Collecting Carnival Chalkware

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Collectibles and Memorabilia.

If your style is shabby and chic, then i bet you decorate your place with pieces of carnival chalkware.

These are figurines, wall plaques, statues, piggy banks etc. made of inexpensive plaster of paris. Carnival chalkware became popular during the 1920's to 1950's as carnival or state fair give away prizes.

This was replaced by stuffed animals beginning 1960's because it can be mass produced and not breakable.

Desirable and collectible carnival chalkware are made from Miller studios. Because carnival chalkware are breakable, only a few survive throughout the years in mint condition, mostly these figurines have chips and breaks. Some carnival chalkware were hand painted and some were airbrushed.

You can easily acquire these pieces at flea markets, garage sales or Ebay.

Decorating tip:

Have a theme or motif in every area in your house. Example: Farm theme for your kitchen, so you display different flowers, animals like pigs, roosters, cows, vegetables chalk figurines scattered around your kitchen.

Marina theme in your bathroom, so you gather mermaids, different fishes and shells chalkware in there.

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Collecting Beatles Memorabilia

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Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly the girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

I bet you catch yourself singing that magical lyrics of the Beatles. Specifically, the Lennon-McCartney songwriting tandem is just pure genius.

In 1964 The Beatles simultaneously had the number 1, 2 ,3, 4 and 6 hit songs in the Top 100 list. It's just amazing phenomenon isn't it? No band in the U.K. or anywhere else in the world had done that.

Today, and in fact, even after the group disbanded and stopped touring, The Beatles sold over one billion units both solo records and albums. The widespread acceptance and popularity of their music is just astounding. Their musical influence extended into the social and cultural revolutions. The Beatles expressed the zeitgeist of the sixties.

You may want to start collecting their records 45s or albums, picture sleeves, autographs, toys and whole other Beatles memorabilia. One 45 record of the very same song may have different labels such as Decca, Swan, Vj, Tollie, Capitol, RCA, Parlophone etc. There was such a huge demand at that time they had to release records very fast and in large quantities, and they did it by producing in different record companies.

Interesting items that avid Beatles collectors wish would be up for auction:

1. The 78 record of the songs That'll be the day/ Inspite of all the danger, written by Paul and George in 1958 by The Quarrymen. Now valued at $170,000 +.

2. John Lennon's Rickenbacker.

3. Sgt. Pepper suits.

These items belong and still own by The Beatles respective families.

Beatles collectors are not much driven solely for investment, because obviously the prices of these pieces can be very volatile. High priced one week, and down on the floor the next.

What drives these collectors are the passion and thrill of ownership because a very ordinary thing can turn into something magical just by the powerfully strong association with The Beatles.

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Collecting Animation Cels

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Animation cels, short for cellulose acetate or cellulose nitrate. It's a clear plastic sheet that original drawings were made.

Collecting animation cels started when the full length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became so popular. Disney studio at the time began to recognize the value of the animators' works.

Today animation art is prized by collectors. Especially with the advent of computer generated graphics cels are no longer used for animation. That's why they are rare and collectible. Little Mermaid in 1989 was the last movie, that cels were used.

Hardcore collectors only collect what they call production art, original animation cels that were used in a movie or a popular series. For animation cels collectors, their collections reminded them of a fantastic moment in films or evoke particular memories from their childhood. Their passion runs deep, they must own a piece of a memorable movie.

The areas in animation cels collecting are varied.

1. Collecting animation cels from one single studio. e.g. Disney, Hanna-Barbera etc.

2. The characters pose whether they using the phone, standing up etc.

3. If the animation cels come with the original background or with matching sketch.

4. If you are only interested in collecting production art( original cels), reproduction art, limited editions or sericels.

Extremely rare and sought after animation cels like the top quality Earle background for Sleeping Beauty would fetch five figure top dollar.

I loved my daily afternoon cartoons when i was a kid....Moby Dick, Mightor, Road Runner, Wacky Races.

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Collecting Playing Cards

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Aside from being used as a gaming device in parlor games, playing cards were also use as a practical platform for representing life's rudimentary facts, a memory aid, teaching and research tool for condensing knowledge.

Playing cards can served as records of social history, depicting how political figures, cultural touchstones and historical events were regarded in their time. As in the admiring caricatures of the Kennedy clan in the Kennedy Kards distributed in 1963.

