posted on June 19, 2005 08:52:30 AM
I bought an old scrapbook at the flea market today. It's FULL of cards, invitations, WWII Western Union telegrams, postcards from Hawaii during WWII, and more. The pages of the book are out of the book itself and the pages are in rough shape, but the cards and such are good. I was going to break it down and sell the cards individually, but now I'm rethinking it.
There are wartime Valentines, telegrams and such from her husband in the book as well as war things from when she went to see him in Hawaii. There are also newspaper clippings and correspondence from him as well. There's even a dance card with the pencil still attached and one name written in it, Stan. Turns out Stan came along before her husband and there's a newspaper picture of him in the book as well.
Now, I don't know if I should break it apart or sell it as one piece since it seems to be this woman's life history from her graduation in 1937 until around 1950. The last dated thing I can find is late 1940's sympathy cards and letters from when her mother died. It seems no one dated any of the cards although Rita (the owner) did date some of the pages. The book is full.
Should I keep it together and sell it that way? The pages aren't much good as they are falling apart so it should be preserved. I can't understand a family getting rid of such a gem. I love reading it!!
Any assistance in this would be greatly appreciated!
posted on June 19, 2005 09:06:43 AM
if you sell it as whole,the bidder will sell as parts.
are parts worth more than whole??
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posted on June 19, 2005 10:13:42 AM
Cheryl it was probably from estate where there either was no living relatives or the relatives were to old to remember. but what find. I find myself buying things like that just to read. Yours seems to have some history in it. It is hard to remove cards from paper so you just might ruin them unless they are loose. Did you try looking up any names?
How much do you want for your find? Why not wait for a 10 cent listing day, that is if we ever get another one, and put the price high enough to see if someone will buy it.
I think if sales are slow and sellers are not listing eBay will probably either have a 10 cent listing day or a FP listing day soon.
I would wait.
posted on June 19, 2005 10:36:53 AM
Mostly greeting cards. Some even have items attached to them like a miniature liquor bottle, horseshoe, ribbons, etc. There are some military items also like military greeting cards, "Returnee Enlisted Man's Hotel Clearance" signed by his captain with dates and service numbers. Newpaper articles about the taking of Kiska. There are also Miami postcards, city maps, etc. from when she visited him there. That's why I don't want to break it up. A lot of it goes together. Like I said, the pages are a mess and the cards and such should be carefully removed and placed onto archival paper. The book itself is in fantastic condition.
I did find out that he (Sgt. John H Stevens) was born 10/29/23 and died 12/1/92 and she (nee Rita M Boing) was born 10/26/21 and died in May of 1992. They died so close together. Other than that, I'm not sure where to look. I have his service number so I suppose I can search even more.
posted on June 19, 2005 12:33:53 PM
Separately!!! The odds of finding any family member who wants a clump of them all together are very low. Remember to check and use the Collectibles/Militaria category for some of the stuff.
posted on June 19, 2005 12:37:33 PM
Thanks, roadsmith. My only problem now is that they are glued to the pages. Most will come off easily because they are so old. I guess what I can't easily separate, I'll leave on the page. I think I'll group them. What a job!!
posted on June 19, 2005 12:57:15 PM
Cheryl: With some of the glued-on pieces, I think I'd be tempted to use a hairdryer on the back of the page they're glued to, just to see if perhaps the glue could soften (after all these years, probably not--but worth a try?).
I would LOVE to have a scrapbook like the one you've described. I've sold a lot of old family odds and ends that are usually put into scrapbooks, and it's fun to figure out what categories to list them in. My favorite was a church bulletin from 1944 in Heidelberg, Germany. I listed it in Militaria because the service listed some not-famous army officials as taking part in it. But the fellow who bought it (I think for about $12) said he collects old church bulletins from around the world! You just never know.
