Collecting News Briefs

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Hot Wheels News + Die-Cast Car Show 30 April - Toy & Collectibles Show | Vancouver Sun

Pitt Meadows collector car event expanding:

Gavin Tippe, at 21 months old, takes great delight in racing Hot Wheel toy cars with his grandfather, Rick Tippe, who is once again hosting the Greater Vancouver Toy & Collectibles Show at the Pitt Meadows Rec Hall on Saturday, April 30. In addition to free admission for kids 12 and younger, each kid goes home with a new, free Hot Wheels car.

"Hot Wheels, and how that has been parlayed into much more than just a collection of 6,000 cars. He’s also written and recorded a Hot Wheels song for Mattel (the toy car manufacturer). He and his wife Bonnie volunteer at the twice annual Hot Wheels conventions in the U.S, And, more recently, he created the Greater Vancouver Toy and Collectibles Show here in his hometown."

The Greater Vancouver Toy & Collectibles Show is set for Saturday, April 30, at the Pitt Meadows Rec Hall, 12460 Harris Rd. The general show runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and admission is $4 and free for children 12 years and younger.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Pitt+Meadows+collector+event+expanding/4677456/story.html#ixzz1KhVbFrt6

'Paranormal Collector', world’s first haunted artifacts collectors magazine

Creepy Hollows Celebrates a Decade of Pioneering the Paranormal Collecting Movement:

"“Paranormal Collector”, the world’s first magazine dedicated to collectors of haunted artifacts"

Related articles

Poster: Batman original comic 1966 '...UHH!' visual sound effects )( Swann Auction Galleries

Swann Auction Galleries : Full Details for Lot 190:

"DESIGNER UNKNOWN BATMAN

'NONSENSE! THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS--UHH!' 1966.
39 1/2x27 inches, 100 1/2x68 1/2 cm.

In the late 1960s a new type of poster emerged around the world, consisting of decorative ephemera; a by-product of the flower people, peace movement and student protests. This larger-than-life crime fighter would have suffered the same fate as the million other images printed at the time: they disappeared, being thrown away, ripped apart or kept in very poor condition. Paradoxically that now qualifies this image as 'rare.' Estimate $500-750"

UPDATE: Lot 190 sold for $1,300

These are the two companion pieces to this series of posters
produced by G. & F. Posters [Washington] DC, 1966 [via jhalpe.com]

Related articles

http://www.jhalpe.com/artists/view/1056 Enhanced by Zemanta

Collecting Decoys: 33 year veteran of the hobby talks | Chicago Sun-Times

Allure of decoys: It’s the real thing - Chicago Sun-Times:

Image by Skinbops via Flickr

"... what has happened to decoys [is] a fascinating study of Americana on many levels. Freimuth, who thinks he has been to every show since 1977, understands the many strands threaded into collecting decoys.

‘‘Once a guy went to a decoy show, the imprint was stamped on [his] forehead: You can’t get enough,’’ he said. ‘‘You meet a lot of people like yourself.’’

His collection focuses on birds from Evans Decoy Factory, a Wisconsin business from the early 20th century."

There are two main threads in collecting decoys: Those who collect for love or memories and those who collect as an investment.

‘‘It isn’t expensive,’’ Freimuth said. ‘‘The collectors have to guard their finances. Buy what you can afford. Buy what you like.’’

Related articles

Lunchtime: G.I. Joe diorama: + Superstar (Karen Carpenter Story) | WIRED - Raw File

Miniature Town Brings Its Creator a New Life | Raw File:

"These images come from the mind of Mark Hogancamp, who was beaten and repeatedly kicked in the head by five men outside a bar in Kingston, New York eleven years ago. The attack was so brutal that afterwards his mother Edda did not recognize him. When Hogancamp emerged from a 9-day coma, he had no language, he could not walk and he could not eat without assistance.

For twelve months, the ex-Navy man received state-sponsored physical and occupational therapy and regained many of his motor skills. Without medical insurance, however, Hogancamp was soon unable to afford the treatments. Lacking conventional rehabilitation, Hogancamp devised his own, unknowingly embarking on an art project that would be featured in high-profile exhibits and make him the subject of a hit indie documentary.

As a way to cope with his new life after the attack, Hogancamp built a Nazi-besieged, World War II era town in his backyard at 1/6 scale and resurrected his childhood love for action figures. He populated the model town with miniature alter egos of him and his friends. Each one is a personality in his anachronistic narratives, which he tells through staged photographs that read like frames in a comic book."

