Collecting Vintage Acoustic Guitars

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At one time or another in our lives we fancy being a professional musician. We are proud to play riffs of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven even if we can’t finish the whole song.

We love playing our guitars and for some reason we like to collect them as well.. Acoustic guitar collection is still in its early stage but it has been already been heralded as a work of fine art.

Guitars made before World War 2 are considered the most desirable and collectible and goes without saying, fetch in very high prices. Guitars made from various manufacturers such Martin, Gibson, Lyn and Healy and Larson Brothers are the most sought after.

Martin’s flat top steel string guitars are superb in craftsmanship and sound. The earliest models were made during 1840’s to 1920’s. But the most collectible are the 12 and 14 fret steel string models made from the middle of 1920’s to 1944. The playability, sound and workmanship are very excellent.

What is considered the golden era of the flat top Martin guitars are the larger size, 14 fret 000 and "D" sizes from the 1930’s. In fact, The Martin D-45 which was custom made for Gene Autry commands very stratospheric price.

The most desirable when it comes to Martin body size is the 000, OM and D sizes. If you have a Martin guitar check the serial number inside and just above it the style and body size number. Make sure the original parts are still intact and no modifications on the bridge, tuners and frets. These factors affect the value of the guitar.

When it comes to the brand Gibson, archtops are the most collectible. Well they invented the archtop guitar so why wouldn’t they lead the pack? The most desirable and collectible are the larger models made from the early 1930’s to 1959 namely The Lloyd Roar signed L-5’s, the pre war Super 400, Advanced L-5 archtops and the Cut away archtop models from the 1946 to 1959.

Unlike paintings, guitars are usable collections. You don’t have to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company to be able to start collecting vintage acoustic guitars. And while you’re at it, it doesn’t hurt if you could strum and hum puff the magic dragon….

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Collecting Crate Labels

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The hobby of collecting crate labels started in the sixties. People directly involved with the packing plants started the craze. Maybe because they just don’t want to see unused labels thrown away or just rut inside the label storage room.

The crate labels were mostly found on warehouses, packing plants, patent offices and the printing houses itself because they usually kept a copy of their work as a sample. Today, you can get it from mostly and conveniently on the internet like ebay, or other collectors.

The beauty of this small vintage art just look so beautiful with all the bright colors and vividly depicting any kind of themes such as sports, birds, romantic and nostalgic sceneries, the pets and children of the farm owners who custom made their labels when family farms were prevalent at that time.

Since the advent of the corrugated cardboard boxes and packing plants mushroomed just about everywhere, the use of wooden crates for fruits and family farm labels declined.

The crate labels of yore all had different kinds of colors, shades and hues. No two brands of crate labels looked alike.

They made their own ink, which supposed to be a trade secret. The sizes of their crate labels also varies depending of course the sizes of the crates. Like cherries only need a small crate so, they used smaller crate labels as supposed to oranges that needed bigger crates. It did not even have so much text on it.

If you want to start collecting these beauties start with what you like. I think that would be self- explanatory. I mean you wouldn’t want to be surrounded by things you don’t like do you? You can shell out a small amount of money for what is considered a vintage art.

The hobby doesn’t need that much investment. That’s one nice about this pursuit. You can also branch out to collecting can labels, cigar box labels or even vintage advertisement.

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Collecting Yo-yos

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My first encounter with a foreign yo-yo demonstrator was way back in high school. This was in the late seventies. Coca Cola sponsored the event. The demonstrator was Mexican and I remember quite vividly after he performed the usual tricks like around the world, walking the dog and rocking the baby, he showed his very own tricks.

He called it the "spaghetti" he tangled up the strings like a spaghetti, and kind of made a slurping motion with his mouth and there went the string untangled and the yoyo still spinning went right back to his hand.

For his finale, he did a couple of throws, up in the air and then swiftly and skillfully slipped the string knot off his finger and let the yo-yo on perfect cue, amazingly dropped into his left breast pocket. I was totally blown away. His expertise with the yo-yo, such a mundane toy but considered a cultural icon, enabled him to travel around the globe.

Of course the yo-yos of today are not the kind we knew back then. Transaxle ball bearing yo-yos are the crème de la crème, the top of the heap when it comes to yo-yo performance. The "sleep" time (spinning freely) is longer thus you will be able to perform tricks easily as opposed to the traditional fixed axle yo-yos.

Examples of these are Turbo Bumblebee, the Viper and Cold Fusion. They fetch in higher prices naturally but you will be surely the envy of the gang if you own one of these babies.

Yo-yo contests attract enthusiasts and collectors alike. There is a growing demand for collectible yo-yos and other yo-yo related memorabilia such as string packages, award patches, old contest fliers, manufacturer sales catalogs, old trick books and limited edition yo-yos. Yo-yos are also highly cross-collectable.

There are yo-yos with cereal, cartoon character, advertising such as coke and souvenir designs on it.

The highest price ever paid for a single yo-yo was the Pres. Richard Nixon signed yoyo for $16,029.00. And the first flown yo-yo into outer space is the yellow plastic Duncan Imperial this happened in April 12, 1983.

Companies that produced excellent yo-yos are Duncan, Russell, Spintastics, Superyo, Tom Kuhn, Yomega. Bird In Hand, Chico, Hi-ker. Most desirable and collectible yo-yos are usually from the 50’s and 60’s with such names like Litening, Rainbow, Chief, Suede, Day-Glo and Satellite.

Yo-yo is definitely a toy that has survived time and it will be absolutely continue to be played in years to come.

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