A Community Site for Anyone and Everyone Interested in Ephemera

May 2008 Blog Posts (5)

Widening the circle

Silly me. I was looking for the TEN blog and neglected to look down. Here it is. I just added a post over at my blog, extolling the virtues of The Ephemera Network (whilst inflicting my overblown prose on the unwary). While most of my readers are woodworkers, even they pick up a book, or a trade catalog or... gasp... even a billhead on occassion. With luck, some new blood will be brought into the fold

Gary

Added by Gary Roberts on May 31, 2008 at 1:48pm — 2 Comments

Hidden treasures

To some people I collect junk. Pieces of paper(board) not mend to be kept and collected. True ephemera. I consider reused playing cards as real treasures. Some items I get for free, for most of them I have to pay. Still the monetary value is irrelevant. In Dutch we have a say: "Het is net wat de gek er voor geeft". I try to translate it for you: "It is just what the crazy man likes to pay for it".

Last year I visited the Dutch collector Bonney Branttinga in his old farm house in… Continue

Added by Gejus van Diggele on May 28, 2008 at 6:27pm — 3 Comments

Playing cards tell a story

They tell about the technique that they are made with, about the style and taste of their era. But also about the thriftiness in the past, as single cards from incomplete decks were used for just about anything one can do with paper: they were written or drawn upon, overprinted, but also cut, rolled or pleated and glued or pinned to something.

Stationery paper was rare and expensive and playing cards were relatively cheap, had a handy format and a certain firmness. The cards were… Continue

Added by Gejus van Diggele on May 28, 2008 at 3:30am — 2 Comments

Okay I’m a member. Now what?

Okay, you’ve decided to try this social networking thing in support of your ephemera habit but, what now?

First, you don’t really need to do anything. You can come back now and then and just look around, read a few things, and move on. I’m hoping you’ll be more active than that, but if not, that’s okay. Here’s a few ideas on how to engage the community.

1. Get the picture? I’ve noticed we have a few “Quaker” members on the network, that is, people who have not posted an image,… Continue

Added by Mike Ferguson on May 28, 2008 at 2:49am — 3 Comments

Magazine Question: Best/Accepted Practice for When to Take Apart and When to Keep Whole

As a collector of coffee-related ephemera, I find many advertisements in old magazines that are historically interesting and reflect important milestones in the evolution of the coffee industry in the United States. My question, which must be common but I have not yet found a written answer, relates to accepted practice among collectors as to when and old magazine should remain in tact, and when it can be "dismantled for its parts."

Generally, I have always tried to keep magazines in… Continue

Added by Mike Ferguson on May 21, 2008 at 7:21pm — 9 Comments