Collecting Banknotes/ Paper Money

This came into common usage in Europe in the latter part of the seventeenth century, in the form of bills, drafts and promissory notes used by bankers and merchants.

But the history of paper money goes back beyond that time, and is genrally accepted as having originated in china around a.d.700.

It took the form of paper drafts and developed into paper money redeemable in coin around a.d. 1000

It is interesting to note that these early banknotes were issued in great number with little or no regard for the economy.

The result was raging inflation and the downfall of the government in this case a dynasty. Nearly two thousand years later we still have the same trouble. Will we never learn?

Apart from the traditional old paper money there is a great potential in the banknotes of new or emerging countries.

Quite often a coup will overturn a government and the new leader immediately orders the elimination or withdrawal of that country’s currency so that he can get his own portrait on the new issue. This sort of situation could well lead to a shortage of a particular note.

One collector of banknotes framed his collection in a glass with a black velvet cloth as a background. His collection has also increased substantially in value and as decorative scheme , the effect is absolutely stunning.

Art Deco

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Art Deco refers to all decorative designs between world war one and two. The investing collector have a wide array of items to choose from because Art Deco extends to a long period of time.

Art Deco connotes to a period rather than a style. this is the era of the flapper, the charleston and the wallstreet crash. It penetrated all aspects of life from clothing to buildings, from egg cups to office furniture. the collector has a vast field from which to select.

Ceramic vases,porcelain figures,bone china,porcelain tea and coffee sets of the art deco era are rapidly rising in prices.

Since the opening of tutankhamen's tomb in 1923 egyptian designs and motiffs started to appear in everything like clocks were designed with scarab wing sides and dining chairs with stepped pyramid like backs.

Art Deco hold the most promise for the enthusiatic who wishes to consider his collection as an investment.

Collecting Vintage Watches

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One of the achievements of early man is the invention of time. back in the olden days we measured the day through sun's daily motion and and placement of the moon of a certain amount of cycle. That's how we enabled to keep the time.

We decided that the year is composed of 365 days and the day is composed of 24 hours. Since then we were able to keep appointments to be at a given place and at a given time.

Early man used sundial to waterclock and much later years to spring driven clock which eventually led to the miniaturization to the pocket watch then ultimately to the wrist watch.

Now how do we know that a certain vintage watch is valuable? well factor in availabilty, craftmanship, history and desirability. If certain timepieces were made in a batch of millions compared to only 300 pieces made. Then the latter fetch a more hefty price.

Condition is more important than the brand. Check out the movement and the inside of the casing . iIf there's discoloration, dings, scratches, blotches, flecks of rust be wary of all of these signs for it meant abusive wear and tear and watch parts swapping.

If a watch is part of a major turning point in history of mankind then consider the watch prestigious. The Longines hour angle watch worn by Charles Lindbergh when he made his solo flight the first ever over the Atlantic.

The explorer by rolex which is known for its triangle on the 12 on the dial both for roman and arabic numbers worn both by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they summited Nt. Everest for the first time in history and of course lastly but certainly not the least the omega speedmaster worn by Neil Armstrong when he first landed on the moon. The slogan still lives on" Omega Speedmaster the first watch on the moon".

Collecting vintage watches while fun can be easily become an obsession. It's easy to be addicted to acquiring these timeless time keeping artifacts. depending on your personal taste and budget you might want to collect pocketwatches, wristwatches-chronographs, led and lcd watches etc.

Back in the early nineties swatch company made collecting watches more affordable with all these psychedelic colorful designs on plastic.

Which by the way i have a sizable colection. now i'm hoping to get my hands on some led watches where in you just push a little button and light would emit displaying what time it is.

I think it's vogue to sport these watches because not too many people are wearing it nowadays. and also it brings back a lot of memories especially the disco dancing, mirrorball, white suit and john travolta of the 70's.

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Collecting Sewing Machines

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If you want to collect sewing machines you have to have a lot of space in your house because it would really be futile to collect these machines if you live in a cramped situation. one catalogue of singer sewing machines and its accessories alone would weigh 12 pounds.

Sewing machines are considered an industrial archeaology the old ones that is. In fact Mahatma gGndhi said that "sewing machines are one of the few useful things ever invented."

