outdoor museum.
And
teachers too buy from me, though very few of them
actually
collect ephemera. Instead they use these
pieces,
steeped
in history, to add a new dimension to the once
stale
history lesson that consisted of nothing but dry text
book
facts. How much more interesting one of
my customers,
a
teacher in a local infants school, must have made her
lesson
on hygiene, by the mere inclusion of a few 19th
century
adverts for soaps that were 'guaranteed' to prevent
the
diseases of the day. Her history lesson
must have
benefited
greatly too, from the inclusion of picture
postcards
and prints of the children's home town at the
beginning
of the century, even a picture of their school,
ninety
years ago, complete with ragamuffins and anything
but
approachable teachers.
Some
of my customers I may never see again.
They browse
through
my stock, stop at an item that attracts their
attention
before professing to the whole world, 'the
policeman
on that photo is my grandad'. Would they
dare
leave
my stall without that immensely personal item of
nostalgia?
Sometimes
the reason for what will almost certainly prove a
once-off
customer, is an event they attended, a famous
personality
my customer once met, the church he or she was
married
in, the hotel he or she spent the honeymoon in, and
all
manner of reasons, usually very much personal, and
almost
certainly unique.
There
are those who purchase items relating to particular
years;
calendars, newspapers, documentation relating to the
year
of their own birth, or perhaps those of their
children. And I have one very good customer who buys
many
newspapers
and other dated items from me, to sell to
customers
purchasing unique gifts for friends and
relations. He searches out and sells newspapers sold on
the
exact date of the recipient's birth. If
the customer
prefers
a calendar of the year concerned, that's available
too,
courtesy him, in collusion with me.
Hopefully,
by now you are fully aware of the vast number of
potential
customers just waiting for the goods you can
provide. Look around the fleamarkets, the antiques
fairs,
collectors'
shops in general. I bet if you find one
dealer
in
ephemera , you'll only do so after a long and tiring
search. No demand for such items? Are you mad?
At the
time
of writing I am the only one I know of in the North
East
who deals exclusively in such stock.
Thank Goodness!
It
isn't, you see, that the demand isn't there - the other
dealers
simply haven't cottoned on yet. Thank
Heavens for
that
too - their paper 'rubbish' has only my stall
whereupon
to establish its new place of residence.
Is
Age the most Important Indicator of price?
Surprisingly,
not always! Sometimes an extremely old
piece
of
ephemera has less value than a piece that originated
only
last year. Scarcity is the factor
primarily to
determine
the price. Take old postcards for
instance, and
consider
the price differential between an early 1900s
birthday
card and a 1945 photographic view of a war-time
bombing,
perhaps some railway or colliery
disaster. We
all,
to state the obvious, have birthdays, if we are
fortunate
lots of them. And if we are popular,
with large
families
to boot, we'll receive masses of birthday cards
each
and every year. God willing, there will
be very few
disasters
of such magnitude that a photographer feels
inclined
to rush to the scene to record the event for
posterity. Even given an intervening period of some 40
plus
years, there will be many more of those birthday cards
left
in existence than there would be the macabre souvenirs
of
horror and destruction such as once-in-a-lifetime
disasters
would present.
Not
to cause confusion, let us stay with the subject of
early
picture postcards when considering the relationship
of
age and price. 'Topography' is that area
of postcard
collecting
which deals specifically with geographical
areas,
whether towns , cities, villages, moors or riverside
views. Consider how often a particular view could be
reproduced,
and you have a fair indication as to rarity,
and
subsequently value. A church in a huge
city centre
would
be there, hopefully, for many years, giving thousands
of
opportunities for the photographer or artist to commit
it
to card form for the enjoyment of future generations.
But
take that Coronation or Victory day procession
photographed
outside of that very same church, on the one
and
only day of its occurrence, and suddenly that familiar
old
church features on a postcard now worth several pounds.
The
ease of capturing a particular view or scene therefore
is
one of the major factors in determining price.
The
situation is very little different with regard to
ephemera
in general. A bus ticket, even one over
a hundred
years
old, if for a line which enjoyed a long life, is
unlikely
to be worth as much as a fairly recent ticket in
respect
of the very last run of a particular tram line.
Autographs
of a rich, famous recluse, particularly if no
longer
living, have a much higher value than those of
notables
who enjoy being in the public eye, as well as
handing
out signatures by the dozen. And if the
latter
personality
is still alive and still a prominent
individual,
autographs are of course still potentially in
great
supply, and therefore unlikely to be of much value in
anything
but an intrinsic sense.
