Antiques & Collecting Newsletter April

[grasswire]

Antiques & Collecting Newsletter
Volume 13, Number 9
April 1, 2009
Ron McCoy, editor
http://collectingbuzz.com

Ah, it's April Fools' Day, one of the most light hearted days of the
year. Have fun today because in just fourteen days your income taxes are
due. No foolin’!

Kids and Family EASTER STORE
http://tinyurl.com/ckg4hp

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(¯`·.¸¸.-> IN THIS ISSUE

FIFTY AND STILL A DOLL
COUNTING CARDS
KING OF POP LIGHTENS HIS LOAD
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW SUMMER 2009
WWII COLLECTION ONLINE
NATIONAL POSTCARD WEEK
COMIC SELLS FOR $317,200
THREE OR MORE

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FIFTY AND STILL A DOLL

The news reported last month that Mattel's Barbie doll turned 50. AARP
Magazine couldn't ignore that and did an article about how Barbara
Millicent Roberts fits into the AARP demographic:

http://tinyurl.com/b7m4br

To shake off a midlife crisis at 50, Barbie gets tattooed:

http://tinyurl.com/c6rjs2

And, finally, a Brazilian artist did a rendition of what Barbie would
really look like at 50:



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COUNTING CARDS
http://tinyurl.com/bkr8dd

Columbia University in New York City has a collection of playing cards
in their Rare Book & Manuscript Library that is among the world's
largest -- over 6,000. The decks were donated to Columbia by an
eccentric collector, schoolteacher, author, mountain climber, nudist and
Salvador Dali archivist Albert Field, who died in 2003. The cards, with
an estimated value of more than $1 million, have now been cataloged by
the university. Ranging from simple woodblock prints from 1550s Austria
to a 1963 American pack with admiring caricatures of the Kennedy family,
the collection isn't just a novelty, but a rich, if offbeat, resource
for research. Scholars say cards can be useful records of social
history, depicting how cultural touchstones, political figures and
historical events were seen in their times.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KING OF POP LIGHTENS HIS LOAD
http://www.juliensauctions.com

An auction beginning April 22 features more than 2000 personal items of
50-year-old singer Michael Jackson. Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles
will sell his American Music Award for "Thriller," a velvet cape given
to him by his children for Father's Day in 1998, a pair of
rhinestone-trimmed socks from 1981, a basketball signed by Michael
Jordan and his own original artwork. Jackson is also parting with his
platinum and gold records, a customized Harley Davidson and a Rolls
Royce limousine. A portion of the proceeds will benefit MusiCares, a
charity of The Recording Academy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW SUMMER 2009
http://pbs.org/antiques

PBS television show Antiques Roadshow announced the cities it will visit
this summer. Tour destinations are: June 6, Atlantic City, NJ; June 27,
Raleigh, NC; July 11, Madison, WI; July 25, Denver, CO; August 1,
Phoenix, AZ; and August 16, San Jose, CA. Start scouring your attics!
There will be approximately 70 to 80 appraisers, covering over 20
different categories at each location. Admission to Antiques Roadshow is
free, but tickets are required. Check the website for details.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WWII COLLECTION ONLINE
http://go.footnote.com/wwii

This online collection of World War II documents archives historical
documents beginning with 9 million "hero pages" profiling individual
U.S. veterans of World War II with data taken from Army enlistment
records. Veterans and their families and friends can add further
information and photos. The project also includes an online reproduction
of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, which is inscribed with the
names of more than 1100 crewmen who died when the battleship was sunk on
Dec. 7, 1941. Visitors to the Web site can search for the names of the
victims. Other highlights of the collection include the personnel rolls
of Pearl Harbor, reports of missing air crews, submarine patrol reports
and naval press clippings. Also included are extensive analyses of the
Allied bombing strategy against Japan, including target photographs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NATIONAL POSTCARD WEEK
http://www.barrspcn.com

Each year, during the first full week in May, postcard collectors,
called deltiologists, commemorate National Postcard Week by creating
home-made postcards and sending them to their postcard-collecting
friends. This tradition has been followed nationwide since 1984, when
National Postcard Week began. This year, postcards can be sent to Barr's
Post Card News to be featured in one of their issues. The variety of
cards produced by collectors is never-ending, from professionally
printed photographs to hand-drawn or rubber-stamped individualized
cards. If you're a collector, you may be hard at work creating a
personal postcard to send to your friends in commemoration of the
occasion. If you're not a postcard collector, you might well receive one
of these personal creations from a friend who is. It's how postcard
collectors "get the word out" about their beloved and popular hobby.

Antiques Trader Magazine - Postcards
http://www.AntiqueTrader.com/postcards

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMIC SELLS FOR $317,200

One of the highest prices ever paid for a comic book was realized last
month when a rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman sold
for $317,200 in an Internet auction. Only about 100 copies of Action
Comics No. 1 are known to exist and they seldom come up for sale. The
winning bid for the 1938 edition, which features Superman lifting a car
on its cover, was submitted by John Dolmayan, drummer for the rock band
System of a Down. The man who had previously owned the book purchased it
for less than a buck in a secondhand store in the early 1950s when he
was nine years old.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THREE OR MORE
http://www.threeormore.net

Our friend and noted glass authority, Reyne Haines, contacted us
recently about a new Internet platform she's launched called Three or
More. Her new blog is not just limited to tidbits on collecting glass.
She will discuss paintings, coins, comics, furniture, reproductions,
buying/collecting trends and more. She owns Reyne Gallery in Cincinnati,
which specializes in 20th Century Decorative Arts with an emphasis on
Tiffany Studios and The Finer Things in New York City, which acquires
and sells luxury goods for clients at auction and privately. Reyne’s
frequent media appearances include a December 2008 feature segment on
CBS’ "The Early Show" and she can be heard regularly on Martha Stewart
Living Radio on Sirius XM Satellite Radio Network. She also has served
as an appraiser on "Antiques Roadshow." Check out her blog and see why
she's named it Three or More.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FEATURE ARTICLES
http://www.collectingbuzz.com/articles.html

Over on our website we have a selection of feature articles about
antiques and collecting. The list is growing so take a look and
hopefully you'll find something of interest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WE WANT TO GROW!

The newsletter depends on word of mouth to grow. In each issue, we offer
useful, interesting and amusing articles to help you enjoy your hobby of
collecting. Can you take just a minute to help us out in return?

If you think the Antiques & Collecting Newsletter is a worthwhile read,
point your mouse to that FORWARD button and forward the entire
newsletter to someone and suggest they subscribe by emailing me or
visiting: http://collectingbuzz.com

[Vinca]

1. I've got one of the first Barbies in the locked case in my booth

and I'm beginning to think she'll turn 50 before she sells. She's the #4 doll with a bob haircut and is in her original clothes with the original box and a catalog from the day. I found her at a yard sale for $25. Re the Antiques Roadshow - did anyone see this weeks episode? The last item was amazing. A woman inherited a gorgeous necklace with a couple of giant diamonds, pearls and little diamonds and was told in 1988 it was worth $10,000. The appraisal this time around? A quarter of a million dollars!! Wow!

[grasswire]

2. I did see that.

It was beautiful. She has only worn it once, for her wedding. I think it's kind of sad that beautiful family heirlooms sit in a deposit box, but what else is a person to do?

[eleny]

3. I like the older version of Barbie

They ought to make a Granny Barbie.