To collect is to desire, to want, the things which one collects, whether it’s bunny figurines or fine art. Therein likes the fun, of course — but too deep a desire, so clouded their judgement, and a collector may find something in their cache that they should not own.

For instance, consider Steven Spielberg. The filmmaker, who directed Indiana Jones’ demand that a stolen Inca artifact belongs in a museum, found himself in Belloq’s shoes when the caretakers of Spielberg’s Norman Rockwell collection found a stolen work in his vaults. Spielberg took the honorable step and notified the FBI, who had been looking for the painting since 2004, immediately upon finding the contraband painting. Spielberg was not the thief, but obtained the art through regular channels that apparently had some ‘loose ends’ somewhere in its history. The painting remains in his collection until proper ownership is sorted out, but he does run the risk of losing the art pending the FBI’s decision.

Museums aren’t immune from similar discoveries — with disputes going back hundreds of years regarding who got what from whom. In his interesting blog, “Illicit Cultural Property,” Derek Fincham explains how hard it can be to identify who really has the right to own a particular work, in this case a statue “made in ancient Greece, stolen by Romans and found in the Adriatic by Italian fishermen 2,000 years later.” 26 disputed artifacts in the Getty Trust archive were returned to Italy, but one, the “Statue of a Victorious Youth,” was not, on the grounds that Italy could not provide a firm enough claim to the statue. Fincham agrees that Italy’s various claims, which must prove historical relevance, quality of care, and archeological importance, were not met in this case. The various cases in Fincham’s blog show, over and over, that you needn’t sneak a statue out of a country under darkness of night to have items reclaimed from your collection. The state’s claim of ownership often supercedes a bill of sale from an antique’s dealer, regardless of the owner’s part in the illegal removal.

Modern artifacts are not immune. A North Dakota State University football player’s front yard was raided by police when it was discovered that he had removed a quartzite state border marker from its original position. in 1891, 720 of these markers were erected to distinguish North from South Dakota, but they fell into disuse and many have been damaged or destroyed. The NDSU student had the respectable intention of donating it to NDSU for display, but the authorities had to follow the letter of the law and impounded the marker. After 18 months in storage the marker was eventually turned over to its rightful owner, the Bureau of Land Management, who then let NDSU file the proper paperwork to allow the marker’s display. Charges against the student, happily, were dropped.

On the other end of the spectrum, Maine State Archivist and other government officials were surprised to see an official, original state filing appear on the Antiques Roadshow. Retired judge Bruce Chandler had an original 1976 affidavit changing James Earl Carter’s name on the presidential ballot to “Jimmy Carter.” Insignificant at the time, the Roadshow appraised the document highly…but the state was more concerned about how an original public record could end up in the hands of a private collector. The answer was simple: a copy was legal to file, so Chandler kept the original in his files, eventually framing it for display. This sort of loophole is the one exploited by dealers in the past, resulting in events like the export of the Victorious Youth, because of the ignorance of historical importance. The loophole will eventually close, but items that ’slipped through’ may remain on the market.
If you want to avoid the legal troubles posed by the same sort of cases above, you should first consider:

1. The Source. Reputable importers and dealers should have documentation showing the legality of their items. Ivory, Cuban products, Native American items, and any number of other restricted or protected items have legal channels, but a buyer has few legal protections if they unknowingly acquire an illegal item.
2. Know what you’re getting. Spielberg’s Rockwell painting was a known stolen painting, and minimal research could have turned up its status years ago. An assumption was made about the Source, and no further research was done. When buying unique or rare items, compare against records of known illegal items to avoid getting stuck in the end.
3. Know your rights. If you are willingly tugging the tiger’s tail and dealing in grey-market items, know what you can and cannot do. The current owner of the Victorious Youth and the owner of the Carter affidavit know their legal rights and are exercising them; it may not always work, like the Youth statue’s ongoing case, but it is far more likely to defend than going in blindfolded.
4. Don’t be blinded by the ‘find’. Being happy that you’ve got the first chance and deep enough pockets to acquire a rare, questionable item shouldn’t cloud your judgement. You may want to risk placing a deposit or a retainer to gurantee a hold on the item, to give yourself time to properly research it before taking ownership. Losing a deposit will be far cheaper than the cost of a lawyer to defend your ownership — even if your case is air-tight, you’ll still have legal fees, and the risk of losing the item and your money may not be worth it in the end.