Condition
of course will also play a large part in the
value
of a particular item, and more so in the case of
fragile
paper items not intended anyway to enjoy anything
but
a limited life.
Principles
of Buying and Selling
The
list of collectable items given in an earlier section
is
by no means a comprehensive collation of all that the
term
'ephemera' comprises. An excellent book
on the
subject
'Lyle's Price Guide to Printed Collectibles' will
guide
you through most of the categories you will come into
contact
with. Prices too are given for the large
number of
items
illustrated.
As
with most collectors' items, price is largely determined
by
condition; don't surmise then that one piece of ephemera
is
worth the same as an identical piece in the guidebook,
if
yours is in an obviously different condition.
Personally,
I sell anything in the line of ephemera that
comes
my way, and I price in a way that suits me entirely.
For
many items there are no hard and fast pricing rules,
and
so unless I deal regularly in some particular item and
therefore
have a good idea what price I am likely to get
for
it, I stick to a percentage mark-up for the items
concerned,
usually one which doubles the buying figure.
I
don't
always get that 100% profit; I will on occasion make
buying
mistakes and find there is no ready market for the
item
I buy, then I have to be content with either getting
my
money back or even losing out a little by reducing the
price
to an almost giveaway level.
Sometimes
I buy huge boxes of items from postal or local
auctions,
and even with modest prices placed on the items I
find
myself greatly exceeding that 100% mark-up.
It's
largely
a case of roundabouts and swings, and something you
can't
allow for unless you are totally familiar with the
item
being purchased, and the market for it.
Certainly
at Fleamarkets and Collectors' Fairs, items will
be
purchased by other members of the trade, who will
expect,
many will ask for, 'trade discount'.
This means
they
expect you to knock something from your price, usually
10%. Whether you do so is entirely up to you;
remember
though
that unless they take advantage of your good nature
and
never offer some mutual good deed, by giving discounts
you
are likely to gain friends within the trade, who may go
on
to become suppliers of stock to you.
Customers
too, often ask for reductions in prices,
sometimes
to the point of being offensive. I have
lost
count
of the number of times I've been asked to reduce
something
by more than half, often by an adult with a
youngster
in tow. By implication we are led to
believe the
item
is for the child's collection, and the pocket money of
the
said individual simply doesn't stretch to such
luxuries. Oddly the item is very often a piece of
breweryana,
or something smoking related, sometimes an old
newspaper
or motor museum catalogue. Rarely is the
intended
purchase of obvious use to the little child being
so
manipulated. If you think my attitude
mercenary, let me
say
that any child at my stall, buying what I know is for
him
or her - stamps , greetings cards, cat and dog prints,
etc.
- I always give a little extra back in change.
Experience
has taught me always to tell the child I have
given
discount, ever since I felt like crawling under my
stall
when faced with one of those 'which school did this
clown
go to?' looks.
If
customers buy items in bulk, I again give a discount,
stating
that I am doing so, by reason of the purchase
comprising
several items. My reason for doing so is
that
the
customer almost invariably comes back to me for more
items,
again at a r educed price, and more importantly in
establishing
a rapport with my regular customers I find
myself
almost always on the receiving end of their
cast-offs. And when offered items by my customers I
always
make
a fair offer, usually based on what I would expect to
pay
for similar items at auction. Offer
something derisory
and
even if they don't 'cotton on' to you there and then,
they
will do so at some future date, at which point you
lose
both customer and supplier, and possibly a great deal
more
if that person so 'fiddled' chooses to make your
actions
known to fellow collectors.
In
time, you will have some clear idea as to what prices to
ask
for your stock, but in the beginning I recommend you
either
price as I do when uncertain, or if you really think
something
is valuable have it valued by some quality
auctioneer. There are many auction catalogues which
contain
items of ephemera, and many sales lists from people
specialising
in the sale of paper collectibles. All
lists
of
whatever type give a good indication of value,
especially
when produced by one of the longer - established
firms. Keep as many lists as space will allow and
refer to
them
for details of specific items; you won't be likely to
find
an exact price but you will get somewhere near the
market
value of the item concerned.
Should
I specialise?
A
difficult question to answer and obviously one which
depends
much on the laws of demand and supply.
When I
first
started dealing exclusively in old postcards, there
was
so much stock to be found I had to refuse all but the
best. And I didn't hang on to it long; my stall was
always
crowded
with eager buyers. Ah Halcyon Days! Where have
they
gone?