Numerous men claimed to have invented the sewing machines but in the early years it was destroyed because seamstresses are threatened of their livelihood. It wasn't until Isaac Merrit Singer an American built his first machine in boston in 1850. He was granted patents and started to mass produced his machines.

Sewing machines like in the picture above were elegant in shape, black decorated with gold. many of these machines are still in working condition even after fifty years of use.

If you want to collect sewing machines you have to look out for companies that produced fewer machines than singer or maybe imported ones. Portable machines fetch better prices in account of rarity and economy of storage space.

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collecting sewing machines
singer sewing machines"

Collecting Plates

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Collecting plates are more popular than any other pieces of a dinner set because it is easy to display. you just hang it on the wall or put it on the shelf just like a picture.

In the middle of the nineteenth century many british firms were manufacturing china ware. dinner sets that composed of a hundred pieces. a lot of thses sets were broken up thus plates of these sets were mostly collected, unlike cups or tureen dishes.

Many of these plates from broken collections were extremely fine and became more and more scarce. surely plates from these broken sets will appreciate in value.

Another popular item is the green-glaze ware.this is earthen ware in the form of leaves or embossed on the surface. i think one popular example of this is the recently reported majolica plates that were auction at estimated $75 to $250 in retail at an antique shop.Majolica plates are best known for its transparent glaze, limited color palette and most of its designs are ferns, leaves and butterflies .

Or you can decide to collect perforated plates. these have perforated pattern punched out around the rim. many were produced as souvenirs or cake dishes.

You might start browsing around thrift stores, who knows you might discover thrash or hopefully treasure.

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collecting plates
china ware
dinner sets

Railway Bric A Brac

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People obviously have this obsessional interest in railways. Why? because it all lies in the bric a brac that railways accumulated. there are signs, buttons, uniforms, equipment and much more. In short, railways have more collectibles.

Of course such popularity means that prices will be bouyant, but that's good if you can locate a reasonable source of supply to build up a comprehensive collection.

And as usual to make more impact invesment wise you should collect thematically. station name signs are a popular theme. Uniform badges, buttons or even complete uniforms are also collected- badges in particular because they not only provide information but can be stored easily.

Train nameplates are the cream of the railyway bric a brac, along with the ornate company crests.then there are tickets, handbills, posters, guard's whistles,lamps ,transport tokens, ticket dispensers, waiting room clock and so on. The range of collectable themes in railway bric a brac is bewildering thus its fascinating.

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Railway Bric a Brac
Collection
Collectibles

Trade Tokens

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Trade tokens come in different forms such as pressed tin, in round, oval and square shapes. the other are lightweight brass coloured metal.

Trade tokens are the predecessor of the trading stamp.sometimes governments have been unwilling or unable to provide the population with sufficient small change, and the shopkeepers and traders have made good the shortage with token coins. Sometimes they have been produced illegally, but most have been accepted by the community out of necessity.

And even when there were no coin shortages, it was often in practice, in the past for traders and private banks to issue such coinage. In fact, the procedure was only suppressed early in the nineteenth century.

Strangely, the practice did not survive. Some firms manufactured tokens specially for collectors and other tokens were struck by collectors for their fellow collectors. These were made in very small quantities and are consequently rather scarce.

Another fascinating aspect of trade tokens is the variety of false tokens. there are counterfeits which are imitations or forgeries of genuine trade tokens; special tokens which have an original design but which copy a commercial one in order to deceive collectors: and mules-tokens in which the obverse of one token is combined with the reverse of another, in order to make a third.

You need to know a lot or do a lot of research if you consider investing and collecting trade tokens.they have been collected for so many years and that there's plenty of opportunity for someone who really knows what he's doing.

There are plenty of variety of tokens in the first half of the 20th century but then trade tokens of the current century could prove to be a sound investment.


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Trade Tokens

Kitchen Ware

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You don't usually hang paintings in the kitchen and the dining table rarely sees works of srt other than perhaps some real repositories for a vast range of collectibles.

The sliced loaf virtually rendered the breadboard extinct. on the other hand collectors are most apt to think that the breadboards can be extremely attractive and collectable.

The main interest centers on their decoration, which is often extremely ornate and sometimes a tribute to the woodcarver's art. you can pick up breadboards with coats of arms, flowers, animals or intricate designs round the edges. Shape too, is varied-they were mostly round, but squares, rectangles and ovals are unusual.