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Derek and I took an evening drive to check out the local lawn decor. Some people only do this at Christmas time, but really that’s a shame because there’s so much to go “Oooooh,” and “Ahhhha,” over this time of year too. Normally we take walks to do this, but we wanted to get a few of our favorites in for you all to see. So, come on along on our tour of local Fargo lawn decor!

(Just so you know, there’s no pink flamingos here — though you can see some here, if you must — because when it comes to decorating your lawn there is so much more than flamingos.)

Some folks use items to add the charm of days gone by… Like antique ceramic crocks, gently rusting tins and watering cans. Just a few of these larger pieces add a nice touch to your flowerbeds and landscaping.

Other folks take things a few steps further, adding angels, gazing balls, and lots of lawn knick-knacks featuring children. (Well, this is certainly quieter than having this many real children in your yard!)

Some opt for one large piece, like this giant Loch Ness monster. While this lawn is rather small, I believe just one of these sea serpents is enough in any yard. (Though truthfully, it is three pieces…)

Derek’s mom takes a more rustic, naturalist approach. On her front porch she has some wooden carvings, vases and what we call the Hobbit House. It’s a very eclectic look and not easily dupilcated due to her one of a kind pieces.

One local artist we know, Jon Offutt, places his extraordinary glass artworks out in his yard and gardens. The first time I saw this, I was struck speechless. Not only is it unexpected, but the play of light is truly amazing and varies with the time of day. Jon places large bowls, glass flowers and other substantial art glass pieces all about — and we’re not talking about slivers of glass placed in as wings in an iron dragonfly or otherwise used in metal frames; we’re talking about large, magnificent glass pieces which all on their own command attention. Even on a cloudy day these vibrant pieces provide color.

Another unique idea was this use of mirrors. Just an ordinary fence, but add a host of mirrors and you have quite an unusual look. I imagine that when your flowers come up you sure can maximize their colors this way. (You probably get all the color of your neighbor’s flowers without the work too!) We wonder if this isn’t a problem in some areas due to reflection of sunlight blinding motorists… So you likely need to consider which direction your fence faces and how you place and angle your mirrors too. But it sure is pretty!

All of these folks are proof that collecting doesn’t necessarily need to be an all-consuming drive to get the most things or the rarest things. You find a few pieces, add the touches you want to, and you can stop. (Well, you’ll still need to continue to work the lawn care and garden weeding, but the collecting can stop.)

Of course, there’s always someone who takes the lawn decor a bit too far. Like these people:

They have more lawn chotchkes in one place than I have ever seen (outside of those places that sell lawn ornaments, that is). This is one case of not knowing when to stop — especially with the gnomes! It’s more than just lawn ornamentation, more than lawn decor, it’s lawn dementia!

While I’d have problems sleeping at night with all the ‘noise’ on the front lawn, I have to admire their dedication. It sure didn’t take one weekend to get all this stuff. It likely takes more than that to set it up each and every year.

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In May of 2008, one of Marvel’s premiere heroes will find his way to the big screen for the first time. He’s a billionaire industrialist alcoholic named Tony Stark, but that’s not why I love him. I love him because he wears a suit of robot armor, and I’m genetically predisposed to love the bejesus outta anything marginally robotic, and that includes Lucy Lawless and her metal pelvis.

With any movie property based on comics, you can always expect a barrage of merchandise to come surging through the pipelines. Walk into any toy store or Wal-Mart tomorrow and you’ll likely be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Spider-Man 3 toys, notebooks, beach balls, toothpastes and various mystery ointments that have your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man on them. I like Spidey and all, but he’s never made it into my top ten favorite super-beings. I mean, not enough to consume chewable vitamins in the shape of his head kind-of-love. Iron Man is undoubtedly in my top five, and yeah, I’d probably eat anything with his cold, unfeeling face on it.

If my predictions are correct, and I used the latest in Magic 8 ball technology, Iron Mania is poised to consume our nation in 2008… just as soon as Spideyphilia wears off, and the subsequent Fantastic Eu-Four-ia ebbs. While this means a vast array of new action figures from Hasbro, there’s also rumours afoot of Hasbro breaking out the old ToyBiz Marvel Legends molds and re-creating a classic array of past Iron Men. When a movie property is hot, fans will likely dig around in the source material and discover the interesting genesis of the character, and with it, the previously unnoticed products that bear their new favorite character. And as far as Iron Man goes, there’s a pretty fair selection. If I were a speculatin’ man, I’d pick up a few of these things before the general populace encroaches upon our noble nerd kingdom and annexes our Iron Men.

