Ray Kirchmeyer's Blog (6)

It was a hot August afternoon in Texas. I was out for a Friday afternoon drive when I came across an indoor garage sale. I thought to myself "Great. Cold air conditioning. As I was looking over the assorted items I happened to wander into the garage. In one corner sat an large antique wooden chest covered with dust. Out of curiosity I opened it and the adrenalin started pumping. Underneath a carefully folded 48 star American flag was a story. It was a story that began with a marriage in 1880 and… Continue

I have found one of the most interesting, artistic, and historic categories of ephemera to be old stock certificates. They are usually printed on high quality paper and are adorned with beautiful artwork. The issuer would print the stockholder's name on them along with the number of shares purchased. They were generally purchased with cash or check and tucked away in desk drawers, safes, or bank safe deposit boxes as they hopefully increased in value. As a result many are still out there.These w… Continue

I was going through my boxes of paper from last week's flea market adventure and I found some interesting old college monthly magazines. These ate two of the six that were in the lot. One is from Lafayette University and the other is from Duke. Both of these as well as the others are from 1937. They have some great photos and illustrations and some really nice advertising. I see a lot of yearbooks around but not many of these. Just thought I would share with the group.… Continue

I just returned from a local flea market where I have been acquiring paper for my collection for years. I ran across an interesting assortment of old paper money that was printed by the Japanese Empire and and replaced currency in countries they occupied during World War II. I was wondering if anyone else has come across this type of paper and what kind of interest it has among collectors.… Continue

Hi everybody. I have been looking around this weekend trying to expand my horizons now that Ebay seems to be on the downhill slide. I found an auction site that looks promising. No insertion fee unless you want to pay for the extras. FVF is 5 1/2% for the first $1500 and goes lower the more you sell. (calculated on total sales per month rather than on each item. Looks like they have between 11 and 12 million listings. Over 9 million are postcards. I have registered but have not really looked dee… Continue

I just joined this site last night. I have been an Ebay seller and buyer in the past but the environment there is getting to be quite hostile. I posted in the forums last night wanting to let people know about how there was a great networking site out there where collectors, dealers, and historians could get together and share their mutual interests. Two posts were promptly removed even though I danced around this sites name without actually linking or naming it. Looks like maybe you have touche… Continue