Unlike breadboards, caddy spoons have not been overlooked by the collector's market. these are small spoons used for measuring tea out of the caddy. With their short,stubby handle and large, shallow spoon bowl, they are extremely distinctive. Early caddy spoons, particularly silver ones, are now quite expensive. electroplated spoons of the 1840-1900 should fetch in very good prices.

The kitchen is really a place for cooking, so what better theme for kitchen ware than cooking utensils? in particular you could collect those utensils which were innovative in their time, for examples, many saucepans or accessories which have been designed to prevent milk boiling over. from an aesthetic point of view well-polished copper pans provide a spectacular display, particularly if they have brass fittings.

Then there are items such as fish kettles, tea urns, coffemakers, kettles and even electric toasters. in fact, they have invariably been made with both efficiency and eye appeal in mind, a collection of toasters, from their days until today should prove both attractive and profitable.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much paraphernalia has been attached to the egg over the years? first of all, there's the common egg-cup. silver, ceramic, cooper, electroplate, wood, plastic and of course the double and even triple egg cup.

Egg boilers which had a tiny bell that rang when the eggs are ready.then there are egg-timers, egg poachers and so on.

Graters and mincers have always played an important part in the kitchen, particularly in the pre-electric blender and mixer era.

The humble cheese and general purpose grater has been made in a wide number of shapes and a collection would be quite interesting.

Mincers could fare a little better, but the trouble is that the original design was obviously so efficient that to this day thay are virtually unchanged.

In early days, people used to carry these tiny nutmeg graters in their pockets. They were used to add spice to their food and drink. They were considered indispensable by many.

Most nutmeg graters were wholly or partly made of silver and they are fetching extremely good prices even more so in the future.

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Nauticals

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Nauticals or maritime objects are hardly a single subject more like a dozen or so. take bosuns' pipes for example.

these were especially designed high pitch whistle that could be heard above the roar of a raging sea. they were developed somewhere around 1650 and were usually made of brass, copper varnished or painted to prevent salt-water corrosion.

some later ones were fashioned in pure silver. bosuns' pipes are not particularly cheap, but you can build up a collection at reasonable prices if you go for 1900-1920 electro plated models.

crested crockery- is another worthwhile collectable. most shipping lines and large liners had and still have crested crockery and this is enthusiastically collected.

If you haven't have the space or inclination for complete sets of crockery, you can still build up a worthwhile collection of plates or mugs.

You might prefer maritime ephemera. This is a fascinating branch of nauticals which includes travel tickets, bills of lading, menus, posters etc.

Collectibles with a particular nautical flavor are navigation instruments. these include sextants, parallel rulers ,compasses etc.

iIdon't think you'll find many bargain basement sextants because they are not only coveted by collectors many people with money to burn buy the brass variety as decorative items. I remember in high school i used to hang out at my classmates's house, her father was captain of a local shipping liner, there hung on the wall a very prominent ship's navigating wheel serve as the focal point of decoration in their living room.

And i used to marvel at the idea that the decoration of their living room had something to do with the owner's occupation.

If you want to build up such a collection at a reasonable price go for the basic chartwork navigation instruments. This include roller parallel, extending leg rulers, dividers, station pointers, chart magnifiers and navigational set squares. these "tools of the trade" are often overlooked among more exotic goods, but the very essence of navigation will be more sought after in the near future.

One of the most fascinating nautical collectibles is scrimshaw also known as scrimshouting, scrimshandy or just plain scrim- the sailor's art. basically, it consists of engraved or carved materials such as whalebone, walrus, tusk, shell etc. fashioned by sailors with the point of a knife, nail or other sharp instrument.

Finally there are the real prize pieces for collectors-the ship's helm and bell. you certainly won't find any bargains in this direction for they are wildly sought after.

However if divers find a wreck, they keep an eye out for the helm and bell. after a long submersion the helm is normally pretty grotty because the wood has rotted, but the bell usually made from marine brass can often be brought back to as new condition.

The hydrographic department of the admiralty has lists of something like 60,000 wrecks that have sunk around britain alone the last century. i don't suppose divers have visited more than one per cent of those wrecks just think about how many helms and bells that are awaiting collection.

