Let me say this again : I’m a big Batman fan. It’s a pretty easy thing to be a fan of. I feel like it’s just become a part of my everyday life at this point - wake up, be a Batman fan, eat, sleep. I’m relatively subtle about it, though, and only introduce this fact after my acquaintances know that I’m a pretty decent, well-adjusted human being and that my admiration of a superhero doesn’t preclude normal social functions, as it sometimes might.

I collect Batman stuff, and until recently, I only collected official, quality, brand name Batman. I skip lots of things, like the movie action figures and things that I don’t feel fit into the Batman ideas that I have. Recently, I’ve purchased Chip Kidd’s ‘Bat-Manga’, a collection of 1960 Japanese Batman comics, and traded for an original Batman drawing from an artist friend. A few weeks ago, I broke my own collecting code, and it’s all because of a completely random find on eBay. I wasn’t looking for Batman - and even if I was, the item wouldn’t have come up, because it wasn’t ‘Batman’. It was Batdude.

What I’d found was a 12” action figure that someone had very carefully and meticulously dressed up as a customized Batman. It wasn’t completely professional, and certainly a little goofy, and the costume colors weren’t technically correct, but I immediately knew that this once could have been a more than suitable Batman for some kid to tear around the dining room with, fighting crime, large pets and houseplants which were surely turned evil by Poison Ivy. With a few minutes left in the auction, and less than $12 out of pocket, I had won my vintage Batdude.

Because this wasn’t an official Batman toy, and Time / Warner is very protective over their copyrights, eBay had actually pulled the auction during its first go-round, as the seller had listed the item as ‘Batman’. The second attempt at a listing used the ‘Batdude’ moniker, which made it seem even more appropriate for the slightly awkward figure.

The auction included a 12” vintage Mike Power action figure with loose joints, dressed up in a much more recent Captain Action outfit with the original bat-logo mounted on the front. The maker also created a bat grappling hook at the end of a long stretch of string, and a Batarang of sorts, both cut out of hard plastic - one of them being a hang-tab from some old package of something-or-other. Also included was a delicately sewn vinyl cowl with giant ears and a snap. At one point, the cowl had a cape attached to it, but it had fallen off from years of use, so that also had a modern replacement. The package also included the original black vinyl Batman suit that originally adorned the figure, which was far too delicate to re-dress the figure in. Impressions were left where the original bat-logo had fallen off, and where some color of shorts had been attached.

It’s difficult to date when the suit was made, as it’s no longer on the original figure and the suit itself has no markings, but the shape of the Bat-logo places it somewhere in the early 60s, as the familiar ‘yellow ellipse’ Batman logo was introduced in 1964, and probably took a while to catch on, and was used fairly consistently until the early 1990s. The Adam West Batman TV show kicked off in 1966, so Batman’s popularity was also rising.

Apparently, the seller that I had bought this from had also previously bought The Batdude off of eBay from a lot of toys which had been customized by a costume designer. The rest of the info has been lost to time, as everything previous to my purchase was handled by a third party.

I don’t consider this an ‘action figure’ as much as I consider it a piece of art. Before I saw it posed in any figural display, I saw it rappelling down the wall of Batman paintings and drawings that I’ve been collecting. Someone’s mom made them this, they loved it to pieces, and now, I think it’s found an honored place in my gallery as one of my favorite, completely unique Batman things.

Some of my collections are self dated, books with print or publish dates, magazines with the year and month and post cards with stamped cancel dates. Other items are dated by design elements by era - deco style, arts and crafts, Victorian, post war modern, depression glass.

Glassware, pottery, jewelry, paintings and other art forms evolve over time with avant garde today, passe tomorrow, but adding to the date-ability. Post card styles and processes become easily identifiable after studying dated examples.

Price guides {found at brick and mortar and on line stores} help to date items with time lines of the maker’s mark used. Country names change, Germany, Western Germany, West Germany and back to Germany. Occupied Japan is a favorite labeling for many figurine collectors, used from the end of the war until 1952, Nippon is older than Made in Japan.

Let’s look at other clues for age recognition that will help date lots of vintage items. First off, many items of a mechanical nature were stamped, printed or had a patent date or number cast onto the product. US patent #1 was issued in 1836 to protect the inventor from copycat product. By 1911 one million patents were issued. The two million mark was reached in 1935 and it only took till 1961 to pass three million. Design patents started in 1843 with D1.

Photographs in my collection are easy to date, many just by the dress of the subject, items or places in the background. Here I also have a Web site to help. Classy Image

Packaging, which adds greatly to the value of many products and often is a collectible unto itself, may also provide dating clues. The name of a manufacturer can be traced to a set time line, and the address is also helpful. In 1943 a two digit postal code was added to addresses in larger cities, (for example, Milwaukee 10 Wis.) and in 1963 Postmaster General John Gronouski promoted the five digit ZIP code at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland. The Zip + 4 was introduced in 1983.

