The Paper Trail's Blog

Are You Wondering About The Value Of Vintage Postcards?

2010-07-20T10:00:00.001-04:00

As the manager of an Antique Mall, I'm often asked about the value of vintage postcards that people have found when cleaning out old attics, basements, and other rooms from a relative who has recently passed away. That is a difficult question to answer without seeing the postcards so generally I ask them to bring them in for me to take a look at for them. Some old postcards command more money

Ephemera With Food As The Subject

2010-07-06T06:30:00.002-04:00

There are so many wonderful pieces of ephemera with food as the subject. Companies who canned foods, sold food products, labeled food crates and containers along with recipe books and much more are all items that we find on a regular basis. Let's face it, food was a major source of advertising and can be found in all sorts of ephemera. I am really looking forward to a new book scheduled to be

Bessie Pease Gutmann - Illustrator of Children

2010-06-29T10:40:00.001-04:00

One of the better known illustrators of magazines and books back in the early 1900s was Bessie Pease Gutmann. She is still well known for her illustrations of young children, infants, and cherubs.One of my favorites is the one below of the little girl holding a puppy and kitten in her arms. Friendly Enemies Buy From Art.com Between the years of 1906

Women's Hat Fashions Late 1800's

2008-04-22T06:55:00.000-04:00

From the June 1898 issue of The Delineator magazine this color plate shows 7 styles of women's hats with incredible detail. The page is titled Fashionable Summer Millinery.The Delineator was a favorite for women to find the latest fashions and to order patterns to make the items themselves or to have the items made for them by their favorite seamstress or milliner.The pages from these old

Justice League of America or JLA

2007-09-21T09:08:00.000-04:00

The JLA (Justice League of America) goes back to the Silver Age of comics for it's inception. First shown as a team in 1960 the original members included Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. Throughout the decades a variety of other Superheroes have joined the team to right the wrongs of the world. I particularly like the JLA comics in the graphic

Tonto - Lone Ranger's Buddy

2007-09-16T18:36:00.000-04:00

Tonto, the Lone Ranger's pal and companion got his own story in comic book form beginning in 1951. The story line lasted for 31 issues and was published by Dell. The cover on this comic doesn't look anything like the Tonto I remember played on TV by Jay Silverheels back in the 1950's.Did you know that back in 1939 when The Lone Ranger first became a radio show that Tonto saved The Lone Ranger

Babies a Favorite theme in Advertising

2007-08-29T08:01:00.000-04:00

Babies, toddlers, and children in general have been a long time favorite to illustrate in advertising many different products. Perhaps the theory was to appeal to mother's with adorable children in order to sell their products. I know when I see an ad with a cute little baby, rambunctious toddler, or child in it I take notice of what is being sold. Many artists became famous for their depictions

Hoosier Beer Advertising Crate

2007-08-28T17:02:00.000-04:00

I wanted to take some time today and steer a little away from ephemera and show an unusual advertising collectible that is considered a cross-over. This wonderful old wooden crate style box fits into the advertising collectible category because it has the Hoosier Beer logo on it. It would also be desirable to a collector of breweriana because it was used for Hoosier Beer, hence the cross-over. A

Dionne Quintuplets

2007-08-27T20:44:00.000-04:00

Numerous pieces of ephemera can be found with the pictures or a likeness of the famous Dionne Quintuplets of Ontario, Canada. Pictured here is a magazine advertisement for Kre-mel Desserts, a pudding mix, with Marie the smallest of the Quints at birth.The Dionne Quintuplets were born on May 28, 1934 in a rural area of Ontario. They are the first known quintuplets to survive their infancy. The

Maud Humphrey Lithographs

2007-08-26T13:15:00.000-04:00

One of my very favorite types of ephemera are the antique lithographs by illustrators like Maud Humphrey (Bogart). Maud is famous for her illustrations of babies and children dressed in Victorian style clothing. She is also famous for being the mother of actor Humphrey Bogart. It is reported that one of her favorite baby models was her son Humphrey. He was used to model for an advertisement she

Airline Ephemera

2007-08-25T07:24:00.000-04:00

A popular form of ephemera collected today is pieces of advertising, souvenirs, and other paper items falling into a theme of aviation or specific airline companies. This wonderful piece of airline history was a souvenir give away from NAC or the National Airways Corporation. NAC was formed in 1947 and was based in Aukland, New Zealand. Pictured is a souvenir portfolio to hold your travel papers

Beetle Bailey - In the Army for over 50 years

2007-08-23T07:49:00.000-04:00

We've been enjoying the antics of the long time soldier BEETLE BAILEY since 1950. Mort Walker created Beetle, first as a college student. The comic strip debuted in around 50 newspapers on September 4, 1950. Beetle and his fraternity brothers were a moderate success. The comic strip caught on and was then purchased by King Features. It is reported that Beetle Bailey was the last comic strip