Playing cards also served as advertising for a particular product or services, fortunetelling tool, erotica and souvenirs. Lately it has been used by prison inmates in the hopes of getting tips to solve cold case crimes.

Many countries and cultures around the world have a major or minor hand in the evolution of the playing cards today:

1. As early as 10th century in China a domino like paper form emerged

2. Italians handpainted playing cards with utmost details and superb artistic skills.

3. Germans learned how to engraved the cards for mass production and reduction of the costs.

4. The French incorporated the Queen in the previously all male court cards. Also they changed the suits from coins ,cups, staves and swords to red color diamonds and hearts and black spades and clubs. Obviously the French suit system is what we use today globally.

5. The Americans incorporated the Joker originally called The Best Bower in 1870.


These are some of the themes or areas you might be interested in collecting playing cards.


1. Collect from one single manufacturer of playing cards e.g. Bee, Bicycle etc.

2. Advertising decks especially if the business it advertised was off the market a long time ago.

3. Magician cards, these are specially designed cards to help the performer stage an optical illusion.

4. Playing cards that are cross-collectibles e.g Disney, Coca Cola, Star wars, American-Indian Memorabilia as in a deck called " Indians of the Southwest" sold at auction for $500.

5. Playing Cards of different sizes and shapes.

6. Playing cards with artistically and intricately designed backs.

7. Transformation decks, which have suit symbols in elaborate designs, like concealing a heart in a face or club in the shape of a bonnet.

8. Collecting only Jokers from varieties of decks.

Collect what pleases you. That's the cardinal rule of collecting.

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Collecting Jigsaw Puzzles

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One of the world's largest jigsaw puzzles is composed of 18,000 pieces.If you are what they called a die hard puzzler, do you think you are up to the challenge?

The many appeals of jigsaw puzzles are that it is inexpensive form of entertainment. Forget shopping, going out to restaurants, movies,clubs or bars just to beat boredom when you don't have the dough.

Jigsaw puzzles is the solution. It can be both solitary or group activity. Once you have completed the puzzle you can mess it up again, and pass it on to another family member or friend for him or her to enjoy.See? its really cheap.

You feel a sense of accomplishment once you complete the puzzle. Its a great way to unwind and de-stress. Or be lost in thought, experience a flow and just be oblivious to your surroundings. Mind you, not many activities get you into that particular state of mind. Albeit, you can but it can be very expensive, illegal, immoral or fattening. Let me digress.

What jigsaw puzzles can do for you nowadays is a far cry from what it was originally intended hundrerd years ago. To learn geography, from large wooden cut out pieces of glued on world maps is nice, but later innovations made it smaller pieces on die cast cardboard and made it more adult friendly.

You can collect vintage wooden puzzles, card board jigsaw puzzles, interlocking or not ( easily broken up when you move the puzzle) or you may want to collect jigsaw puzzles from a certain maker, or the degree of difficulty ( irregular pieces wherein you can't start from the edge) it's all up to you. You go where your interests lie.

Study some price guides on the subject. With knowledge at your arsenal, you can confidently scour yard sales, flea markets, games, toys and ephemera shows or you can sit and click on ebay. This two pronged approach to collect jigsaw puzzles is always the best way to do it.

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Collecting Clarice Cliff Pottery

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Clarice Cliff the Stoke on Trent born art deco designer, revolutionised British pottery. It was the 1920's the decade of the Depression, when Cliff created of what was to become the unmistakably famous of all her designs called Bizarre.

The odd shaped defective wares that went with the newly acquired Newport Pottery factory,presented an interesting challenge for Cliff. She covered the imperfections of the vast stock of wares with vividly rich coloured hand paintings and boldly innovated it with geometric triangles with on glaze enamels that made the pieces even more brightly coloured.

She said "color seems to radiate happiness and the spirit of modern life". And that was what she created with her pottery. A sense of joy and limitless possibilities. According to her the British wives deserved a bit more gaiety in their lives.

If you have an eye for the collectable you wouldn't want to miss a Clarice Cliff made sugar sifters, biscuit barrels, sauce boats, conical shaped coffee pots, jampots, vases, bowls,statuettes, toby and lotus jugs, plates and tea sets.If the piece has a back stamp that says Clarice Cliff Newport Pottery England or Royal Staffordshire Ceramic/Dinnerware by Clarice Cliff then you have a collectible.

