A 1907 wanted poster for an escaped convict in Colorado, recently purchased from Mark Baker of GoldRushPaper.com. (See below.) The escapee had been convicted of “Larceny live stock,” which I take to mean cattle rustling. Author’s collection.
I love ephemera. If you don’t know what that is, Merriam-Webster.com provides this definition: “items (such as posters, broadsides, and tickets) originally meant to be discarded after use but that later become collectibles.”
One thing I love about ephemera is that you can collect it specifically—say, Old West wanted posters and postcards, the subject of an earlier post—or in connection to a larger collecting area, like outlawry in the Old West, which can include books, photos, and other items.
A postally used wanted postcard for horse thief Ira Kinder from Eads, Kiowa County, Colorado, postmarked 1912. Another example of this card appears in WANTED! Wanted Posters of the Old West and Stories Behind the Crimes by Barbara Fifer and Martin Kidston (Farcountry Press, 2003), a great resource. The elusive Kinder is not described in the text of WANTED! but an online search of archived Colorado newspapers indicates that he continued to steal horses. Apprehended in Texas in 1915, he was extradited to Colorado and faced with a possible sentence of three to eight years in the slammer, but he forfeited a $1,500 bond by not appearing in Kiowa County court for his trial. The April 21, 1916, Kiowa County Press remarked dryly, “It is unlikely that Kinder will return of his own accord.” I got this card on eBay in September for $30; another postally used copy sold in the final Holabird Americana auction earlier this month for $160 plus the buyer’s premium.
Another thing that’s cool about ephemera is that it can be very rare. For example, there were more than 1,300 passengers aboard the Titanic, so presumably at least 1,300 tickets sold—plus an estimated few dozen unused tickets for unsold upper-class berths. Where did all those tickets or ticket stubs go? Even if all of the used tickets were discarded or were lost at sea, one would expect some unused ones to be floating around somewhere (no pun intended). Yet, one sold in a Bonham’s auction for $56,250 in 2012, which I assume doesn’t include roughly another $15K for the buyer’s premium.
A third thing I like about ephemera is that it’s, um, ephemeral—which is to say, even if if it’s not a high-ticket item (another unintended pun: sorry!), it can provide some new fact or aspect relative to your collecting area . . . and as I’ve often said, collecting is not just about acquiring “stuff” but about learning something (ideally something new) about the subject of your collection.
An added bonus is that a lot of ephemera can be pretty damn cheap, even on eBay, and especially in in-person venues like flea markets, estate and garage sales, gun shows, etc.
Be aware, though, that there is a flip side: not all ephemera is especially rare, and newly discovered caches can flood the market and send prices plummeting—which is disheartening if you’ve aleady paid a pretty high price. A case in point: about 15 years ago I was looking for the autograph of Otto Mears, the Russian-born railroad builder who oversaw construction of the narrow-gauge Denver & Rio Grande Southern Railroad and linked it the different D&RG lines in the late 1800s. I bought a D&RG purchase order signed by Mears from a New York bookseller for $250 and later D&RG stock certificate signed by Mears in a railroadiana auction for $300. Then, five to ten years ago, I started to see both Mears-signed invoices and stock certificates on an eBay. Every time they sold, new ones would be listed by the same seller–all authentic. The prices started dropping. Even I started picking up the invoices for under $50 and another stock certificate or two at $150, as I recall.
As always, before bidding or buying: Do. Your. Research.
One of my favorite ephemera dealers is Mark Baker of Gold Rush Paper (GoldRushPaper.com), who is well-known among book and paper collectible sellers and enthusiasts. Mark specializes in California material, but he has loads of stuff from other parts of the United States as well—from postal covers, postcards, and letters to billheads, photos, documents, and Civil War items—and I regularly visit his website to browse. I encourage you to check it out!
