vintage ephemera
 |
| vintage ephemera |
glimpse
into past events, interests, styles, and trends. Small, easy to store
and display, and often rare, these items appeal, through their
fleeting nature, to design historians and enthusiasts alike.
Ephemera,
such as cards, menus, and invitations, has been produced in large
quantities for the last 200-300 years. Values vary from less than
£5-10 to upwards of £1,000-2,000. Most examples date from the late
19th and early 20th century, with items fetching £300-500 or more.
 |
| vintage ephemera |
Originating
in London during the early 17th century, trade cards, advertising
products
and services, were among the first forms of publicity. Rare 18th- and
early 19th-century woodcut or letterpress cards can fetch more than
£200-500. Later, more common, items cost around £30-80 or less.
 |
| vintage ephemera |
Chromolithography,
an 1840s printing technique, enabled the production of colourful
trade cards. Many had a blank space for the trader's details. By the
1900s, other forms of publicity, such as magazine advertisements and
posters, took over and the pictorial trade card declined. Examples
with well-printed, complex designs can cost £5-50 or more.
 |
| vintage ephemera |
cards
printed with designs such as flowers, animals, and people. Their
popularity peaked from the 1870s to the early 1910s.
They were either cut from cards or torn from pre-cut strips, and were placed into albums, made into book marks, or used to decorate screens and small pieces of furniture or boxes - a decorative process known as 'decoupage'. Prices start at less than £10 and rarely exceed <£.20-40. Look for large, well-printed, intact examples. Scraps can be found at collectors' fain- junk shops,
They were either cut from cards or torn from pre-cut strips, and were placed into albums, made into book marks, or used to decorate screens and small pieces of furniture or boxes - a decorative process known as 'decoupage'. Prices start at less than £10 and rarely exceed <£.20-40. Look for large, well-printed, intact examples. Scraps can be found at collectors' fain- junk shops,
The
Victorian preoccupation with mourning reached its height after Prince
Albert's death in 1861.
and
funerals of high- profile figures were marked with sombre,formal
invitations,
 |
| vintage ephemera |
Cigarette
cards originated in the 1880s, when 'stiffeners' were inserted in
paper packets of American cigarettes. Soon these cards carried
advertisements and, later, collectable picture cards, to encourage
brand loyalty.
The
pioneering British company was W.H. & H.O. Wills, whose first
general-interest cards, 'Ships', were colourful, with informative
text on the reverse. Other tobacco firms soon followed, and the trend
reached its peak in the 1920s.
 |
| vintage ephemera |
Early
cigarette card themes included war, sport, actresses, art, and
transport. The key to their collectability then (and now) was in
making up the set - usually 25 or 50 cards. Production of cards by
cigarette firms ceased in early 1940 because of wartime restrictions.
The
condition of the cards is vital to their value. Their popularity as
'swaps' meant they were handled a lot. Many colourful cards can be
found for less than £100 per set, with some costing as little as
£20-40 per set. Look out for a 20-card clown series issued by the
London tobacco supplier Taddy around 1914, which can raise up to
£15,000 - currently only 15 sets are known to exist.
No comments:
Post a Comment