The next addition to package dating is the UPC code, now found on everything from pencils to railroad cars. First patented in 1952 the product code was a circular pattern of  concentric circles of varying widths created by Bernard Silver and fellow college student Joe Woodland, at Drexel Institute, from a request by a grocery store owner looking for a quick price recognition system at the check out counter. The first commercial use didn’t occur till 1966 with the first bar code scan of a package of Wrigley Gum. It became an industry standard in 1973.

The traditional abbreviations {Wis., ILL. Conn.}, were amended to a two letter system by the US postal Service in 1987.

Phone numbers from small towns advertising items I have sold (Drug Store Labels) had one or two digit phone numbers. In larger cities a telephone exchange location would be named and the first two letters acted as the Alpha prefix followed by four and later five numbers. (MI tichell 1000). New York had used the two alpha - five digit dialing system starting in the 1930, with others adapting to five numbers in 1950. Most but not all phone systems adapted the number only dial system with some merchants continuing to prefix the five numbers with the older letters in their advertising well into the 1970s.

Some items are best left to an appraisal expert if you’re not sure of an item’s age or can’t confirm its provenance. Furniture styles are reintroduced as demand for a style is revived. Paintings need an expert to confirm age and authenticity.

And with all collections, new or old, it’s the hunting for and the display of, your trophy items that makes collecting fun.

When I find a really good antique store or mall on our travels, I enjoy sharing these finds with all of our collectors. Our recent antique hunting travels have been to 11 states and last year to England. If you have followed some of our adventures I had presented on these e-pages, you may know I have a pattern of showcasing stores or malls that meet certain criteria.

Our plan for the coming year includes hunting adventures to some of our favorite haunts within a day trip from home, and hopefully taking several days to travel to some we have not ventured into. And that’s where I’m asking for your help, to give me some ideas on where to find the best places you have found on your own travels or in your own area.

I’d like to go through Indiana east to Ohio, visit the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland, then shop for collectibles on the return trip back to Wisconsin, stopping at the Heart of Ohio Mall, and maybe getting down to Louisville. Another thought included the North Eastern states, since it’s been far too long since we combined antique hunting and lobster eating. And naturally Florida is our normal fall trip.

The type of store or mall we look for need not be on the beaten path, just off a freeway. Those locations are usually found with billboards near an exit, but please include them in your replies if you find them to be a worthwhile stop.

To meet my criteria the place must have a good mix of antiques and collectibles. Staff in good stores are attentive, friendly and helpful, readily opening cases and pointing to like items that may interest us. Booths should be clean and clutter free. Stock rotated so that price tags are not faded to the point wjere it’s not readable. Management should limit items to a certain age or if a mall has newer decorative collectibles or reproductions they should be identified as such and taking a minimum of total space, in separate booths.

Recently we made a visit into Northern Illinois, I had some business in Rockford for my real job and dropped Wifey at the newly reopened “Antiques On East State” (5411 E. State, 815-229-4004) just west of I-90 at State Street exit. This mall and its sister store had closed a while back and had been a favorite for many years attracting customers from great distances. We’re glad to see this one reopen.

After my business meeting and a quick lunch,we headed to another of our favorites, a location we first visited a few years ago and have been back to many times. Wifey said I had not mentioned this location, and wondered if I was trying to keep it as my secret.

The Roscoe Antique Mall located in South Beloit, Illinois is just south of the Wisconsin border, on State Hwy. 75 west of I-90 Exit #1.

We were warmly greeted by owner Gaylene, pictured on the left with staffers Jerry and Bert, at the checkout counter. They helped us find some interesting items, opening locked cases to closely inspect pieces of interest. And boy were they kept busy as we both found so many great treasures.  Of course we can’t buy everything we see, but it’s educational inspecting antiques and understanding their value in today’s market.

The whole mall meets the requirement for our “A” list, and let me just point out some special booths that caught my interest. Kitsch was the theme in this booth, and while not in our current decorating scheme, I like the look. Antique hanging lamps featured near the check-out area. A Masonic goat used in initiation Ceremonies, everyone needs one of these, sits near the checkout counter in an area of many interesting finds.  And other antiques oddities included dental equipment. But that’s what you expect to see in a 20,000 square foot mall with over 100 dealers, with management that only allows items that predate the 1970s, to insure fine items for every collector, every taste, every décor or for the investor looking for a safe investment.

Now I must show you this three chair antique, from a fraternal group and my favorite place to sit while hearing the amount of Wifie’s purchases.