Here are the replies to a series of questions that I asked the Office of Army Cemeteries at the end of August regarding the return of the remains of students who died at the Carlisle Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. My apologies for taking so long to post this: I received these answers in mid-September. Many thanks to Olivia Van Den Heuvel, public affairs specialist at Arlington National Cemetery, for facilitating this communication.
Northwest Collector: The supplementary information[in the Federal Register of March 3, 2025]*indicates that the disinterments are at the request of family members of the deceased students. Are the family members responsible for taking possession of the remains and reinterring them?
Office of Army Cemeteries: Families and tribes participate throughout the disinterment and return process by making key decisions on where the child will be returned to and permanently buried, as well as conducting cultural ceremonies and prayers, and formatting the final interment headstone. The Army funds the disinterment, transportation, and reinterment of the children.
Q: Can tribes request that remains be returned, or must the requests come from family members?
A: The Office of Army Cemeteries requires a notarized affidavit from the closest known living relative, often identified with tribal input, to comply with Army regulation regarding the disinterment of named remains in an Army cemetery. Determining a child’s closest living relative is at the discretion of the family and tribe. Kinship relations vary greatly across tribal nations and the Army does not dictate how families or tribes make that determination.
Q: How many other students’ remains have been returned so far, and how many graves remain?
A: As of October 2024, the Army has returned 41 children to their families and tribes. The Army is committed to this program and will continue to engage with tribes and families that request the return of their children from the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery.
Prior to this year’s disinterment program, the cemetery contained 135 graves with Native American or Alaskan Native names, 34 graves belonging to military service members and their families, and 19 graves that are reasonably believed to contain the remains of unknown Native American or Alaskan Native children.
Q: Does the Office of Army Cemeteries have a procedure by which it reaches out to tribes to offer the return of remains?
A: The Army conducts robust nationwide in-person consultation with federally recognized tribes and families whose children are buried in the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery.
Q: Do tribes or families ever prefer not to have remains returned or don’t respond, e.g., out of respect for the dead or because the decedent’s family can’t be notified or can’t take possession of the remains?
A: There are a handful of tribes that have requested their loved ones remain in the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery at this time. Out of respect and privacy for those tribes and individuals, we will not provide further details.
The Office of Army Cemeteries stands ready and willing to assist tribes and families requesting the respectful and dignified disinterment of their loved ones from the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery.
Q: Is there anything that the general public can do to help?
A: The Army is grateful to have the support of the public and the tribes throughout this program. We encourage the public to reach out to Dickinson College or Cumberland County Historical Society if they’d like to learn more about the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
“The Army is honored to conduct the Carlisle Barracks Disinterment Program once again,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of Army National Military Cemeteries and the Office of Army Cemeteries. “We are deeply grateful to the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes for their brave commitment to bring their loved ones home.”
Renea Yates, director of the Office of Army Cemeteries, added: “The Office of Army Cemeteries team truly appreciates each of these tribes for the kindness, courage and devotion they’ve shown throughout their journey to bring their children home. We recognize that this is no small undertaking, and we hope that our skilled team can assist in bringing a sense of peace and closure that these families deserve.”
* See “Notice of Intended Disinterment from Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery,” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/03/2025-03357/notice-of-intended-disinterment-from-carlisle-barracks-post-cemetery.
Lydia Gardner (Arapaho), Nannie Little Robe (Cheyenne), and Ethel Black Wolf (Arapaho), circa 1890. Nannie died on Friday, February 15, 1895, age 12. Her cause of death was recorded as pneumonia hydrothorax, or fluid around the lungs.Imagecourtesy of the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
After well over a century, the remains of nineteen Native children and young adults who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, will be disinterred, beginning tomorrow, September 3, and returned to the tribes they came from. One student was from the Seminole tribe; the other eighteen were from the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
The students names are Wallace Perrymanof the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and Belle Cahoe, Wash E. He, Tabitha Carroll, Jane Lumpfoot, Leah Road Traveler, Percy Whitebear, George Harrison, Charles Whiteshield, Matavito Horse, Nannie Little Robe, Dora Morning, Louise Thunder, Giles Hands, Ruben Tanpeds, Henry Morning, William Sammers, Abraham Lincoln, and Elsie Davis from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
This should be national news, yet I’m seeing very sparse recent coverage online. The most recent item I found was in the Carlisle, PA, Sentinel from August 4, 2025.1
I have been reaching out to the Office of Army Cemeteries (OAC) and the tribes involved to learn more about this, so consider this an ongoing story.
