Boston, Dear Old Boston - Fenway Choralites

My great aunt worked for The Boston Music Company for years and I found this record in her attic when she passed away. It seemed interesting so I held onto it but life being as it is, other things captured my attention and this record was largely forgotten in my collection for the past few years.   

Grrl Pickers recently stumbled on a really great Facebook page called "Dirty Old Boston" and I scanned these images to share on thier page. Another fan of the Dirty Old Boston facebook page  mentioned that she had seen a listing on eBay that was offering this record for $1,000, that got my attention real good and I took the time today to look into the details of this unusual little record. 

 

I stopped by Bay State Coin on Bromfield Street in Boston because I know they sell a lot of local sports stuff, they made me a small token offer but couldn't tell me more about the record and without knowing more I was hestitant to sell it. What if it really was worth hundreds of dollars? I had to know more...

On my way home tonight I stopped by my local 'record heads'  at The Randolph Music Center (North Main Street, Randolph, MA) and even tho they were unfamiliar with this specific recording, they were LOADED with all kinds of super information about where it may have come from. 

  I will be researching this record further based on the great info I got at Randolph Music Center but the bottom line is, 

as neat as this record may look on the surface, 

  it has absolutely nothing to do with The Red Sox and/or Fenway Park. 

Thus far, it seems that this record was locally produced by someone who made a bunch of these sorts of recordings for political campagins etc. and is worth approx 20 bucks, tops. 

 I can't complain having gotten the record for free, (I paid about 12 bucks for the sheet music on eBay about 2 years ago but with my Great Aunt's connection to The Boston Music Company, it was worth that to me and probably worth a lot less to others) and as much as I don't want to hurt a fellow eBay seller, I feel real sorry for anyone who pays anything more than two bits or so for the copy that's being offered currently on eBay. 

I'm disapointed to not be striking it rich with this one but we already knew eBay is a buyer beware enterprise and the information gathered today will help us be better pickers/buyers/sellers in the future and anything that helps us do that, is priceless to us and hopefully to others as well.         

  My camera ran out of memory so this is just a snippet of the song but as far as I know it's the only audio of it available online: 

     

Record Collectors Guild - Web site pick of the day

Absolutely wonderful web site and message board full of any and all information you ever wanted to know about buying, selling, collecting and preserving records of all types.

   Record Collectors Guild

A lot of record enthusiast sites contain information about just one certail time period or meduim (just 45's, just LPs, 78s only etcs...) this site contains information about EVERYTHING. From you favorite record to the needles you need for a vintage machine, this site has it all.

    Two thumbs up from the Grrl Pickers, The Record Collectors Guild is a site well worth checking out!

                    

Tip of the Day - Reselling Reigonal Free Magazines

Grrl Pickers just sold a recent copy of The Phoenix magazine for five dollars on eBay. 

   The Phoenix glossy magazine is a new rehash of the old Boston Phoenix newspaper, both versions of the publication are/were available free in large quantities all over Boston. 

   Perhaps 5 bucks in profit isn't anything to write home about but the fact that we picked up a recent issue for free and sold it in just a few weeks to a buyer 6 states away, we're pretty excited.

    The issue that we sold had a Mitt Romney cover story and an inner story on cult photographer Bunny Yaeger so we suspected that with big names like that it would be of intrest to someone and are glad to find that we were right.

    Issues of The Phoenix magazine are so plentiful around Boston that back issues have no real local worth but through the magic of eBay, we have found that items we can get free on any local street corner have the potential to sell for 100% profit to folks located elsewhere.

     Every major city has it's own slew of local free publications and depending on the poularity of the subjects of published stories, Grrl Pickers are willing to bet that just about anyone can profit from the free publications available in their area.

         100% profit works for us, hope this is a helpful tip for others as well.

                          : )    : )

Grrl Pickers site of the day: antiquedress.com

Stumbled across this site today:

antiquedress.com/

    The prices are a little to rich for us but the one of a kind Hollywood treasures are fun to look through and we love learning more about well made vintage pieces.