Cliff made roughly 700 designs in her lifetime. Her range of patterns like Applique, Inspiration, Fantasque, Crocus and of course Bizarre are among her most commercially successful.

A lot of design pundits in those days considered Cliff an aberration. For them, Cliff's artistic merits were arguable. Even Queen Mary dismissed Cliff's unconventional work "awful". Oh well, Cliff's creations may not look very refined to royalty but heck, Clarice was a free spirit.

She instructed her team of hand paintresses ( Bizarre girls) to make the paint thick and make the upward brushstrokes very obvious(which was at the time going against the rules). The Bizarre shop produced seemingly hand done wares for they never did the same thing twice.

More than eighty years since the heydays of Clarice Cliff, her ceramic pieces nowadays may fetch from $100 to $20,000. Cliff definitely captured the zeitgeist of her times. What's so amazing about this gifted woman is that.... to this day her work remains very collectible.

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Collecting Marilyn Monroe Memorabilia

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Who would have thought that after over four decades since Marilyn Monroe's death, she's as huge as ever and i might add, richer. Marilyn Monroe, the Blonde bombshell, the icon, still is Miss American Pie. Her immortality is sealed.

There are lots of ways you can collect Marilyn Monroe.

Tie it up with things that interest you ( books, magazines, posters, plates, Marilyn Monroe personal items that she actually wore and touched.) You do this, so you won't be bored collecting in the long haul and shelling out big cash for Marilyn Monroe's collectibles fetch a hefty price.

Authenticity is a big deal when you want to start collecting Marilyn Monroe collectibles. There are a lot of fake items on the market.

You will know the pieces are genuine because some items are part of the past Monroe auctions and if you see the items actually pictured with Marilyn. Like, the gowns she wore to movie premieres. You have to do a lot of legwork and research though. But what the heck, if it's your passion, go hog wild (on the research, i mean).

There is a huge demand for Marilyn Monroe.

Her platinum blond hair.....voluptuous body....that breathless voice..... The legend of Marilyn Monroe lives on.

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Collecting Classic Boardgames

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Monopoly, snakes and ladders, scrabble, chinese checkers, trivial pursuit etc. we all have our share of playing these wildly popular boardgames. But if you want to play more classic board games, it's time to hunt and rummage thru garage sales, thrift stores, antiques shops and online auctions.

First off we have to have a master plan. What do we want to buy or collect? Boardgames that are based on television shows? a comic strip? movies? radio shows? ( like Dick Tracy, Gilligan's Island, James Bond board games just to mention a few )

Do you want to collect boardgames from a particular period?( 40's, 50's, 60's,70's, 80's, Victorian, pre WWll) from a single company? Or Board games that we only actually like to play? The themes and choices are endless.

Mint condition board games mean the corners of the box are still sturdy and all the pieces are still complete. It will really drive up the boardgame's value, if ever you want to sell your board game collection down the road.

Boardgame value also depends on current events. Like when Snoopy creator George Schultz passed away, it boosted the popularity of the Snoopy board game.
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Collecting Antique Fishing Lures

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Why do people have a fascination over antique fishing lures that they want to collect them? Well, there's nothing greater than the adrenaline rush one feels when casting a lure into the water except of course catching a fish with it.

For some collectors there is an emotional connection to their past when growing up with whom they associated with fishing.

You will know that you have advanced into this hobby of collecting antique fishing lures when you feel fulfilled and satisfied that you bought and went home with one very good and expensive lure than with many but cheap lures. This usually happens as all collecting fields mature.

The box a lure came in, is also collectible.

Make sure there are no repaints on the fishing lures for it will devalue the item. Touched up is a big no- no. It should be advisable to buy the best condition fishing lures you can, should you decide to sell or trade them down the road.

To avoid costly mistakes and appreciate your passion for collecting antique fishing lures, it's wise to read good reference books and magazine reviews about the hobby.


Attend tackle/lure shows and get to interact with fellow collectors. What you can glean from this interaction is first hand information about what quality antique fishing lures collection composed of.

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Collecting Wind Up Toys

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If you're a kid in the 1940's, 1950's or 60's, i'm pretty sure you have fond memories of your childhood toys especially the wind up toys.