Henry Morning (Cheyenne) arrived at Carlisle in 1886. He died on March 28, 1889, age 16, his cause of death unspecified. Photo by John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA. Image courtesy of Cumberland County, PA, Historical Society.
Meanwhile, I searched the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center database for images of the students who died. I found only two whose photos were identified. How heartbreaking is that . . .
According to the National Park Service, at least 168 students dies at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School between its opening in 1879 and its closure in in 1918: “Over ten thousand children attended Carlisle . . . with roughly 1,000 on campus in a given school year. They came from over 142 Indian nations. These nations had many different languages and cultures. Most students were Sioux, Chippewa, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Menominee, and Alaskan Native. Some students graduated in their late teens or early twenties but others left early due to illness or homesickness.”2
The Carlisle Indian School’s approach to educating a student, according to its founder, Captain Richard Henry Pratt, was “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”
Anyway, more to come.
Meanwhile, if you have unidentified images of Carlisle students, you can check the images on the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center database at https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/.
Do you have confirmed images of any of the students named above? Do you own images of Carlisle students that you would like to donate to the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center? If so, please contact Jim Gerencser, associate dean for archives and special collections at Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, at cisproject@dickinson.edu.
Notes
Naomi Creason, “Army to Disinter 19 Carlisle Indian School Students in September,” Sentinel (Carlisle, PA), August 4, 2025 (updated August 19, 2025), accessed September 1, 2025, https://cumberlink.com/news/local/article_f407ca3a-aa0a-4027-84da-b96297defd69.html. ↩︎
“The Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Assimilation with Education after the Indian Wars (Teaching with Historic Places),” National Park Service, accessed September 1, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-carlisle-indian-industrial-school-assimilation-with-education-after-the-indian-wars-teaching-with-historic-places.htm. ↩︎
Book buying the old-school way:Francis Donlin Bedford, illustration for The Story-Teller: A Volume of Original Pictures, Stories, and Verses, edited and arranged by A. J. Fuller (London: E. Nister, 1899).From the British Library Archive.
Having posted two stories titled “How to Deal with Dealers,” parts 1 and 2, I feel I should reiterate: I am not at war with dealers. Everyone has a right to make a profit on their labor and/or knowledge, and collectibles dealers are no exception.
I personally know many fair, square, upfront dealers in a variety of collecting fields and especially among rare book and autograph dealers: there are some real gentlemen (and ladies!) among the bookselling crowd.
What I DON’T like is being dealt with by sniveling, deceitful rare book dealers who play games in order to buy cheap and sell dear: I’d much prefer that they say, as Rick Harrison used to do on Pawn Stars, something like: “Look, I would expect to sell it for $XXX and have to make enough profit to pay my overhead. Therefore, I can offer you half that,” or one-quarter, or whatever. Instead, I’ve had people ask me to send them an item on approval, knowing full well how much I wanted (and misleading me that they intended to purchase at that price), then whine about not being able to pay what I was asking.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: the only difference between some—some—collectibles dealers and fishmongers is the smell—and plenty of fishmongers are a breath of fresh air compared to that minority of unpleasant collectibles dealers.
But I digress . . .
Since books and autographs are my main collecting fields, I thought I’d share a few tips with you on getting the best stuff at the best prices . . .
Never bid in an auction, online or otherwise, without comparison-shopping. For the life of me, I can never understand why two dimwits will get in a bidding war on eBay, driving the price of a signed book up to $200, when the same damn book, signed and in better condition, is available for $150 through a book search website. Yet, it happens all the time. Don’t get caught up in the frenzy: Do your homework first!
