Quote:
Originally Posted by crankcase
1. Buy mainly for own pleasure, not investment
2. Avoid autographs, unless provenance is undisputed
3. Part of the fun is discovery, so spend time in out-of-the-way shops and places, where you might come across a surprise (one advantage of our hobby being so obscure, people don't generally demand such postcards)
good luck,
marc
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Marc - Thank you and these are the same things I do with other postcards and things I collect. So, follow those basic instincts seems to be great and thank you for confirming that.
Regarding No. 3, and in two different ways, this is SO TRUE. I have a signed Curtis LeMay biography that was in a favorite bookstore haunt. The owner and my wife and I became good friends, but he had a nasty habit of putting things on his shelf unmarked and we found those things like a magnet. Well, i was in the USAF, and saw LeMay on the spine...pulled it out and here was a signed copy. I asked the owner, Chuck, hey how much for this one, not marked...he looked it over saw the signature, laughed and said, ok you got me $20! Now that was 20 years ago, and we ate mac and cheese for a few days...but it's a dang great find.
The second one is a map from 1640 of Hesse, Germany that I found in an out of the way shop in Den Haag, Netherlands. Similar story, I fell in love with it, the shop owner said oh that say $50. SURE - then when I brought it up, not marked, he blanched. I said, is there a problem. Sir, I am sorry, this is a map worth substantially more than what I told you, I am really sorry. Oh, Ok, understand, let me go back and look in the sleeves again. The guy shook his head, then said, no Sir, you loved it, why? My family is from this village here on the map and I have visited it often. Well, then it's yours. It's a prize in our house!
Thanks again for the confirming advice, Marc. Much appreciated and sorry for the lengthy tangent.