The prices of old photos and postcards are somewhat arbitrary. Even location matters. At an event held in a strip mall in San Fernando Valley I was able to pick up photos and postcards ¢25 a piece. At an Antique Paper Show held in the Glendale Civic Auditorium you'd be hard pressed to find anything under a dollar.
It also depends on the vendor. Neatly organized postcards, sorted out by subject matter tend to cost more than ones that are just thrown in a tub unsorted. Some vendors go for quantity, others aim at the collectors of narrow focus, who don't want to shift through hundreds of cards. I just pick whatever strikes my fancy, and I'm also cheap, so I gravitate towards the quantity vendors. I rarely pay more than $2 for a photo or postcard.
I don't remember how much I payed for these gargoyles, but couldn't have been much. They are printed on soft rag paper, and are in very good condition, despite being probably around a hundred years old.
You also get better prices of postcards if the vendor is specialized in photos and just happened to pick up some cards, and vica versa.
These are my human gargoyles. They are staring out at Paris just as intently as the stone ones. Except the dog, the poor thing has no head.
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9 comments:
the gargoyles of Notre Dame. So creepy and mysterious. I have some old postcards from different angles -- now where did I put them? I like when the people take out an extra insurance policy on their religion. In Norway, there are dragons on the old churches -- just in case this god and jesus thing doesn't work.
Headless dogs...oh my. I'm happy to see your still in the purchasing position. Our book on Ed Ruche has returned to us without even a nibble.
The gargoyles are so beautiful I can't imagine someone would have ever let them go for a quarter but then as I'm fond of saying "getting it cheap is part of the aesthetic" I'm envious (and on rag) no wonder they've lasted so long
Beautiful and economical -- and that's just you!
The photos could be taken today. A hundred years does little to that cathedral. John and I climbed to the top in 2006 and, once we were there, had a hard time getting ourselves to leave. Notre Dame is beautiful from the ground but even more striking from the top. You're up there with the gargoyles and curlicues. Every detail is compelling, including that view.
new header....sweet
Your new header is very Monty Python (in a good way).
Prify
Thanks. I'm temporarily without Internet again, so will be quiet for a few days. Blogging from a phone is a challenge.
What is it with your place and the internet connection?
It's clumber, I tell you, just clumber.
I fired Earthlink. I just got really really fed up with them. They had all these outages, for several days I had no internet till sometime between 2pm and 11pm. Their tech support is pathetic. So I fired them!
Now I'm with ATT. Not only my connection is faster, but I'm paying less. On top of it their tech support is superior to EL's. I had to call them late night up because of problems with setup (my old internet settings were causing truble), and there was virtually no waiting, and the tech person actually knew what she was doing.
Of course, not everything smooth sailing, the modem was supposed to arrive on Thursday, but sender didn't put apartment number on it, so UPS didn't deliver it that day. They corrected it, but the next day UPS guy didn't get here till 8pm.
Anyways, I got internets now and I have so much to catch up with!
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