From what I can tell, this scrapbook is a tale of her life during WWII. Most date from 1939 to 1948 or 1949. I think she stopped when John came home from the war. There are a couple of 1934 cards. It shows that life here in the states went on with birth announcements, wedding announcements and parties. I feel as though I've gotten to know Rita just from this book. That's why I hate taking it apart. I will reference all of this in all the auctions and if someone wants to buy all of it, they can just bid on all of it. This is going to be a job that I think might wait until mid-summer.
Edited to add: I paid $20 for the book and I think I can more than get my money's worth. There are about 300 cards alone not including the WWII specific items.
Cheryl
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Jun 19, 2005 01:14 PM ]
posted on June 19, 2005 01:46:45 PM
You can always check the surname on www.rootsweb.com to see if there is someone outside the immediate family who may want if for genealogical purposes, if the book contains that kind of information. There may be distant cousins who aren't close but would want it for family historical purposes.
I recently sold some pre-WWII menus from an estate where a man had been a cook in the army. I was surprised what the individual menus went for; one in particular went to a man writing a book on that particular military unit. So if you have anything with military significance, list branch of service and unit information, etc.....in the auction title and/or description.
posted on June 19, 2005 02:07:11 PM
What a great find! I hope you do real well with it. I think is was worth what you paid. Let us know how it does. Good Luck!
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Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on June 19, 2005 03:21:02 PM
I separated the WWII stuff out of it including the things sent to her by her husband. I'm leaving the rest intact. They are just too difficult to remove from the paper. There are some gorgeous grafics on some of the cards, though. Maybe I'll sell a few pages in each auction. That will probably bring more money. Thanks all!
posted on June 19, 2005 03:56:20 PM
I would separate by topic and sell in related lots (WWII-related, greeting cards, postcards, valentines, Hawaii theme, Miami theme, etc)
posted on June 20, 2005 06:37:18 AM
HI Cheryl,
I was selling at the Long Beach Vet's Stadium yesterday. My friend who shares my space had 4 different albums from WWII fulled with pictures of the campaigns in the Pacific including aerial bombing pics, tons of nose art and many other wonderful pictures. He was asking $1000.00 for all four, sadly he didn't sell them since it was a somewhat slow day and most were dealers offering him ridiculously low prices ($400-500. for all) so they can turn around and sell the nose art on Ebay for $70-80. each. He will hang onto them as he has a source who will give him more but he is out of state. He once sold a Vietnam era album for $350.00. It truly depends on the contents of that album and who is interested. Good Luck!
[ edited by miscellany03 on Jun 20, 2005 06:39 AM ]
posted on June 21, 2005 10:03:23 PM
Jane -I wondered about that too so Googled it ( I am so glad it didn't have anything to do with booger sculpture LOL):
Aircrews in World War II decorated their planes with pictures of pinups and pretty girls, typically modelled after the "cheesecake" art of Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargo, and George Petty. It was (and still is) an interesting practice. Some see a deep, psychological impluse - attaching a talisman, a good-luck charm, to the aircraft as a way of warding off evil, death, and bullets. I don't know. Maybe the young guys just liked looking at pictures of pin-ups.
Different services and units had different policies about aircraft usage and decoration. Marine and Navy aircraft were generally shared by different pilots, with consequently less personalized decoration. Army Air Force airplanes were assigned to individual pilots (or in the case of bombers, to particular air crews). Thus, some of the most lavish and imaginative nose art adorned USAAF planes.
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posted on June 22, 2005 05:05:13 AM
Cheryl, What a wonderful find... my kinda stuff. Problem being,for me, I can never sell things like that. I'm a romantic at heart.I have a group of letters that a couple from western Kansas wrote to each other during WW11. Included in the ribbon wrapped letters was a code they had apparently set up before he left so she would always know where he was when he wrote to her. Please let us know when you list so we (I) can bid. Bonnie
posted on June 22, 2005 05:21:07 AM
Bonnie - I have already listed. Email me at [email protected] and I'll give you the links. Trust me, I don't feel good about having separated it or about selling it! I'm a romantic, too. Somehow you feel like you've invaded someone's privacy! Gosh, even researching their dates of birth and death felt like an invasion! Sappy me!!