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tags:
helm and bell , antique sextants, antique compass

Camera Lenses

Pictures show different types of early camera lenses .

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The earliest camera lenses are particularly attractive with highly polished brass mounts and impressive waterhouse stops or rotating diaphragms.They are also extremely practical because with the aid of bellows attachment or extension tubes, they can be used on almost any modern single lens reflex camera.

Camera enthusiasts are of course always on the lookout for such goodies which can still be found under a pile of bric-a-brac in many junk shops.

Sometimes you will come across an old camera that has been damaged beyond repair. don't ignore it- the lens might be in perfect condition. If you ever come across such a specimen and find the lens easily detachable, whatever you do don't throw the camera away, no matter how damaged because the body can tell the historian much about the lens, period etc.

Very early lenses comprised a single meniscus lens, such as the one developed by W.H. Woolaston around 1812. However this was just before the invention of photography and was used in examples of the camera obscura.

One of the pioneers of phtography was daguerre and the first photographs he took used a doublet lens made by c.l. chavalier in 1830.This particualr design was improved by thomas grubb.

The first lens to be calculated by a mathematician was a portrait lens designed by j.petzval in 1840. this was improved upon by h.zincke in 1870.the petzval portrait lens is worth looking out for, because it was frequently set in large, cumbersome mount and for this reason is often overlooked.

The next major development was the rectilinear lens. but none of this lenses could be improved very much because of the constrictions imposed by the limitations of the glass of the day.

However in the latter part of the nineteenth century new types of glass were devloped and this led to P. Rudolph to design the fisrt anastigmat.these were called protars. the anastigmat can fairly be called the fisrt photographic lens of the modern type.

Apart from those i mentioned above, lenses woth looking out for are Steinheil's Periscope , H.W.Lee's optic merte's biotar and there are many more.

A basic lens will invariably have an aperture. This may be fixed as in the earliest lenses; waterhouse stops; arotating diaphragm( perforated discs); or the now universal iris diaphragm. You could specialize in lenses with specific apertures.

On the other hand, there's a lot of investment mileage in lens shutters. at one time there were literally dozens of types of shutter, ranging from simple spring and leaf to complicated pneumatic tubes and plungers. all of them are increasing interest to collectors.

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camera lenses

Cameras

pictures show a bellow camera model and an old eastman kodak model.

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Old cameras are some of the most attractive scientific instruments, fashioned from mahogany and other exotic woods, with detailed joints and exquisite brass fittings. Some people just get a sheer joy of waxing and polishing the brasswork.

Early camers used glass plates for negatives and these plates required plate holders. If you get the chance to buy an old plate camera, ask about the plate holders. A plate camera with plate holder is much more valuable than the camera on its own.

The earliest camera were large and cumbersome and were without bellows. they usually consisted of two wooden boxes one sliding into the other. Dating from before 1840 such specimens could cost you you a years' salary today, if in good condition.


Bellow cameras came later but these are still expensive. Although early bellow camers were made in several sizes, negative or plate format, the smaller camera fetch pproportionately better prices but this is only relative virtually all early cameras are now quite expensive.

You need lines of research although there are books on the subject of old cameras they are rarely comprehensive. By far the best source of information is old photgraphic magazines - a case of advertising documenting history.

You might fancy collecting eastman kodak cameras from the earliest models right up to today's.

Between the wars cameras offer plenty of scope.

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Model car

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One type of model that has definitely attained more collectable status in recent years is the model car.

Not the large scale hand crafted models although there is a market for them but the mass produced variety which is the equivalent of the lead soldier.

I'm not talking about the rc (radio controlled) model car either.Although we'll delve into that area in future posts.

Several manufacturers around the world produce such cars, but we can get a better idea of the procedure if we study just one of those firms-in this case the matchbox model cars manufactured by Lesney products of england.

Lesney produced several series including superfast adventure 2000 and models of yesteryear and it is the latter that is most highly sought after by collectors.

These matchbox models come in their own little boxes hence the name. There is a matchbox only diecast club which needless to say is focused on the diecast model car and an official model car magazine that describes various models provides a means of communication and includes advertisements. And such is the enthusiasm of collectors that good money is offered even for old catalogues.