My top Iron Man speculation would be the Sideshow Collectibles Premium Format statue, the prize of my collection. While the exclusive version with the interchangeable Tony Stark head has already reached up to $800 at auction, from an original price of a scant $250, even the regular version has doubled in price, and this is without Iron Mania sweeping the nation. Speculating on any of Sideshow’s exclusive items is usually a very safe bet for a large profit, though. But you didn’t hear it from me. I just buy one of each for myself. If you seek a slightly smaller investment, Sideshow’s Legendary Scale Iron Man bust seems to also be a fair bet. The exclusive version comes with a sculpted Iron Man placard, designed to be placed in front of this bust or your entire Iron Man collection.

What I’m most excited about is a beautiful sextet of Iron Man busts coming from Bowen designs, and not just because it has the word ‘sex’ in it. You might be thinking - ‘Why do you need six Iron Man busts, you crazy, sad little man?’ Because Iron Man, like David Bowie, is a chameleon, constantly changing appearance to suit his various ends and fight his myriad enemies. And melodies.

The series of busts explores the evolution of Iron Man from his classic red & yellow costume, his dark blue Stealth duds, the horn-head armor, his Silver Centurion armor, the most recent comic armor designed by Adi Granov, and even the rarely-seen Iron Man 2020 armor, which first appeared in Jack Kirby’s Machine Man #2. That’s six beautiful armors, though it excludes IM’s first appearance armor, his modular armor, the Ultimate universe armor, and the armors that he wore while battling Thor and Hulk - all of which were cool enough to be used for various Marvel Legends action figures. They come in packs of three for roughly $100 per set, and are a thrill to this long-time Iron Man fan. Even if he’s kind of a jerk now. These are scheduled to ship in the third quarter, which is the July to September range on the retail calendar. Drop by Alter Ego Comics, my favorite online retailer, to pre-order them.

The Marvel movies will be out in force for the next few years, with the second Hulk movie also coming along (and starring Ed Norton as the Hulk, and not that creepy Eric Bana guy), and Sub-Mariner in pre-production…. but no one’s gonna care about Namor. No one has ever cared about Namor. He’s a Spock-lookin’ guy with wings on his feet, despite the fact that he lives underwater. You don’t see me showing off my GILLS, Namor. Get over it. The point is that the Iron Man movie is coming…

And it had better be good. If not, I’ll still get a vast array of Iron Man toys to play with and make my own movie. Hand-puppets are severely underrated.

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As my wifey discussed yesterday, there’s a heck of a lot of postcards out there. People, places, pets, and events, somebody’s turned it into a means of communication, and some of the rarest are D’s favorites - real-photo postcards.

Early in the days of general-public photography, ingenious photopaper suppliers started to offer specialized papers, designed within the specifications of postcard size, with a pre-printed postcard back. Using a regular enlarger and developing process, anyone could turn a photograph into a postcard, and customized cameras and processing equipment made them even simpler. Prior to 1907, the process was a bit limited because postal regulations made senders write their message on the ‘photo’ side of the card, which limited the size of the photo that could be used, and the emulsion side was difficult to write on. A change in the postal rules in 1907 created the postcard we know and love today: 5″ x 3-1/2″, full-frame picture on one side, and the other split 50/50, message and address. With this change, regular photopaper could be sent to the printer and pre-postcarded for easy use.

The quick-and-dirty postcard creation bred a cottage industry of amateur photographers producing scads of postcards for their customers. The owner of a general store could run off a dozen photos of Main Street Podunkville, taken from his store’s front porch, to sell to tourists. Professional photographers could not only produce a nice family photo, but also sell their customers something to drop in the mail to Grandma back in the city. In no time at all, a picture of a parade of picnic could be cruising along in a mailpouch on the floor of a boxcar. Photography expanded from something framed and on the wall to something shared, complete with a caption on the left half of the back.

Identifying a Real-Photo Postcard

Just because a postcard started as a photo doesn’t mean it was developed on postcard-backed photopaper. The most accurate way to tell if a postcard is a real photo is to get out your magnifying glass:

Even modern printing processes have trouble with photographic details; enlarging a photo from a negative doesn’t have the same drawbacks. When you look at a picture closely, you’ll see a pattern of dots in an image produced by a printing press; photos will have a smooth gradient at any magnification.

What Can Be Found In Real Photo Poscards?