Elated articles

Ever since someone gave me a copy of the Superstar videotape, I've been haunted by the melting plastic of the Barbie doll modified to depict Karen Carpenter. You will be too.

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

43:19 - 4 years ago

Openly gay, experimental filmmaker Todd Haynes burst upon the scene two years after his graduation from Brown University with his now-infamous 43-minute cult treasure "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" (1987). Seizing upon the inspired gimmick of using Barbie and Ken dolls to sympathetically recount the story of the pop star's death from anorexia, he spent months making miniature dishes, chairs, costumes, Kleenex and Ex-Lax boxes, and Carpenters' records to create the film's intricate, doll-size mise-en-scene.

Character Collectibles and Advertising | democratandchronicle.com

An enthusiast for the ephemeral | Democrat and Chronicle | democratandchronicle.com:

Richie Sternfeld of Irondequoit is drawn in by a good promotional message.
His apartment is dedicated to his collection of advertising paraphernalia.
[[below]], he holds an inflatable Cap'n Crunch figure.
CARLOS ORTIZ/Staff photographer

"'It's in my blood. It's my life. I can't stop,' Sternfeld says. 'If I sold every item I own and walked down the street and saw a garage sale, I would have to stop and shop.'"

Born and raised in New York City, Sternfeld cannot recall a time when he was not collecting something. How many years that has been is difficult to pinpoint because Sternfeld refuses to discuss his age, an eccentricity that does not come across as incongruous with a man whose hallway is illuminated by a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket light fixture.

Every item, from the giant Jelly Belly on top of his television to the vacuform cutouts of Hardee's restaurant mascots Gilbert Giddyup and Speedy McGreedy hanging on the living room wall behind his loveseat (he sold the full-size sofa to make room for collectibles), has a story.

Richie Sternfeld of Irondequoit is drawn in by a good promotional message. His apartment is dedicated to his collection of advertising paraphernalia. Above, he holds an inflatable Cap'n Crunch figure. CARLOS ORTIZ/Staff photographer </caption>

Recordsmith storefront: Robert Smith has spent 44 years building used LP records - Page 1 - Music - St. Louis - Riverfront Times

Magical Mystery Store: Robert Smith has spent 44 years building Reunion Revoluion's remarkable inventory - Page 1 - Music - St. Louis - Riverfront Times:

Robert Smith's treasures include a Yesterday and Today butcher cover and a $5,000 lamp.

For twenty years, Smith ran a mail-order record business called Recordsmith but desired a more personal interaction with buyers. Before that, he worked as a salesman, going door to door literally selling doors. "I learned if I made someone my friend, they'd buy from me," says Smith. "I try to be nice to people and turn them into my friends first." Smith has an encyclopedic knowledge of nearly every record in Reunion Revolution, and selling things is very much a secondary concern to telling people about them.

"Like the majority of record hoarders from his generation, Smith got into music because of the Beatles. He has every single Beatles release as well as every solo effort or collaboration all four of the band's members ever recorded. A few weeks ago, Smith got a record he'd been waiting on — an echt Yesterday and Today with the original butcher cover. The controversial photo of the Fab Four smiling amid slaughtered baby-doll parts, designed as a 'comment on Vietnam,' led Capitol to recall the album in 1966 so a more innocuous image could go in its place. Smith gave his new prize an $800 price tag, and it comes with a display plaque as well as a letter of authenticity.

Smith's enviable Beatles collection goes beyond records. He owns a suit jacket made by the band's Savile Row tailor — he bought it from a roadie at a Beatles show some 40 years ago. But it was another clothing item that fomented Smith's enthusiasm for collecting, one that comes from a world entirely separate from pop music: European militaria."

Rare books: World's finest modern American literature: Beat poets Bibliothèque National exhibit from Richard Prince | Guardian Weekly

Richard Prince, the living memory of pop culture | Art and design | Guardian Weekly:

Michel Guerrin
Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 26 April 2011 14.00 BST

"Artist Richard Prince probably owns the world's finest collection of modern American literature: the copy of On The Road that Jack Kerouac dedicated to Neal Cassady; a copy of Naked Lunch with notes by William Burroughs; the letters Truman Capote sent to Perry Smith before his execution; the manuscript of the Godfather by Mario Puzo; the screenplay of Paths of Glory co-authored by Jim Thompson and Stanley Kubrick; a letter from Thomas Pynchon to a friend; early drafts of songs by Jimi Hendrix. But Prince also has a collection of pulp fiction, erotic cartoons, invoices submitted by writers, cheques including one for $40 that Kerouac sent to Allen Ginsberg."