The action provided by the spring driven tinplate wind up toys whether hopping, nodding, walking or rolling were so cute and novel (at that time) that it attracted a loyal following and appealed to people of all ages.

As we got older and earned more discretionary income, we have that nostalgic urge to recapture those childhood days long gone and at least tangibly owned those wind up toys we loved as a kid.

The Europeans started the craze of commercially producing the wind up toys as early as 19th century, the Americans followed suit, only to be followed by the Japanese toy makers( post WWll period) as they were attuned to the lifestyle and culture of the American market.

As plastics were incorporated to the toy making industry and the advent of the battery operated toys, the wind up toys took a backseat especially after World War ll.

Highly collectible and sought after wind up toys were made from the 1930's to 1950's and from toy manufacturers such as Lehmann and Martin, Marx, Unique Art and TPS (Japanese) and many others.

Scarcity, condition ( no scratches and missing toy parts) and popular character name ( e.g. Popeye, Buck Rogers) would be the best guide to the wind up toy's value.

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COLLECTING TAROT CARDS

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Exactly when, where and how tarot cards came to be, is one of history's unsolved mysteries.

Forecasting probably started with people who lived long enough to learn that everything in life changes in cycles.

There's a time to plant and harvest. There are births and burials, seasons come and go, the wind's direction swings from north to east.

By observing the natural cycle of life, the older generations knew that all setbacks, failures or otherwise success are all temporary. "Everything changes with time." They always advised their children.

From there, it is natural to realize that life cycles could be charted, stars could be watched, calendars consulted, cards read.

The whole entire tarot deck make up one of the tools of encouragement and empowerment that have emerge throughout the centuries.

After you acquired or received your first tarot deck ( presumably Rider-Waite deck) you are now ready to learn and purchase more kinds of tarot decks. The wide variety of choices of tarot decks to choose from seem endless.

You can choose tarot decks such as Celtic, Wiccan, fairy, Arthurian legends, Thoth, Russian tarot, Zen, Gilded, Hanson-Roberts, shaman wisdom, goddess, Aquarian, dragon, Marseilles, animal themed, Angelic tarot decks, mythological even something offbeat and contemporary like baseball tarot, Silicon Valley tarot decks, Lord of the Rings inspired tarot decks.

Before purchasing tarot decks to add to your collection, check out the entire individual 78 cards if you can, and check if you have a “feel” for them. Reflect and let your energy permeate through the entire tarot deck.

Choose and buy the one that speaks to you. That you feel connected with. That’s in tune with your energy. Choose tarot cards that will also stir curiosity from your clients, so they can be readily responsive to the prediction of the card spread.

As a professional tarot reader myself, sometimes I would like to use two different tarot decks in a single reading session. This would add variety to your readings so I definitely need a collection of interesting tarot decks. That for me should be visually appealing and stimulating to the imagination.

I always keep my tarot decks wrapped in silk cloth and placed in a wooden box. That way I can keep the positive energy in and negative vibes out. Realize that each kind of tarot decks has its own feel to it.

Visit tarotgarden.com, your source of unusual and hard to find collectible tarot decks.


Go to google.com click images, and type in the name of the tarot deck you wish to see.

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Collecting Beer and Wine Labels

Collecting Beer And Wine Labels

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Label collecting is as attractive as stamp collecting. The information provided by labels is an excellent way of recording certain aspects of commercial life in times gone by.

For wine labels, you could spend a considerable time collecting only ninety-odd chateau labels of the 1855 Bordeaux official classification. And even that would be difficult because some chateaux change their labels designs periodically.

Like for example, Chateau-Mouton-Rotchschild commissions a different label artist to design a new label every vintage year. But that would be a worthwhile investment.

Beer labels whether from the U.S.A. and Britain in particular command better prices. The first nationally popular beer in Britain was ‘porter’. This was a brew that was to gain even greater fame when developed into Guinness.

Then there’s the classic British brew called pale ale. There’s also light ale, oatmeal stout, strong ale, barley wine.

Collecting American beer labels is fascinating because of its diversity. The cosmopolitan nature of the country is a primary reason for a wide variety of beers produced.