About
five years into my dealing, I noticed a drop in the
number
of postcards available, and a corresponding and
drastic
increase in the prices being offered by other
postcard
dealers for the stock I would normally purchase
from
them, for marking up and sale to my band of customers
in
another part of the country. Still I
didn't worry too
much;
things would soon change, wouldn't they?
But
they didn't, and so, fortunately for me, I decided to
add
other items of ephemera to my stock; at first greetings
cards,
then prints, then all of the local (North Eastern
England)
ephemera I could lay my hands on.
Lucky
me, for the supply of cards continued to dry up even
further,
and now prices at auction are all but prohibitive
to
other than a dealer who travels the entire country,
looking
for those customers desperate enough to pay the
massive
prices now being asked for the postcards I once
turned
down as inferior.
Now
I carry a few local topographical postcards in my
stock,
and I take all that are offered to me at a price
which
allows me to make a reasonable profit.
The remainder
of
my stock consists of all items of ephemera that I can
lay
my hands on. Never again will I lay
myself at the
tender
mercies of the laws of supply.
Unless
you intend to travel to the bigger cities where
ephemera
fairs are organised, I would advise you to deal in
all
manner of paper collectibles, of whatever age.
At the
exclusive
Ephemera Fairs you will find better, rarer,
older,
and more expensive items of paper offered for sale;
one
good sale a day might be all the stallholder requires
to
make a substantial profit. But I don't
want to travel
far,
though I know my profits would increase greatly if I
were
to do so.
Happy
to travel to a weekly fleamarket, on rare occasions
two
each week, I stock anything, absolutely anything, I
know
my customers will be interested in.
Whether the items
I
display are priced at pence or pounds, is completely
irrelevant;
by offering a vast selection of items I make
many
sales in a day, usually lower priced sales I admit,
but
still enough to yield a tidy little profit at the end
of
the day.
A
resurgence of interest in anything to do with local and
family
history, has led a great many people to actively
search
out pieces of ephemera relating to the locality in
which
the fair you attend is held. So in
Gateshead, near
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
I am constantly asked for old views of
the
area, billheads of local firms now long gone,
biographies
of famous local families, historical accounts
of
great events as happened in Gateshead, Newcastle and the
surrounding
areas in years gone by. No-one, except
on the
rarest
of occasions, will ask for anything outside of a
radius
of some ten miles or so. The lesson here
is to
always
keep a good selection of items relating to the
topographical
areas within distance of the fairs you intend
to
trade at. Local topography probably
accounts for at
least
half of my takings.
As
you increase in knowledge and experience you will
discover
certain subjects your customers repeatedly ask you
for. So in Darlington, the birthplace of the
railways, I
am
always asked for Railway Paperwork, postcards, tickets,
posters
and so on. In Darlington too, there is a
great
interest
in dogs, if the requests I get for doggy ephemera
is
anything to go by.
And
speaking of doggy ephemera, there are those who
specialise
in nothing but items relating to one subject,
often
animals. The dealer usually however has
a nationwide
clientele
with access often being afforded by means of a
postal
sales list. One woman I deal with sells books,
postcards
and ephemera, by mail, approval, and by
pre-arranged
visits to her home. She sells many
items, but
all
with the common theme of animals. There
are others who
specialise
in topographical items only, some deal
exclusively
in Railwayana, others deal solely in items
issued
before a certain date, touching nothing however
rare,
if produced after that date.
Where
to buy
Of
course it's more than easy to talk about how and what to
sell,
but we can sell nothing on a regular basis without
some
means of achieving regular acquisitions of stock. It
is
not surprising to find certain items
disappearing
almost
as suddenly as they are presented for sale.
Collectors,
aware of the falling standards of supply will
quite
simply snap up all that you can offer in their line
of
collecting.
As
I write, the acquisition of ephemera presents no problem
to
those seeking it for stock or private collections. The
postcard,
coming to specialist collecting status much
earlier
than did ephemera in general, has seen its supplies
reduced
to a level that has wiped out all but the larger,
national
postcard dealers. Ephemera, still in its
infancy
as
a collecting hobby, has many years to go before a
similar
fate befalls it.
So
where do we turn then to benefit ourselves of as many
stocks
of ephemera as we are able, before the years turn
the
tide of supply against us? First and
foremost, as for
all
items now termed collectibles, must be private sources,
namely
those individuals who are the original owners of the
items
concerned.
So
for old picture postcards we dealers turned to those
elderly
citizens to whom the postcards were sent in the
first
place, or to descendants of those people.