For books and autographs, the best site I know of is viaLibri. Why? Because viaLibri includes Abebooks, Alibris, Biblio.com, Amazon, eBay, and 175 other websites internationally. Talk about casting a wide net!
Check dealers’ websites before you buy a book. Some dealers don’t list on the big book search sites. Or the exact same book is priced differently on three different book search sites as well as their own, which may be the cheapest. Or a dealer may post images of the book only on their own site, and when you see what it actually looks like, you may not want it after all. Shop around!
Play with the search parameters. I’m no techie, so don’t ask me why, but searching by title only can yield fruit that searching by author only won’t. Sure, you may have to weed through a lot of listings, but think of yourself as a visitor to an online flea market. That’s where the treasures are to be found.
Got questions about a book? Don’t hesitate to ask. Not every book search site will let you contact a seller directly; if it does, you can save yourself time and angst by confirming a book’s availability and description—especially if it’s a hot item. (I don’t know how many times I’ve “bought” a book, only to be told that it had already been sold and the seller had neglected to remove the listing. Or that a book wasn’t accurately described. See #6.) Many sellers are happy to send scans if you request them.
Beware:The description may be wrong. For example, if a book has a “gift inscription” or “loose signatures” (i.e., the sewn-in pages are coming out), many book search cataloging programs will label these “signed by the author.” They’re not. If the description says, “Warmly inscribed ‘To Captain Ahab, with best wishes from your fishing buddy, Herman Melville,’” that’s a safe bet—apart from the fact that Melville would have signed it “your homeboy, Herman Melville.” Again, when in doubt, ask; otherwise you may be tying up your money in an unwanted purchase and have to return it before you can get reimbursed.
If you ask for a price reduction, be reasonable. To me, buying books is “the start of a beautiful friendship,” to quote Bogie in Casablanca. I like to purchase from people I like, and I hope my purchase will result in some goodwill—and future purchases. However, business is business, and politely asking for a discount with good reason (the operative term) is not out of line. For example, if a book has condition issues or is clearly overpriced because you know the market, those are legitimate reasons to ask for a price cut.
NORTHWEST COLLECTOR’S TIPS FOR REQUESTING A DISCOUNT: (a) Explain why, and don’t BS. Point out the book’s good points—i.e., your reasons for wanting it—but explain why you feel the price might be lowered; many dealers will respect that. Don’t ask for a discount if the book is already very reasonably priced, as your credibility will go right out the window. (b) Be nice about it.Ask if the seller will “consider” (the word I use) selling at a lower price. If not, don’t get huffy: even if the dealer hasn’t a clue to how overpriced he is—or, worse, routinely overprices in order to profit from walk-ins at his shop—ultimately, it’s his right to price the book as he pleases. You’d do much better to say, “Well, thank you anyway. Please keep me in mind if you ever reconsider and decide to come down a little.” You may be pleasantly surprised a year later. (c) Don’t low-ball it.If you decide to throw out a specific price you’d like to pay for the book, be realistic; again, it’s a credibility issue, and a crazy-low price is just not credible. Personally, I wouldn’t ask for more than 20 percent off—25 percent max—and even then I’d expect to meet somewhere in the middle.
If you do get a discount, express your sincere gratitude afterward. As I noted earlier, there are a lot of nice people out there selling books and other collectibles. When someone cuts you a break, return the goodwill by saying thank you and expressing the hope that you’ll do business again soon. Dealers are people, too, and they want to feel good about selling something—ESPECIALLY at a discount. After you make a purchase, get in the habit of sending the dealer a want list, asking that they keep you in mind if and when another item in your collecting area comes up. Again, you’ll be surprised how responsive people can be.
We’re always looking for feedback here at NorthwestCollector.com. Let us know what you think!
When sending images of an item to a prospective buyer (i.e., a dealer) or consignee (an auction house), it helps to photograph it next to a ruler or or standard-size object to give an idea of its dimensions.