Some American beers are no longer made in their country of origin. For instance, porter can no longer be found in Britain, but it still is brewed in the U.S.A. In fact, most American beers owe their origin to brews from abroad, apart from steam beer which is only the really original American beer.

In many ways, wine and beer labels are a superior form of stamp collecting.

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Collecting Cameos

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Cameos are like miniature sculptures but only carve on the front side called relief. The first known cameos were used as ceremonial clothing by emperors, used as seals, as adornment in helmets, breastplates, swords and some were used by members of the clergy.

The carvings usually depicted profiles of beautiful women, (this is the most popular motif) mythological and biblical themes, and heroes and rulers of a particular period. Cameos usually have contrast in colors, like darker background and lighter foreground.

Cameos are carve in hardstones which a term for gemstone or semi precious stones like amethyst, emerald, ruby, opal, opaque stones such as agate, carnelian , onyx etc. and some are carve in conch shells and corals. Out of 100,000 species of sea shells only about six species are perfectly suited for cameos.

The popularity of cameos surged in early nineteenth century when cameos are mounted on gold, silver or other metals and became fashionable pieces of jewelry such as brooches, necklaces, tiaras, bracelets and earrings.

The more colors a certain shell or hardstone may project the more valuable the cameo is. If the cameos depicted two carvings from one single stone, the more valuable it is. As opposed to two carvings but made from two different stones and you see evident of glue in between then the carvings are definitely a poor attempt at faking it.

Using a magnifying glass, look for chips and cracks on the cameos for it will lessen the value of it. Make sure the cameos are mounted on the original settings or frame. If the demand outstrip the supply, expect fakes and forgeries all over. Asia is now a hub for manufacturing cheaper cameos made of plastic and resin, because it has a shell-like feel to it. Do a hot needle test, if it melts then it plastic.

Cameos carved in hardstones requires more skill and adeptness, they are more durable compared to shells and corals. They are most likely the type of cameos that can be pass on to the next generations therefore hardstone carved cameos are more expensive.
Famous collectors of cameos are Pope Paul ll and Napoleon Bonaparte.

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Collecting Teddy Bears

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The appeal of the teddy bear is universal. That is why both young and old collect them. Teddy Bear signifies unconditional love and acceptance.

The teddy bear dates back 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt went to Mississippi to settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana, the host offered the president to shoot the tired little bear tied to a tree. President Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear considered it to be unsportsmanlike.

That good deed towards the bear drew national attention, especially when the Washington Post pblished a cartoon by Clifford Berryman depicting the President and the bear.

An enterprising couple by the name of Morris and Rose Michtom banked on the national interest and made the first stuffed bear and called it Teddy’s Bear with the permission of Pres. Teddy Roosevelt of course and displayed it in their stationery store. The teddy bears sold like hot cakes, thus the first manufacturing company called Ideal Novelty and Toy Company was born.

Some unexplainable synchronicities occurred in the other continent, a German fellow designed and made his first teddy bear. But Europeans were not as crazy for teddy bears as Americans did at that time.

During a fair in Europe an American businessman bought 3,000 teddy bears and brought them to America and sold out the whole stocks. It was the start of European market for teddy bears.

American made teddy bears are slimmer, more spindly. The stitches are looser. While the European made are stockier, the snout longer, and the stitches are tighter thus command higher prices. In today’s world it is customary for companies to outsource their production in Asia because the labor cost is cheaper, so many toys like teddy bears are now manufactured in Asia and very much less costly.

Artist-made teddy bears are totally the "in" thing when it comes to teddy bears. They are handmade, designed and made by the industry’s finest artists, the fur is expensive like mohair and eyes and buttons made of gems. The price for these bears are also expensive.

Look for bears that came from Gund, Knickerbocker, Steiff, Bing and Farnell. Make sure you research and talk with a reputable toy dealer before embarking on buying vintage teddy bears. Let investment be the last of your criteria when buying, the first is you must have genuine like for your teddy bear collection.

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Collecting Cigarette Cards

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Cigarette cards evolve form an earlier tradition of trade cards. Trade card was a sort of a business card back in the old days. It consisted of the names, addresses and advertisements of commercial companies.

Cigarette cards were used to stiffen the American paper cigarette packets.

The popularity of cigarette cards took off right around the 1880’s when chromolithography was applied to pictures.