Vintage Ford Service Station, Lenexa Garage, Courtesy Johnson County Museum

Meeting In The Middle, the 2008 annual conference for both the Mountain-Plains Museums Association & the Association of Midwest Museums, was held last week. One of the Wednesday sessions that I attended was Create Access To Your Collections — Digitizing Collaboratively, which was all about the process of creating JoCoHistory.net, a collaborative project of the Johnson County Museum, Johnson County Library, Johnson County Archives, and Olathe Public Library to provide greater access to historical materials related to Johnson County, Kansas.

Now, before you non-technical &/or non-Kansas folks let your eyes glaze over or begin to reach for that ‘back’ button on your browser, let me tell you this is one fascinating project for collectors.

1979 Halloween Party Photo, Courtesy of Johnson County Museum

And just plain fun for those of us who just love looking at old photos.

Sure it’s focused on one county in Kansas, but as far as online databases go, it’s so much more than that. With this easy to use site, even if you aren’t a collector of Kansas, you certainly can find images and information on rather any historical collection you have. Along with search options, there are easily understood categories (people, places, groups, etc.) & collections (by museum, society etc.), all cross referenced with a timeline.

Along with providing greater access to old photographs, valuable ephemera, & historical information (and preserving those fragile photos & paper), JoCoHistory.net makes connections that might otherwise have been missed.

Antique Photo Postcard, Children Riding Ostrich, Courtesy Johnson County Museum

In schools, for example, teachers are finding the resources to make the connections between the national or ‘big picture’ history lessons and the local stories, heroes and events — including finding places for field trips & tours.

And students can get help with with their homework! No, they won’t be given cheat-sheets or the answers, but they will be assisted in where & how to find the answers. Local biographies, something largely missed in school texts, standard history books and even on the Internet, are luring students into pursuing more individual research. Students of all ages are becoming interested in history! And JoCoHistory is quickly discovering that interest in the site isn’t only local — parents & kids from other locations around the US are contacting the site for help in making the connections to their own locations.

OK, call me a history nerd, but how thrilling is that?

But wait, there’s more! Like the Ginsu knives, JoCoHistory offers much more for collectors and amateur historians.

• It’s all easy to use, with the candy (images) right there for sweet instant gratification. That’s so important for me; when researching I often prefer to scan photos to see if a database really has what I am looking for.
• You can get prints of the photos &/or higher quality scans of the images to print yourself. With each listing you’ll get information on Owner, Ordering Information, Resource Identifier, & Photo Use and Limitations — complete with links for easy access.
• Research tools for further help.

Retro Smaks Drive In Sign, Photo Courtesy Johnson County Museum

Perhaps the coolest feature is the History Mystery section, where JoCoHistory features images they’d like help with. If you can identify something or someone in the image shown, you can easily send in your information. What’s more, this feature is active on all images on the site simply by clicking the link by Feedback. David LaCrone, Digital Content Manager for the Johnson Country Library, says they’ve received 522 comments since the site began two years ago, with tips coming from folks scattered across the globe.

Feedback and comments on items in the database are verified before any information in the official record is changed; if it cannot be substantiated, comments are saved and included as Public Comments only. Hey, these are museums, historical archives & other organizations dedicated to factual details — that’s why we trust them. But these comments are always interesting, varying from the completely informational to the sublime “This is not so-and-so; I know, because I am so-and-so” and the “How great to see family photos; ours were lost to Katrina.”

Vintage Fashion Show, Pember Co. Department Store, Courtesty Olathe Public Library

At the beginning the site had 15,000 images and now it has over 28,000. They’ve learned that the more images and information they upload to the site, the more popular the site gets — and that’s something they intend to exploit. Along with increasing the number of images uploaded, and the number of collaborative partners from other historical societies, museums and organizations (each with their own unique collection of images), JoCoHistory will also be adding other objects — artifacts of the 3D variety in photographic form — as well as audio files to the database. Too cool.

Many other organizations could should take note of all that JoCoHistory has done; it sure would make my life much easier. (When I spend hours at JoCoHistory, it’s because I’m delighted and interested, not frustrated.)

Note: The site is just two years old, yet they will be updating their site by early 2009, including (if it’s possible) an even more intuitive design and a blog. I saw a brief preview and was impressed. So bookmark the main page of JoCoHistory now, kids; the other pages linked to here could change and you won’t want to miss anything.

Collecting is a hobby in which the thrill of the hunt is hoped to be rewarded with a trophy, for the wall or otherwise. But unlike big game hunters, we don’t always have a trail to follow — or even know what it is we are looking for. We simply stumble out of (or into) the brush, hoping “it” will be there, and that we will be clever enough, lucky enough, to be able to take it home.

