You Can Buy Back Memories At Papermania Plus

Hartford, Conn.

:Carl Candels stands next to a near life-size cardboard cutout of Marilyn Monroe in the lobby of the Hartford Civic Center. It is the beginning of a two-day extravaganza known as Papermania Plus, the 53rd such antique paper show — and Candels should know — he has been crafting the event's public relations materials for 30 years. In an instructive moment, the dapper dealer of Hollywood "fluff" recalls a scene about a year ago when he was approached by a Hartford Courant reporter who had been sent by his editor to cover the show.

"One of his first questions to me was, 'How is the worsening economy affecting the market for this show?'" said Candels. "'I'll show you,' I told him. 'Ask the gentleman who just left my booth what he bought and how much he paid for it.'"

The reporter's face was beaming, recalls Candels, when he turned around and said the customer had told him he had just bought a rare Houdini poster and had paid $15,000 for it.

Papermanics — collectors of ephemera — are singularly motivated by shows such as this one, which is probably the best-known ephemera and collectibles event to be conducted on the East Coast. Conceived by the late Paul Gipstein and now managed by his wife, Arlene Shea, and son, Gary, the show began in 1977 as a yearly marketplace and quickly evolved into its twice-a-year format. Shea reported that the most recent event, conducted January 5–6 at the newly dubbed XL Center, had more than a 20 percent increase in gate over the previous year.

"The weather was excellent, which may have been a factor, but the main thing is that people want to get out and be entertained," said Shea. "At this show, they can find anything from a $1 postcard to a $10,000 rare edition of a book. There truly is something for everyone."

Shea's assessment was supported by Elizabeth Baird, a Falmouth, Maine, dealer in Victoriana, valentines, books and prints, who said, "The line waiting to get into the show on opening day was huge. It wrapped itself around the Civic Center and down the stairs to our door. People rushed in with their dealer list, empty portfolios and shopping bags, looking for their favorite booths and old dealer friends."

There were almost too many people in her booth, said Baird, who quickly added, "Really, this is not a complaint. I love to wait on people, catch up, connect and list in my sales book any interest or new wants. Since I have retired from full-time art teaching, I can now do follow up. Six e-mails were waiting for me when I returned to Maine Sunday night. This never happens. I am delighted."

John Kuenzig, a Topsfield, Mass., dealer specializing in scientific books and instruments, praised the promoters for successfully bringing in some new customers to the show, "something the industry really needs and a talent not often displayed," he said. Kuenzig's sales included an early American atlas, which he wrote up after the show, an archive of World War II propaganda material in Danish and an Eighteenth Century hand colored view of New York.

"There was a lot of interest in our scientific instruments, and we expect another sale shortly as a result," the dealer added. "Overall, one of the best paper shows around, with a highly eclectic range of merchandise and a good group of dealers."

Even though this particular edition of Papermania did not stack up to previous shows for him, on Saturday, Jack Freas of Tamerlane Books, Haverstown, Penn., replaced a showcase that was broken in transit with a new one he purchased at the show. That, he added, made room in his booth so that he could bring out a collection of photographs that he had been storing under his table. "A guy watched as the first photo went in, waited until they were all exposed and bought them immediately — 'new' stuff sells!" said the dealer.

Edward J. Cohen, who deals primarily in Nineteenth Century photographic images, came from Bristol, Conn., with fine daguerreotypes as well as important journals and handwritten documents. "Having been in the business for more than 30 years, we have built a reputation among collectors and other dealers of having hard-to-find items in a variety of areas. So, it was no surprise that within moments of the show's opening my booth was teaming with collectors," said Cohen.

"A number of wonderful items were bought instantly," he continued. "A beautiful early 1840s daguerreian portrait of a handsome young man with a highly decorated paper mat was one of the first to go at more than $500. Several cabinet card photographs of Native Americans were sold quickly, as well as daguerreotypes from the Day and Smith families of New York and New Jersey. This family line was directly related to Garrit Smith, who was an abolitionist and good friend of John Brown; hence the interest in the family connection was strong."

Cohen also reported selling a group of letters written during the Nineteenth Century by an American sea captain and a rare letter written by Franklin Roosevelt.

One of the more popular items Cohen had on display was an 1879 photographic yearbook from West Point. The book is filled with original cabinet card photographs of cadets dressed in their uniforms, and also includes numerous images of the West Point grounds, cadets on parade, school interiors and groups of officers and members of the faculty. "What is most special about this album is that almost all the cadets who graduated were sent out West to fight Native Americans," said Cohen. "Three of these soldiers in the album went on to win Congressional Medals of Honor in their careers, two of whom won their medals while engaged in battles with Indians."