After you learn as much as you possibly can about an item you want to sell or consign, the next step is finding a prospective buyer or an auction house that will not just put your treasure on the block but get you a good price for it.
In order to advance to that stage, you need to
Take some really good photos!
The fastest, easiest and cheapest way to get a response from dealers or auctioneers is to send them pictures of the goods. If you don’t have a good digital camera—or if you are like me: really bad at taking photos—then get a friend to help you. If you are able to take high-res images, try to compress them so they’re easy to send by e-mail and you won’t shut down the recipient’s mailbox.
A dealer or consignee will want to know as much as possible about what you are offering. First and foremost, that means its condition: It’s not enough for you to describe something as “in great shape” or “only slightly soiled” or “with only minor wear,” especially if you’re a layman; you have to prove it. There is almost always a specific terminology used to describe each type of collectible—coins, baseball cards and comic books have very clearly defined grading systems—and good photos will do the talking for you. Meanwhile, I note that eBay listings with lousy photos don’t attract as much interest as similar listings in which the photos are crisp and clear. It’s not just that serious collectors are distrustful of muddy, unfocused images (the seller may be trying to hide or gloss over something); people respond better when an item is well presented.
With autographs, currency, ceramics, some vintage newspapers, furniture, artwork—virtually anything of value—authenticity is always in question. Be sure to take close-ups of signatures, seals, stamps and other hallmarks.
Take a bunch of photos—not just one or two—from different angles and distances and showing all the important details, both positive and negative. If there’s any damage, be sure to show it, because it will only mean problems later on if the purchaser or auctioneer receives it and is unpleasantly surprised.
Take the photos in a clean, well-lit place, but take care to avoid glare, especially if you use a flash. Try to do justice to the object’s colors—you don’t want nice, bright hues to look washed-out—and photograph it against a black or white backdrop, whichever will create better contrast. When size is a consideration (isn’t it always?), some people put a common object—a pencil or a coin, for example—next to the object for purposes of comparison. (Or just lay a ruler beside it. Duh.) For larger items, you can just measure it carefully and include the dimensions in your written description.
If your item is handwritten—a signed photo or letter, say—or is printed or has a maker’s mark, be sure to photograph it up close: With autographs, currency, ceramics, some vintage newspapers, furniture, artwork—virtually anything of value—authenticity is always in question. Be sure to take close-ups of signatures, seals, stamps and other hallmarks. Anyone who watches Antiques Roadshow knows that the collectibles market is rife with fakes, forgeries, and adulterated artifacts. Modern editions of antique Japanese ukiyo-e prints have been made using the original woodblocks—it usually takes an expert to spot the difference—and photographs are reprinted as well. Rock posters from the 1960s—which can fetch a lot of bread if they’re really ’60ssurvivors—are frequently pirated, and a premier dealer in boxing memorabilia (a professional authenticator himself) once told me he flat-out refused to trade in Muhammad Ali autograph material because more than 90 percent of what’s being hawked as hand-signed by The Greatest is in fact forged.
Take the photos in a clean, well-lit place, but take care to avoid glare, especially if you use a flash. Try to do justice to the object’s colors—you don’t want nice, bright hues to look washed-out—and photograph it against a black or white backdrop, whichever will create better contrast.
The work of famous furniture makers may be reproduced with or without the intent to deceive—but by the same token your old highboy need not have been made by John Townsend or Thomas Chippendale to be a highly desirable piece: I think one of the reasons people love Leigh and Leslie Keno, the identical twin appraisers on Antiques Roadshow, is their enthusiasm for any piece of great craftsmanship that has served generations of owners well and has been handed down in as close to its original state as possible.