Even when we have a list (and remember to carry it on our person so that the usual trip to the grocery store becomes a serendipitous stop at a yard sale), we may not be any further ahead in getting volumes of The Story Of Civilization. In fact, I personally think carrying that slip of paper (or even retaining the volume numbers) puts a jinx on the whole thing.

Toss out that slip, dismiss the numbers from your mind, and guess what you’ll find at the next sale — that’s right, 3 or 4 random volumes in the series. Then, of course, you have to sweat out not only the conditions of the books, if the price is fair or not, but if any of the volumes are the ones you need. If the price is right you can always sell the doubles (upgrading copies, if possible) easily enough later — you’ll just have to consider the sardonically raised brow of your spouse as part of the price of adding to (or trying to add to) your collection.

You see, The Story of Civilization series by Will (and Ariel) Durant is one of my great collecting passions. It’s not only the classic story of a collector on the hunt, but connects to many other issues in collecting.

Years ago, nearly two decades ago, I ran into the entire set of books — first editions in glorious conditions — at a used bookstore. I coveted those books, daring to touch them tenderly, but was unable to pay the $150 asking price. That wasn’t only, as hubby and I say, “A lot of money back now,” but nearly inconceivable to a twenty-something single parent — it was like the kind of money to buy a house or something! But for months I would window shop the books, wistfully (stalkerishly) checking to see if they were still there… Until one day there weren’t.

Ever since I’ve slowly been collecting the volumes, one at time, three at a time, until now, today, I have seven of the eleven. (I am in need of volumes I, III, VII, XI — and V really should be upgraded as the dust jacket is faded.)

At times I’ve wondered if I’d have been better off paying the $150. Not that I had it, mind you. But I wonder if I’ll ever get close to an entire set, and such lovely copies… But then I remind myself that I am, in fact, ahead of the game.

At $150 for all eleven books, I’m way ahead financially; I’ve never paid more than $6 per book. And I’m ahead in other ways — like the thrill of hoping every time I head out hunting that today is the day. But if I look for them, or remember the volume numbers, I won’t find them. I must stumble into them, discover them by accident.

I think that’s how most collectors, at least of vintage items, feel. We head out each time hoping, but not knowing; almost afraid to think too much about what we desire for fear that jinxes our mission, but quietly searching for a glimpse of them just the same. Like those hallucinatory pink elephants, they are always around us, talking to us…

So we head out excited to discover just whatever it is that we will find that day. Even if that day happens to be more used baby clothes and sports equipment than we care to look at. For somewhere, in a box hidden beneath that table of worn toddler outfits, there just might be what we’ve been looking for.

It could be the missing volumes in The Story of Civilization. Or it could be some new thing to discover.

This weekend I did not find any affordable copies of Will Durant’s books, but I did find this pink elephant.

A huge vintage pink elephant, nine inches tall.

We were already at the check out counter with arm loads of other goodies when we spotted him. He was “behind the counter expensive”, if you get my meaning; but still too impressive to ignore. So I had the clerk stop ringing up our sale and bring him over to look at.

He’s the Jolly Jumbo Elephant Squeeze-Me Toy with Movable Head, by The Sun Rubber Company, dated 1961. He was once, according to the original packaging, safe & sanitary; but now, older than me & found a thrift store, he’s likely a bit too-used to be called either.

I don’t know much about The Sun Rubber Company (other than they were in Barberton, Ohio, from 1923 to 1974 and made rubber toys and dolls). And I don’t collect elephants (yet). But something about his cute face, unusually large size, and glass roller-ball feet, made him special & spiffy enough to take home.

Temporarily.

You see, I can’t keep everything I find. So I’ll be selling this pink elephant.

While many find the practice of an antiques and collectibles dealer abhorrent, I find dealers to be as kind to old things as an animal rescue worker is to animals — we recognize something worthy of salvaging, and we take care of it until the right owner comes along. We dealers see the “pink elephants” that haunt the hunts of collectors, and we keep them safe until the obsessed right collector comes along.

Sure, I make some money dealing in the pink elephants of others; but then those profits fund pink elephant hunts of my own.

So maybe this literal pink elephant will finance my figurative pink elephant and I’ll finally be able to afford the complete set of The Story Of Civilization. Should I be lucky to stumble into them in the brush…

Maybe, somewhere, right now, a dealer has set aside those books just for me. And once I buy them, that dealer will be off in pursuit of his or her own pink elephant.

Once that dealer and I each find our pink elephants, we’ll be off hunting for other elusive objects — new (to us) pink elephants. And as we hunt, we’ll spot the pink elephants of others… Each pink elephant holding another pink elephant’s tail in its trunk.

May the circle be unbroken.

In case you missed the photo links:

* Al Falfa in Pink Elephants, 1937 film at ASIFA

* Pink elephants & other strange frosting concoctions