... Prince has frequently been sued. He is the leading proponent of Appropriation art, a 1970s movement that involves recycling then signing photographs or paintings by other artists. He has, for instance, cut out magazine photos, re-photographing, reframing, enlarging or shrinking them, painting on top and adding text. Famous Prince appropriations include a snap of Brooke Shields naked, aged 10, and Marlboro adverts.

Prices rocketed after his 2007 retrospective at the New York Guggenheim, outraging the authors of the original photographs. "The subtext is clear," Rubin explains. "It's unfair these photographers should only be paid $500, whereas Prince gets $1m." Prince has won all but one of his court cases. Last month a Manhattan federal court judgeruled against Prince in a copyright lawsuit for using 40 photographs by the French photographer Patrick Cariou to produce his Canal Zone series, which was exhibited at New York's Gagosian Gallery in 2008. Prince plans to appeal.

Richard Prince: American Prayer is at the Bibliothèque National de France, Paris, until 26 June

Baseball Cards: 5th-ranked set of T-206 cards in the world in terms of quality-Rochester Hills, MI Patch

Rochester Lawyer's Baseball Cards Fit for a Hometown Museum - Rochester-Rochester Hills, MI Patch:

Honus Wagner card, sold for $2.3 million in recent years

"Miller, like many who grew up before baseball card collecting became a sophisticated and expensive hobby, had his old cards thrown away by parents who had no idea what future values would be. It was from the childhood loss that Miller began to rebuild his collection.

“It wasn’t long before I became interested in vintage baseball cards because they are so unique and so well made,” Miller said. Vintage baseball cards refer to cards often made by tobacco or food manufacturers.

One set that drew his attention was the T-206 produced from 1909-1911 by the American Tobacco Company. Cards were added to cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands. They are desired by the baseball card collecting community because larger size, rarity and lithographic quality. The set includes 523 cards and Miller owns all but one – the extremely rare Joe Doyle error card -- it's believed that less than 10 exist."

Hell Note Currency collection is taboo in China | Star Publications (M) Bhd

‘Billionaire’ is one helluva collector:

Cheng and his wife Gwee Ah Mooi

“I was given an earful by my mother when I told her I wanted to start collecting hell money as it was a taboo to keep such things.

By YEE XIANG YUN
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

“My friends and family criticised my hobby but I went on with it because I know that one day, all these traditional items will be gone,” he said at his shop in Taman Johor Jaya here yesterday.

The father of two said he enjoyed looking at the different types of hell money as they came in striking colours."

Hell money, printed to look like legal bank notes, is usually burned as offerings during these two festivals and at funerals. Cheng said he presently had more than 500 types of notes in his collection, which he would display in photo albums for anyone who wished to look. “It is a documentation of our tradition that I keep for the younger generation.

“Some people refuse to touch or even take a look at my collection as they are afraid of bad luck,” he said, adding that it was a cheap hobby as a stack of hell money only costs a few ringgit.

Amazon.com Widgets

20,000 comic books in collection, enjoys reading them | The Villages Daily Sun: Villages

Christofur Sinclair has about 20,000 comic books in his collection, enjoys reading them - The Villages Daily Sun: Villages:

"Sinclair has a comic book collection that numbers about 20,000. The majority of the it is in storage in more than 35 cartons. Because he values the collection, he takes good care of it."

Related articles

Australian Postcard fanatic Nick Vukovic & rock poster collector, golf pro

Medium is the message:

Rare ... a postcard from Roger Weik's golf-themed collection shows the nine-hole course that was part of the Lapstone Hotel at Glenbrook in 1947. The resort has been taken over by the RAAF base

"The extraordinary postcard collection of Nick Vukovic was first featured in a 1983 edition of This Australia magazine. At that stage, Vukovic, also known as a fanatical collector of rock music posters, had more than 10,000 cards with the emphasis on sensational news events."

"What makes a number of the old photographic cards so very interesting is that they bear the only illustrations we have of some of the untoward happenings of their time," writes Don Darbyshire in This Australia.

It helps if your subject is unique. One gent collects only postcards of Australian police stations. The quirkiest subject known is circus midgets.

A solid collection on a single subject will always be more valuable at auction than a more general one. Lebovic advises beginners to pick one theme and stick to it.

Pages

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Related articles

Related articles

By YEE XIANG YUNnewsdesk@thestar.com.my

By YEE XIANG YUN
newsdesk@thestar.com.my