Pretty much everything. The subject matter was limited only by what can fit in front of a camera’s lens, and that didn’t leave much out. Some of the most common photo postcards are wither views of buildings and towns, or personal photos of friends and family. The latter can be the most interesting, but the former are often the more valuable. As people try to document their towns or collect memories of their hometown, they will be on the lookout for anything unique that they haven’t seen before. Because real-photo postcards could be as rare as a series of one, they are in high demand. While a small Minnesota resort town may not warrant a professional photographer and a print-run of ten thousand postcards, producing a few dozen using a standard enlarger, a negative taken by the nearest person with a steady arm, and a box of postcard photographic paper was the easiest option. The early years of many small towns were documented this way, and their pictures were sent to the farthest-flung corners that a postman could get to. Real-Photo postcards were printed using older negatives, resulting in historical postcards, but a successful photo may have encouraged an entrepeneur to order up some high-quality cards:

The black-and-white overlay is a real-photo postcard from the 1920s; the color is a professionally printed postcard from a few years later. I don’t know if the other 5 cards from the original photo-set were also converted to color postcards, but when I saw this pair it obviously caught my eye as a rarity.

More To Photo Postcards Than The Picture

The back of the photo postcard can both give clues to its origin, and give an idea of timeframe for the photo. Generally, most producers of the photosensitive postcard paper identified themselves in the stamp-box. Playle’s Auctions has an excellent reference of stamp-box photo postcard manufacturers. Many collectors focus specifically on real photo cards, and it has even spawned a coffee table book of the finer examples. Real Photo postcards are also available in such quantities and demand that eBay has given them their own category. The best place to start looking is, of course, your local antique shops. Invariably, some seller has a box of disorganized postcards that should give you an excellent start at identifying and getting a good look at real photo postcards.

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In considering the limited space we have in our house (two adult collectors and children we are grooming for such activities), I’m reconsidering something I’ve not previously given much thought to personally before: Postcards.

In general I’m a paper (ephemera) lover, but postcards, with their expected size and their relatively common themes never appealed much to me before. Sure, I have saved a few antique photograph portrait postcards because I must adopt these orphans, and I’ve coveted some rather rare risqué postcards — but price kept those safely out of reach. But honestly, I didn’t collect postcards. Until now.

Hubby may say that he’s finally won me over to his love of postcards, but I’m falling in love with postcards for more practical reasons — their size and versatility.

Their small size means I can (too) easily rationalize starting another collection because even with a hundred of them, I am only adding another book to my (already overflowing) shelves. And it’s easy to do because postcards cover unlimited categories.

Collect vintage lingerie? Bam! There are postcards with those images. Holidays? Those too.

Feline fancier? Here you go, plenty of cute kittens and cats. Or maybe you’re a dog person? No problem. There are postcards of dogs and puppies, puppies with kittens — even postcards featuring dogs and lingerie. (There may even be postcards with dogs wearing lingerie; I didn’t look.)

Collect local history? Want to collect antique cars, but have limited funds and space? Interested in say, the history of nursing? With postcards, it’s done, done and done.

When at auctions or estate sales, don’t hesitate to ask if you can get a bulk discount. Offer to buy all the cards for one lower-per-card price and even if you have postcards in poor condition, in areas you are not interested in, or even duplicates, that’s OK. You can re-sell or trade those with another collector. (And if they are really damaged, even folks who create altered art may be interested!)

You can’t go wrong with a box of old postcards.

Even those with more modern interests can find postcards to interest them.

There are postcards for film, music, books, television, radio; for action figures and toys; postcards for consumers and trade postcards; even postcards for postcards.

Hubby recently grabbed me this postcard from OfficeMax because I love the ‘Rubberband Man,’ Eddie Steeples, who is now “Crab Man” on My Name Is Earl. (That could be worth something someday!)

In fact, postcards are likely in your mailbox right now. (Go look. I’ll wait.)

Once you start looking at all the possibilities on the small 5 x 3.5 (or a tad larger) inches, you suddenly see that’s a lot of real estate there… Even if it takes up a small amount of room.

Storing postcards is easy. Simply get some binders, some postcard pages or sleeves to protect them, and not only do you have a nifty collection but one you can both easily store and show off without risking damages (even with the little fingers of children).

Boxes & binders also make for easy organization if you end up with more than one theme. And this is one collection you won’t need to dust.

For more on postcards:

History of Postcards

Glossary of Postcard Terms

Postcrossing, The Postcard Crossing Exchange

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