Collecting diecast model cars only may seem fairly simple procedure, but if youre going to do it properly(which is where the investment potential is) then you need to know all about your product.

If you know what you are looking for you might find that missing modified version for your set of whitlock winkum, dumpers, jeeps, lagondas or model T fords. And the demand of old models exceeds supply as can be seen by the classified ads of the matchbox magazine.

And it is much considered that your item is collectible and in mint condition especially if it still comes in their original boxes like this one in the picture. It is advisable that you have a decent model car display case for your collections.

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tags:
model car, diecast model car, model car magazines ,rc model car, model car display case,Matchbox

Model Soldiers

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There's a wide scope of collectibles in this field like the artilleries, battle ships and tanks, the whole diorama. But let's stick with model soldiers for this post.

When it comes to model toy soldiers there are lot of categories to choose from like medieval knights, ancient romans, the samurais, highlanders, the celts and the gauls, civil war and the two world wars. The picture shows a model soldier from the Napoleonic war.

One advantage of collecting model soldiers is that although an individual soldier might have a rather limited value, sets of soldiers, in dress uniforms or particular military settings command high prices.

So it's possible to build up collections that become more and more valuable with each addition. Famous sets such as the Royal Engineer's baloon and Winchwagon or the household cavalry at the trooping of the colour are now greatly sought after by avid collectors.

Britain has in the past been a major manufacturer of model soldiers, and now ranks as the world's largest producer. This means that there is a greater likelihood of finding early examples in Britain than anywhere else in the world.

The earliest model soldiers produced in the 16th century were two dimensional flats made from pure tin and mounted on small stands. The 30mm Nuremberg scale was not adopted until 1848.

In the late 1890's William britain of london developed the process of casting hollow three-dimensional figures. This led to marked changes in the manufacture of model soldiers. Britain's soldiers were not only more realistic and detailed than the German ones, but their hollow structure meant that they required far less metal and were consequently cheaper as a result.

The early British model soldiers can be distinguished by their round bases; square bases came in later. Plastic took the place of lead alloy in 1966.

The fact that lead soldiers are no longer being made, coupled with the world wide demand from collectors and the continued enthusiasm for war games, means that there is an increasing scarcity. So if you gradually build up good sets of soldiers you will probably get a very favourable roi.

Fyi, the publishing icon Malcolm Forbes also collected model toy soldiers.

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Clocks

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Antique grandfather clocks are invariably expensive and therefore outside the scope of this post. also out of our price range are the beautiful and much more collectible early time pieces known as the carriage clocks.

Clock repairing is a worth mentioning skill if your are to be a successful investor in clock collecting. But that doesn't sound so overwhelming due to the fact that antique clocks have quite a simple mechanism. If you have a knack at repairing antique clocks and veneer repairs then you're in! The fact is, there are many excellent clocks that are sold next to nothing, because of the cost of repairs.

American square clock were being mass-produced in America in 1830's to meet the demand for timepieces. The Americans proved to be powerful and more succesful that British made clocks imports were prohibited.

Mantel clocks are timepieces that have become virtual fixtures in many households, were so numerous that you have a wide choice of themes within that category.

The Victorians and Edwardians loved heavy, ornamental mantel clocks with inlaid woods, and they also had a preference for those dark marble edifices that remind one of a mausoleum. The heavy slate German mantel pieces are similarly cheap, but the French gilded mantel clocks are prettier, more expensive and elusive unless you can do your own repairs.

Another form of clock is the brass and gilt clock under a glass dome. You can see the insides of the clock through the dome.They are popular until today, because they are very attractive and so they don't come cheap.

Going back to clocks in general, there's also a scope for the investing collector in all kind of art deco clocks .Then there's the electric clock. You could bring technology right up to date by collecting only battery operated clocks.

In the area of time keeping field watch pads or watch paper are noteworthy. These were small discs of paper, cotton or even silk which fitted snugly inside the backs of watches mainly to keep dust from getting inside. A collection of watch papers, mounted like a stamp album is sure to interest all watch and clock lovers and will appreciate in price accordingly.

Another watch accessory is the watch stand. It is meant to hold the pocket watch when not carried on the person.These were made in ceramic,wooden and porcelain.

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tags:
antique clocks,grandfather clocks,antique mantel clocks,clock repairing