Vintage posters are always a popular category at paper shows, and Nancy Steinbock, the Chestnut Hill, Mass., specialist in this category, reported high interest and a "moderate" number of sales, including a wonderful 1959 poster by Jacques Cocteau, "Monaco," depicting a smiling sailboat, 24½ by 39 inches, and a Swiss Cycles Guyot, circa 1930, 31 by 47 inches, showing a fashionably dressed woman biking in a wooded landscape. "Interest in travel, train, planes and ship posters, as well as local New England themes, military, bicycles — and American advertising and literary posters — were the collecting areas that most people were inquiring about," said Steinbock.

"Papermania for me is always a triple pleasure — good sales, good buying and good collecting friends," said Eric Caren, whose business, Caren Archive, Inc, in Lincolndale, N.Y., focuses on Americana, Western subjects and rare newspapers. "I sold everything from a 1776 Revolutionary War recruiting poster to an anti-Andrew Jackson illustrated campaign poster to loads of photographs from the Twentieth Century." Caren's first archive of rare newspapers is the centerpiece of the Newseum, a news museum due to open on Pennsylvania Avenue this spring. "Many of my old colleagues said they were looking forward to seeing it," said Caren. "It shows how appreciation in paper Americana and ephemera has really reached a very high level after being taken for granted in earlier years."

For Gary Sohmers, the instantly recognizable rock 'n' roll collectibles guy seen on Antiques Roadshow and owner of Hudson, Mass.-based Wex Rex, the show brought people who collect late Twentieth Century art and ephemera, including concert posters of the 1960s and 1970s. "We sold several psychedelic concert posters of groups like Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead, along with a collection of nonsport gum cards distributed with Wonder Bread," said Sohmers. "We also sold a fabulous Nineteenth Century oversized poster of a theatrical presentation of The Pupil In Magic, also known as The Sorcerer's Apprentice, adapted from "Der Zauberling" by Goethe. Outside of the paper world, we sold a working 1933 Mickey Mouse pocket watch."

The "mosh pit" crowd at Lelands.com was intent on finding priceless images among the piles culled from the huge archive of the San Francisco Examiner that the Seaford, N.Y., firm acquired last year for a "seven-figure sum," according to principal Josh Evans. "We bring about 25,000 images to each show we do," said Evans, "Everything is priced at $3, and people have found photos valued at up to $800" among this collection of news photos, local San Francisco subjects, sports, entertainment and military.

Evans said he finds Papermania to be one of the most interesting shows in the country. "The width and breadth of the material is unlike any other show we do," he said. "Among the thousands of photos we sold was an interesting group of baseball images for $2,600. In there was an image of baseball player/spy Moe Berg. Berg spied on the Japanese during Babe Ruth and MLB's 1934 Tour of Japan where baseball was first promoted in a big way in Japan. The seemingly innocent 'home movies' Berg took became the basis of the Doolittle bombing raids of World War II."

B&S Gventer Books came from South Egremont, Mass., with antiquarian books and paper ephemera, including a selection from a library of oversize architecture books from the mid-Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century purchased just before Papermania. According to the firm's creative director, D. Curto, "We sold everything from magician autographed photos to comic books and cook books, children's books and photography books. The stacks of color plates were turned upside down and right side up in a searching frenzy, which is always welcomed." Sales included a circus poster and circus covers (envelopes), masons letters, maps and photographs, a Fourteenth Century antiphonal page, theatrical and sports ephemera.

Someone with an ornithological bent hit pay dirt at Reed McKenney's Mainely Paper Antiques. The Owls Head, Maine, dealer had brought a small woman's diary, circa 1865, a diminutive book filled with handwritten observations about the birds, probably in the Concord, Mass., area. "The bird diary sold very quickly and for full value," said McKenney. "The show in general seem to have better than average attendance because we had more sales than in the last several years."

It pays to specialize, but even general ephemera dealers like Leon Jackson of Magnolia, Mass., can have a good show if they bring a large and varied inventory. He did, and "that makes it likely that I would have something of interest to a wide range of collector interests," he said. "Most important, I have many regular customers who check me out at every show." Jackson said his best sales at the show were in the photography, catalogs, sports, Civil War, other military and political categories.

Stephen Hanley of Bickerstaff's Books, Maps, Etc, Scarborough, Maine, has been doing both the January and August Papermania shows for more than ten years. "It always impresses me as one of the most consistent shows in terms of attracting significant numbers of serious and knowledgeable collectors," he said. This year's sales at the show met his expectations, he said. "Among my best sales were several Eighteenth Century American newspapers, as well as a Revolutionary War era coastal chart of New England."

For information, 860-563-9975 or write Hillcrest Promotions, PO Box 152, Wethersfield CT 06109.