But the production of cigarette cards peaked during 1920-40. Collecting investors no doubt would hunt for cigarette cards in this era. The most expensive sets would come from this particular period.

The reason being, there were many, many smaller cigarette companies as oppose to today’s tobacco giant companies, thus each of these smaller companies produced their own garden variety of cigarette cards.

The most expensive sets are from the smallest companies.

You can pick up incomplete sets for less prices but you just going to have to do individual hunt for the missing pieces to complete your set.

During the end of the first world war, several large tobacco consortiums were formed consequently putting the smaller companies out of business, thus the production of the cigarette cards began to decline.

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" Give Pez A Chance”

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Trivia: Ebay was founded because the founder Peirre Omidyar’s partner needed a venue to buy and sell her collection of pez dispensers.

Pez comes from the German word for pfefferminz which means peppermint. Pez candy dates back in 1927. They were first marketed as adult mints for people trying to quit smoking. In the today’s world of Altoids and Tic Tac, pez got there first.

Pez were originally sold in small tin boxes. But right around 1950’s the pez dispenser were invented. They were created originally for truck drivers so they could easily pop a candy into their mouths while driving.

After the second World War pez dispensers came out with character heads, this time to specifically target their market: children. The first character heads for pez dispensers was Mickey Mouse in all different versions. Then came out later many other designs for heads like Zorro, Captain Hook, Santa Claus etc.

Baby boomers are also buying pez dispensers because of nostalgic factors. They want to collect something from their memories of happy childhood.

Most expensive pez dispenser ever held in an auction was The Astronaut B pez with white helmet and green stem which had a winning bid for $32,205.00. There are two of them in fact, the other one has blue helmet with blue stem.

They were made as prototypes for supposedly a joint venture deal but the negotiation didn’t’ came through, so there were no mass production that occurred. So that makes the Astronaut B pez dispenser rare.

Another rare pez dispenser was the do-it-yourself that comes in different parts(eyes, nose, ears etc. ) to make your own face, but the manufacturer thought it was dangerous for children under 12 so they discontinued the production.

The do-it-yourself

Pez dispensers are sold as much as $5,000 a piece.

A lot of pez dispensers that didn’t sell were taken off the market back in those days. They were originally sold for a quarter now commands a two to three thousand dollar price tag like the Mary Poppins pez dispensers.

Today lots of people collect the battery operated dispensers, the value would even more appreciate if they keep the boxes that they come in.
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Collecting Duck Decoys

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For over hundreds of years both professional and amateur duck hunters used duck decoys to lure ducks to land on field or water within shotgun range. Archeologists discovered antiquated duck decoys believed to be first made and used by the native Americans.

Aside from its original purpose, duck decoys have also an art appeal. In fact, duck decoys are considered the consummate American art form.

There are different kinds of duck decoys such as flying decoys, they simulate ducks joining the main flock, half-body feeder decoys they simulate a duck tipping to feed, motion decoys such as swimmers and shakers.

They have a battery –powered motor. Swimmers move in circles and shakers make ripples. Another kind is the sleeper decoys, they are set on shore or mixed with other floating decoys to send a message to ducks flying that everything’s normal. Confidence decoys, they mimic herons and other waterfowls seen around with other duck decoys to give the spread a real impression.

The full-body floating decoys which are weighted so they won’t keel over and they have anchor and strings so they won’t float too far. Field decoys come in full body, shell and silhouette models.

Duck decoys come in standard size measures 15 inches to 16 inches and magnum size measures 18 to 20 inches. There are companies who manufactures super magnums which measure 21 inches or longer. Some decoys are made of wood, cork, molded plastic and foam.

Decoys must be set in the right spread where ducks can see them. With skillful duck calls hunters can be sure their hunt would be fruitful. Just make sure the decoys aren’t too glossy with frost, they have to be in their natural color just like real ducks.

When it comes to collecting, the age old question of authenticity always comes up. Flawless duck decoys make buyers suspicious but decoys that have too many chips and scratches won’t make them attractive enough either.

It’s always a healthy balance of condition and rarity that make duck decoys collectible. Or any other collectibles for that matter.

To collect duck decoys really depends on your budget and tastes. If appearance or aesthetics is important to you or a certain duck species or decoys made by known carvers like Elmer Crowell and Charles Perdue then by all means collect them. The most important factor is you collect thematically.

