Back in the early 90′s when I was a regular dealer on the Long Island baseball card show scene I’d see the same faces week to week. Sometimes I’d see the same faces multiple times per week. I had my favorites and then there were those I’d hope passed my table by.

One of my favorite faces, earning that title as a regular paying customer, of course, was a gentleman with whom my conversation typically never went beyond my naming my price and telling him thank you after he handed me the money. No, he wasn’t a favorite simply because he was regularly paying me. Despite the lack of any conversation he was quite the personality.

He was a little fellow, a bit past middle-age, unlike many who made their weekend ventures a father-son bonding session, he was always alone. I suspect he went home to an empty house as well, but that’s just my own projection. For all I know he was Mr. Personality off the card show floor, though I doubt it.

What especially interested me about this quiet shopper was the little notebook he always carried. It contained his lists. He hovered over my boxes of cards sorting through 1950′s and 60′s Topps commons for hours on end looking for those last few numbers he needed to complete his baseball card sets. When he’d find something he’d make a small mark in his book, a mark I always assumed would be emboldened upon his arriving home to mix his new found treasures into his existing collection.

More then a decade earlier when I’d collected my first baseball card set, 1979 Topps, I recall a weekend Summer afternoon spent on the back porch with my father sorting through my stacks of cards. Youth rendered condition irrelevant and so Dad carefully marked off the ’79 Topps pink checklists with a super sharp pencil tip just like he’d done decades before with his own favorite sets, the 1956 and ’59 Topps issues.

On the weekends Dad would work the card shows with me he slowly but surely put those 1950′s sets back together. This time he didn’t mark the checklists, the 56′s went for a couple hundred bucks each at the time, but he crossed the card numbers off his own list handwritten on a pad of paper.

As a full time dealer today I don’t really collect cards in the physical sense anymore. Everything that comes in is meant to be moved out. Most of my best baseball cards are long gone, though I still have my original box of ’79′s, the ones with the scuffs, creases and marked checklists. Today I specialize in early movie trading and tobacco cards as well as other ephemeral issues relating to classic film stars.

I collect them online today. I show the sets off, piece by piece. When I was a kid I sorted my baseball cards by set. If I got bored I’d sort them again by team. I’d sit in front of a ballgame on TV and spread out that day’s lineups in front of me on the carpet and play out the game on a sort of virtual, or at least ephemeral, scorecard. I’d sort the singles and doubles and my favorites from the scrubs. Then I’d put them back in numbered order.

Today, even after something has sold, I sort my movie images online by set. I add a tag and sort them by star. Another tag can group together casts of classic movies. I turn these galleries into web pages and I sort them alphabetically on pages headed by star, film, or set. The possibilities seem endless. Even seeming random disorder brings an order of sorts as I group together a seemingly unrelated group of film stars who shared only their profession and a date of birth.

There’s a mania to collecting. Any item which is truly collected comes with potential for sorting and ordering, though trading cards seem to cry out for some sort of shuffling. After all, a collection is comprised of more than one and when there’s more than one, something has to come first.

The pieces we choose to acquire for our collections make a statement about who we are, but the further sorting and ordering of those pieces add a taste of how we are.

Article by

Cliff Aliperti
Immortal Ephemera

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You want to write, you have to write, and you want to inform and shower others with your brilliance…

Here’s your chance to do so, by becoming a regular contributor to Fine Estate Sales Super Blog of the Informed…

We are looking for you:

1. If you have writing experience.
2. Have some sort of vintage, antiques, or collectibles expertise.
3. Want to inform or educate others.

Let me make the benefits of writing and contributing to this site very obvious:

It’s about the Traffic – the people who want to know about you will find you here, and once they do, because of links contained in your articles and contributors page – these people will finally find you on the net. You’ll do more business, gain greater prestige, and be able to cite writers credits…

A lot of sites that have contributors, either don’t offer link backs at all, or they make it so difficult, most writers think “Why Bother?”

Not so with our site, we believe in reciprocity…

Here are the subjects we are wanting writers for.

Costume or Fine Vintage Jewelry, Taxco, Vintage Clothing, Sterling Silver, Arts and Crafts, Art Pottery, Vintage Watches, Mid Century, Antique Furniture, The Whole Paris Apartment Community, Shabby Chic, Old Posters, Fine Art, Outsider Art, Mantiques, Cottage Antiques and so on…

Let Us Know If You Are Interested…send an email to: martin at finesf.com

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I just finished reading Jon Sutter’s post titled, “Contemporary Craft: Non-Functional or Dysfunctional?”, and I was immediately set to pondering. In his brief essay, he discusses the all but dead state of craft in our society. He notes, “The California Academy of Craft” dropping the “Craft” from their title, and the “American Craft Museum’s” complete name change to “Museum of Art and Design,” as examples of craft’s death. What happened? How did craft get a bad rap? When did the term “Fine craftsmanship” get replaced by “superior design?”

Sutter argues that “…Aesthetic choices in art are wholly suffused with the economic circumstances of life.” This truth is easy to explain. “Craft” defined as objects made by hand, blood and sweat, cannot easily compete with those that are mass produced and cost effective. An exquisite dress hand sewn with love cannot compete with a major clothier producing similar items. A gorgeous hand detailed picture book is unlikely to be sold at Taschen’s prices. Production is what makes or breaks the crafter. What we desire most of all, the elegantly hand touched details, are what we can not afford.

What I make is rarely for sale. Craft for me is a creative way to spice up my house, wardrobe, bookshelves, and day to day life. So for me this discussion has been (gratefully) an engagement in intellect and emotion rather than pocketbook. Thank You

Hello my name is Katherine Codina and one of my deepest passions is the art of craft.

Crafting as I see it incorporates a myriad of artists, from the scrapbooker, outsider artist, candle maker, knitter, designer, and cook.

There is no high brow nor low brow, just earnest creation.

A Crafter is an alchemist who transforms their nostalgia, passion and intellect into form.

My post on this blog will be a testament to the many artforms of crafting that fill me with glee.

Estate Sale Writer Wanted:

Do you go to estate sales in the L.A. Area? Do you shop them? Are you a dealer – an insider – have some experience writing?

My name is Martin Codina and I have just started a Los Angeles Estate Liquidation blog, and I am looking for writers to add relevant estate liquidation content to the site.

This isn’t a big job – although it is an interesting one.

Here is what I am looking for.

1. Short concise articles of 3 – 7 paragraphs length.
2. Tips about the Los Angeles estate sales scene.
3. How being a collector or dealer has affected your life or the lives of others.

These short articles would become the property of Fine Estate Liquidation under a works for hire agreement.

Please send me a sample of your work and a brief description of your experience.