Postcards
have
received a great deal of media publicity, and those
with
collections have almost certainly disposed of the
items
already, or else firmly decided to keep their
heritage
within the family of its origin.
Ephemera
though is a different matter, perhaps not least of
all
because it consists of a wider area of items than does
the
postcard or stamp. A great deal of
ephemera comes to
light
when the owner dies; when a firm closes and its
documentation
is ready for disposal; or simply when a
house-cleaning
exercise relegates it as rubbish unworthy of
further
space within the home.
Many
antiques dealers are similarly ignorant of the value
of
paper collectibles, as are dealers at the car boot sales
and
fleamarkets. You will often find their
stocks of
unwanted
ephemera plonked ready for disposal on the sides
of
their stalls , whereupon are housed what they mistakenly
believe
are historical items of greater value.
Grab what
you
can from dealers who either expressly profess no
obvious
interest in ephemera, or who simply don't know what
the
pieces are worth. If the items are
uncovered,
unprotected,
given easy access to all and sundry, you know
the
dealers are either unaware or unconcerned about the
value
of paper collectibles. It isn't
dishonest to take
all
you can from such dealers; they will have taken their
profits
from the remainder of the items accompanying the
ephemera
when purchased.
When
looking to increase our stock of topographical
ephemera,
we need look no further than other dealers in
ephemera
for a steady stream of supplies. Dealers
in
London
will have little or no interest in items
specifically
concerning the North East of England, much to
my
delight! And vice versa applies, when I
acquire stock
for
re-sale here in County Durham.
I
set aside all items relating to topographical areas I do
not
myself venture to when considering where to set my
stall. Dealers with similar 'unsaleable' stock swap
items
with
fellow dealers from other parts of the country. Of
course
it takes time to build up a list of contacts
sufficient
to allow us to be able to swap all items we
cannot
use on our own stalls, but all such communications
systems
emerge in due course; every week I find brings new
contacts
for all manner of items surplus to my own
requirements;
all I have to do is keep details of all
communications
adequately recorded for future use.
I
often have ephemera dealers in other parts of the country
ring
me up to inform me of their requirements, and to offer
items
of use to me, but surplus to their own stock
requirements. Always consider swapping those items you
don't
particularly want for those items you do; you'll
always
get more, in monetary terms, for your surplus stock
than
you would if sending such items to auction for
disposal.
Collectors
too, find themselves with items surplus to their
collecting
requirements. Certainly for regular
customers,
I
offer to swap items of my stock for their collecting
surpluses,
always of course remembering to take into
account
the need t o make some profit by way of handling
charges. So if the collector brings items I may be
able to
sell
for œ20, I offer him or her œ15 worth of my stock in
exchange. I won't of course make my usual mark-up on
the
items
when offered for re-sale, but I acknowledge that my
profits
have been achieved somewhere in the course of the
bartering
process.
Like
many other dealers, auctions I find are my happiest
hunting
grounds; whether they are local auction houses or
those
whose details I receive, and respond to, courtesy of
the
postal services.
Some
larger stamp auction houses have ephemera included in
their
sales, if only because paper items tend to crop up in
profusion
amongst items of philatelic interest.
Letters
bearing
no stamp, obviously will be of little philatelic
interest,
but may of course be of great interest to the
dealer
or collector of ephemera. So contact all
philatelic
auction
houses for details of their future sales; ask too
if
they include ephemera; if they don't it's probably
because
as yet they are unaware of this up - and - coming
area
of collecting.
Look
also in those magazines and newsletters serving the
interests
of postcard collectors, again amongst whose
stocks
and collections, ephemera will no doubt be in
existence. Look to those auction firms specialising in
any
types of collectors items which are represented to a
fair
degree by paper items, and you will more than likely
find
something to interest you as a dealer in ephemera in
general.
By
keeping a watchful eye on collectors' magazines you will
discover
those auction houses which offer ephemera within
their
sales. I usually find the most suitable
firms are
advertised
in 'Exchange and Mart'.
Of
course, if located a distance away we are faced with
either
a long journey to view and bid for potentially
unsuitable
goods, with all of the expense and time such
visits
involve, or we must content ourselves with learning
about
the stock and placing our postal bids for it, without
ever
seeing what is contained within the batch bearing the
appropriate
lot number.
Again,
some firms will emerge as detailing and describing
their
items much better and explicitly than do the others;
when
you find one stick with it; when you find one which
disappoints
you on regular occasions consider dropping it
from
your list of stock suppliers.
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