The highest price paid for a single duck decoy is approximately $800,000 plus at a certain auction.

Always check out Duck decoy catalogs or Ebay to constantly keep abreast of the prices, sales and items.

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Collecting Hawaiin And Surfer Surfing Posters

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Surf movie poster were a way to advertise a certain movie about surfing in the 1950’s and 60’s. The promoters pasted or tacked them on telephone poles, school auditoriums, and car windows. The kids took these posters off and bring it home and display on their bedroom walls. Thus the hobby of collecting surf movie poster was born.

Bud Browne started it all and filmed a movie documentary about surfing. They would filmed it on 16mm and filled it with footages of people surfing and scouting places with perfect waves to ride on. Soon after other filmmakers followed suit with variations as filming not only documentary but beach party movies as well. The movie ‘Gidget’ clearly depicted the surfing lifestyles with campy entertainment scenes.

The surf movie posters are relics of that era. They came in various sizes 8"x 11", 9"x 12" and 11"x 14" unlike the monolithic generic movie posters in those days which measured 27" x 41".
The value of surf movie posters are determined by factors of rarity, condition and demand.

They are graded mint, near mint, very good, good , fair and poor just like the way they grade comic books and baseball cards. If you are serious in collecting posters for fun and investment purpose(like thinking of selling you collection in ten years) you should carefully take care of your items like not folding ,marking or exposing it to light or even UV lighting. It’s common sense how you take care of your goods.

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Aloha Shirt

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Still on the series of collecting Hawaiin kitsch. Aloha shirts or Hawaiin shirts as the rest of the world term this piece of clothing made of exotic, colorful fabrics. The shirts first appeared in the 1930’s.

When Hawaii became a state in 1959 aloha shirts became even more popular along with long flowing muumuus.

Local artists created styles and designs that depicted the lifestyles, experiences and of course the environment of the South Pacific Islands such as the warm balmy breeze, white sandy beaches, crystal blue waters, palm trees and golden sunsets.

Aloha shirts which are manufactured for local use are considered formal, actually wearing them is a cross between formal and informal for you can wear them on the streets on ordinary day and you can as well wear aloha shirts on official business meetings, during weddings or any other important occasions. It is socially accepted norm of dressing whatever the occasion.

Ellery Chun trademarked the name aloha shirts after it become a bestseller. He made the shirts out of unsold fabrics in his store. Soon after, local residents, surfers and tourists came bustling into his store to buy his creations. It was such a big hit especially when celebrities like Elvis Presley and Harry Truman wore the shirts.

Vintage prints and textile from the 1930’s and 40’s are extremely collectable today. They fetch in prices as much as thousands of dollars a piece.

Aloha shirt is as symbolic as any Hawaiin treasure.

To find out more collectible items always visit Rare Antiques Collectibles and Memorabilia.

Collecting Hawaiin Kitsch

Welcome to Rare Antiques
Collectibles and Memorabilia.

Hawaiina or collecting all things hawaiin are sought after collectors for years or even decades.

For hawainna collectors owning a piece of tangible artifacts brings back a time when you are in a tropical paradise, away from all the cares of the reality of the world.

It brought a taste of the tropics that promise fun and excitement.

Hawaii being one of the top tourist destinations of the world provided visitors a lot of gifts and keepsakes from their exotic island travels, thus the souvenir industry in Hawaii today, is big business.

Little odd and ends, like hula girl lamps, hula doll nodders or popularly known as dashboard hula dolls, surfboards, aloha shirts, ukuleles, hawainn vintage posters, and tikis are among the things collectors would like to own.

Hawaiina’s heyday were in the fifties until seventies. They even dubbed it as Polynesian Pop and America just naturally embraced it. James Michener’s best selling novel The Tales of the South Pacific and the broadway musical hit South Pacific were all proofs that hawaiin influence were marked in the American cultural landscape.

Although Polynesian Pop waned in the seventies, it made a huge comeback brought on by scenesters in their twenties and a generation younger than baby boomers .

And from the rate I’ts going Hawaiina or Polynesian Pop or whatever you would call it, is here to stay.

So let this introduction be the first of its series on hawaiin kitsch collecting.
Remember for all your collecting ideas drop by Rare Antiques Collectibles and
Memorabilia.