Books, of course, can go through any number of editions, printings, impressions and states. Bibliographies and collector’s checklists can tell you how to identify a book’s state based on, say, a misspelling or piece of broken type on a particular page that was later corrected. If you have gotten that far in your research, be sure to photograph those fine points as well. In fact, with books, you should photograph both front and back covers and the spine; the same parts of the dust jacket (if present) as well as the flaps; any inscriptions and/or bookplates; the title page; the copyright page; and the frontispiece (the picture facing the title page) and several of the illustrations, if there are any. Even the tissue that used to be inserted over engravings to keep them from bleeding into the facing pages—they count too. All of these details will give an expert a clearer idea of what you have to offer.
Speaking of illustrations, consider the case of Mark Twain’s masterwork, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), which Ernest Hemingway and many others have called the greatest novel ever written by an American. Some clown working at the printer’s added a little something to one of the illustrations—actually, he drew a small erection on the character of Silas Phelps—just before the book went to press.
if you still aren’t sure about your item, don’t commit to selling it to the first guy who shares a little of his expertise: if you have something truly unique and valuable, like a ticket on the Titanic, it’s still in his interest to relieve you of it at the lowest price possible.
There are various versions circulating of what happened next. I’ve read that the altered plate made its way into 3,000 copies of the prospectus for the book (i.e., the salesmen’s samples of the incomplete novel), of which some 250 copies got sent out—getting a rise, so to speak, from bookshop proprietors and their pals. The publisher issued a recall; the dirty plate was cut out of the returned copies and the other 2,750 prospectuses not yet sent out; and a new, cleaned-up plate was pasted in.
I’ve also read that 30,000 copies of the first edition were printed and bound with the illustration before anyone spotted the offending member. Talk about Victorian horror! After the alarum (to use the antiquated spelling) was raised and the machinery of book production screeched to a halt, and naughty Uncle Silas had to be cut out copy by copy and replaced with a revised illustration, delaying the book’s release.
Supposedly, no copies of the complete first edition of Huckleberry Finn survive with the picture of an exposed Uncle Silas—and may never have been produced—while one copy of the prospectus is known to exist. (For this reason, the first of the two versions above seems more likely, as any number of people would have seized the chance to pocket one or more unexpurgated copies of the first edition from such a large print run.) Needless to say, if you happen to have either a prospectus or a true first edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in your home library with Uncle Silas in all his glory (small as it was), you are well on your way to owning that Lamborghini you’ve been fantasizing about.
I tell you all this just to give an indication of all the tweaking, cutting, correcting and adjusting that go into preparing for and actually making a bound book: the example of Huckleberry Finn happens to be an off-color one. Knowing something about these distinctions will help you better understand what edition you have as well as its uniqueness and value.
Of course, if you still aren’t sure about your item, photos will help a knowledgeable person identify it. However, as I indicated in part one of this series, don’t commit to selling your item to the first guy who shares a little of his expertise: if you have something truly unique and valuable, like a ticket on the Titanic, it’s still in his interest to relieve you of it at the lowest price possible. An auction house, at least, has a vested interest in getting you top dollar for your collectible if you will consign it to them.
Frans Francken the Younger (1581–1642), Flemish, An Antique Dealer’s Gallery (between 1615 and 1620), Galleria Borghese, Rome. Don’t be that monkey!
The following post focuses on selling to dealers. I’ll preface it by saying that I’ve met some incredibly nice dealers over the years, so please don’t think I’ve got a thing against dealers in general. They are just like other people: some are wonderful people and some are money-grubbing, unscrupulous sociopaths. Both kinds are in the business of making money. The nice ones are more likely to treat you fairly, even if you’re not really sure about the value of what you’re selling. They may even tell you—as Rick Harrison did on Pawn Stars (at least when the cameras were rolling)—what its real value is. Don’t expect that from the sociopaths. If you rely, Blanche DuBois–like, on the kindness of strangers, you may well come away with a more dismal view of humanity. Caveat venditor!