Longstanding Comic Strip Hero - Prince Valiant

2007-08-22T07:22:00.000-04:00

Some comic strip characters seem to stand the test of time. One such character is Prince Valiant. This comic strip hero reminds us of the days of chivalry and tales of the mighty King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table.I decided to do a little research on this mighty hero that I have been reading since I was a kid. The original strip was created by Hal Foster for William Randolph Hearst. It is

Shop Inventory has moved

2007-08-19T20:29:00.000-04:00

I'm thrilled to announce that I am now an exclusive shop on Ruby Lane. I'll be selling ephemera, advertising collectibles, magazines, books, and comic books that are at least 20 years old exclusively at Ruby Lane. Items newer than 20 years old can be found at eBay.If you love to shop for Antiques, Collectibles, and Jewelry but don't want to bother with an auction format, you should stop by Ruby

All Things Paper Auctions on eBay

2007-06-24T12:07:00.000-04:00

I would like to tell all you lover's of old paper about a series of auctions on eBay with the theme 'All Things Paper'. The auctions are in their 3rd week and doing quite well. The first two weeks generated quite a lot of interest with bidders getting some great deals on paper items.Each Thursday night beginning at 7:00 PM (PDT) around 50 items are listed beginning at the low price of $.99.

What are those Ages of Comics?

2007-03-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder what it means when you see a comic book referenced as Golden Age or Bronze Age? I'll try to give a simple explanation.The collecting of comics and the Comic Book Industry is a huge business. Doing a simple search on Google for “Comics Online” gives you over 52,000,000 pages. When you visit an online site, many times you will see a comic book referenced as from some sort of Age.

Our Second Shop on the Web

2007-02-27T20:16:00.000-05:00

Last month we opened our second shop on the internet. Paper Trail Book CafeHungry for a good book, comic book, or magazine? You will find Children's Books, Fiction and Non-fiction books on our little menu. Comic books from the Bronze and Silver Age of comics. Back issue magazines are also being served up daily.Stop by and check out the daily menu and sign up for our newsletter.Our main shop

Site of the Week Series

2007-01-19T20:12:00.000-05:00

The Paper Trail would like to recommend a website each week for you to consider visiting. This will be the first in a series of recommendations.Our site pick this week is: Doxette The Right DogThis site specializes in Dog Antiques and Collectibles with over 150 different breeds represented. It is a fun site to shop in with over 4,000 items in stock.You will find ephemera, advertising, figurines,

Tip of the Week - Cleaning Advertising Tins

2007-01-02T21:28:00.000-05:00

When cleaning old advertising tins ... NEVER wash them with soap and water. Water will cause the tin to rust or worsen already present rust. The best method to clean the old tins is to use Car Wax. The wax takes off most dirt and leaves a film of protection to prevent any future rust.Visit our on line shop The Paper Trail to find Ephemera and advertising collectibles.

This Weeks Sale

2007-01-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

This week The Paper Trail is running a sale on all Advertising Collectibles in their shop. This includes collectibles advertising appliances, automobiles, advertising boards and signs, communication and utility advertising, farm and farming advertising, food advertising, gas station advertising collectibles, health and beauty advertising, insurance company advertising, kitchen collectible

Ephemera includes Advertisements

2006-12-19T08:26:00.000-05:00

Ephemera is basically paper items that were meant for one use or for a short period of time and then discarded.Antique and vintage Advertisements fall into this category. Printed advertisements have been around for a very long time. Ever since craftsman and merchants discovered that it was important to promote themselves, their business, and their products. In the Victorian Era, it

Coca-Cola Santa by Sundblom Turns 75

2006-12-18T23:28:00.000-05:00

The most recognizable Santa is most probably the Santa depicted in Coca-Cola ads. The creator of that Santa was a Swedish-American artist named Haddon Sundblom. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Santa we know today by Sundblom.From 1931 to 1964 , Haddon Sundblom created an annual Santa advertisement for Coca-Cola. Many collectible items have been created from these

New Interest in Record Albums

2006-12-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

A trend that I'm seeing here in the Midwest, is a growing interest in Vinyl...the Long Playing Record Albums. I see a growing number of people coming into our Antique Mall asking for the old albums. In the beginning, I assumed they wanted them for the fantastic old covers of the albums. I'm finding out that people are actually buying these albums to listen to them.We have a group of High School

Defining Ephemera

2006-10-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

I'm often asked, "Just what is this Ephemera stuff anyway?" by non-collectors.Ephemera refers to written and printed matter published with a short intended lifetime or something transitory or lasting a day. In the world of collectors common types of ephemera include letters, advertising trade cards, cigarette cards, airsickness bags, posters, postcards, baseball cards, tickets, greeting cards,

Collecting Old Sheet Music

2006-09-27T07:37:00.000-04:00

One type of paper collectible that many people enjoy looking for is old Sheet Music. The old music is relatively easy to find and is collected for a variety of reasons.Some collectors love the sheet music for the cover art. Sometimes the collector will look for a particular artist or perhaps they just like the particular feeling they get from the types of illustrations they find on old sheet