Some time ago a gentleman who read one of my posts e-mailed to tell me to say he had a Union Pacific Railroad poster from 1869 and wondered how to determine its value. On another occasion, a woman contacted me about selling some correspondence between Lady Clementine Churchill (wife of Sir Winston) and Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, whose World War II legacy includes the command of all Allied ground troops on a little mission known as D-Day.
Exciting stuff! I only wish I had the expertise and experience to tell these folks what their collectibles were worth, but at least I could offer them a course of action:
Do. Your. Homework.
If you’d rather be lazy and simply ask a dealer or even another collector what your item is worth—and if you really don’t know them well or have good reason to trust them—beware: you are ripe for fleecing.
I am distrustful of first offers from dealers unless I know how they price their inventory, as it gives me a general idea of their profit margin. If I sound cynical, it comes from experience. No matter how sincere a dealer seems—no matter how “high-class” their shop or website looks—if you have no clue to the value of your item, you run the risk of seriously underselling it.
A high-end autograph dealer I once knew would buy cheaply in a way that, I assume, allowed him to sleep at night: he would ask what you wanted for an item, then hoped you’d be dumb enough (as I was) to undervalue it. What bugged me then—and still does—is that I actually trusted him to truthfully say, “Look, it’s a nice piece, but I need to make a profit. Let me offer you X number of dollars for it, which is a fair price and as good as you’ll get from another dealer.” He didn’t do that. When I offered him an autograph letter written by a certain early photographer of the American West, he played dumb and asked me what price I had in mind. I suggested $200. He jumped at it, then listed it on his website for $1,200, describing letters by this photographer as “shockingly rare.”
Was this unethical? Arguably no. This guy would no doubt say, “Business is business, and I didn’t break any laws or lie to you. You should have researched it.” But I felt taken advantage of.
Make good scans of the item you want to sell and send them to several dealers and auction houses that specialize in that kind of collectible. If it is a unique item—as opposed to, say, a coin or limited-edition plate with a book value—you’ll be surprised at the range of offers you’ll receive.
How do you guard against this? As I told the fellow with the Union Pacific poster: Ask around. Make good scans of the item you want to sell and send them to several dealers and auction houses that specialize in that kind of collectible. If it is a unique item—as opposed to, say, a coin or limited-edition plate with a book value—you’ll be surprised at the range of offers you’ll receive.
Also, there’s a wealth of information online. Google your item and see what comes up. Sometimes you will find the same item or a similar one on a dealer website and can get some idea of an asking price. (But take it with a grain of salt: the item may be overpriced, which is why it hasn’t sold.)
On Antiques Roadshow, the appraisers often talk about “comparables,” the prices at which auction items have sold for. You can check individual auction websites for their hammer prices, or you can cast a wider net—which, of course, is why WorthPoint is such a valuable resource: it’s a tool the professionals use. However, you can also see past sale prices on LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, and some auction houses, like Heritage Auctions. (For all of these you’ll need to start an account.)
Then there’s eBay. No matter what nasty things brick-and-mortar collectibles dealers say—that eBay and other online auction and dealer sites are killing their businesses—most of them buy and/or sell online. If you find a comparable eBay item, it may give you a sense of the price it can fetch, especially if there are bidders. If the item is up for auction, click on the little heart to “watch” and see what it sells for. If it is listed on “Buy It Now” and no one’s purchasing, it may well be because it’s overpriced. (Be sure to take condition into account.) If your item is nowhere to be found on eBay, you may have to watch over a period of months or even years before a similar one is listed. That may give you some idea of its scarcity . . . because, sooner or later, virtually everything comes up on eBay.
Finally, if you have a genuinely rare piece, contact libraries and museums that have similar holdings in their collections. Institutions are not in the business of pricing collectibles, but a curator or researcher may be nice enough to give you some information on it or a lead on who to contact. And while most public and university museums and libraries don’t have the budgets to buy items, especially in lean economic times, private institutions may. Or they may ask you to consider donating your item for a tax write-off. If you are able and willing to do so, I doff my hat to you: scholars can study it and the general public can enjoy it.