    A fun site to spend a Sunday afternoon window browsing!

Far beyond twitterpated...

We finally got on the bandwagon this week and joined Twitter.

    Not really sure how it offers anything different from Facebook but it has been fun looking up interesting folks and seeing what they are twittering about. I guess it's kind of like Facebook "lite", you get the info but don't have to scrawl though a million cute cat/puppy photos to get it. 

    So far, we like it but it remains to be seen how useful it's actually going to be for us.
        (or just yet another distraction that keeps us from posting new items in our shops and doing more productive things, like the dishes perhaps...)

  Anyhoo...

      Twitter did offer us one GIANT thrill the first morning after we set up the account.
We had randomly followed a handful of people we find interesting and then logged off for the night,  the next morning was like Halloween Eve and Christmas Morning all rolled into one to find we had one follower, it wasn't our parents or even a close friend,

 it was freakin' CLIVE BARKER!

      ("CLIVE freakin' BARKER"?, Just where do the rules of writing say the 'freakin' should go in a proper sentence? I'm not sure...) 

     Now,
        we didn't just fall off the turnip truck and we know that Mr. Barker is most likely hard at work on a new novel, painting, film, canoodling his squeeze or petting his dogs.
     The man himself likely has very little time left in his fascinating life to wonder what a couple of strangers halfway across the world are up to in their little basement running a vintage resale business.
    It is highly more probable that his agency is behind the Twitter account and we were actually followed by a junior level assistant who was too tired to realize they we're clicking on our account to follow (we were officially followed by his account at about 3am Eastern time).
    No matter to us, as many who have done business with us can attest, we're not proud and our official motto should actually be,
     "We'll take it!"   

        We are still completely stoked to be able to say with all honesty,

                  "Clive Barker was our first Twitter follower!"

    If absolutely nothing else comes from this Twitter thing, that all by itself made the small effort of starting the account totally worthwhile.

       We are genuinely twitterpated over this development and could ride this high at least another week or 2 if not for the rest of our (well, at least Laura's...) lives.

             Good times, good times...

                         

PS. Also of intrest, blogger spell check dictionary has no record of the word "Twitterpated", they really should update thier dictionary. I mean, Bambi was relased in like 1930 or something, get with the program spell check...   : )
    

Handcrafted Wine Gobblets added to our Etsy shop!

New items are being added daily to both our eBay and our Etsy shops in preperation for the upcoming gift giving season. We are especially proud of this item as they were handcrafted

 by Grrl Picker, Lacy Berman. 

Great for wine, tea light candles, fill with candy or a gift card, the mind boggles as to how many awesome gift ideas this one item brings to mind! 

More great vintage and handcrafted items being added daily, shop early for best selection! 

: )

                              -Laura 

   

Tip of the Day - Fancy Schmancy Tape

While wrapping a package just moments ago I stumbled on a solution to a problem that has been daunting me ever since I started selling on line and mailing out packages on an almost daily basis.

Namely, the horror that is cheap tape.

   I love fancy brand tape, it's thicker, it sticks better, it doesn't tear into skinny little strips that make the whole rest of the roll 'not quite right', it's just all around awesome-tastic in every aspect except one.
    That is,
       it costs nearly 3 times (and sometimes more than 3 times) the price of cheap dollar store/job lot tape.

    Til today I have had an arsonal of tape for every occasion hanging on my tape rack,
   (old coat rack nailed to the wall next to my desk but that's a tip for another post...)
    but now,
        LO!
    I have discovered that it is not actually the fancy schmancy tape that I have coveted for special use through the years, it is actually the fancy schmancy dispenser that has been my faithful friend!

    I still love the plaid brand tape, it does actually rock like no other for larger packages more loaded with fancy things but for basic shipping needs, taking the dollar store tape and sticking it in the old used up fancy dispenser works perfectly!

   I don't need thick tape to make sure an address label stays put or to tape down that metal latch on a large envelope doesn't cause my package to get torn to shreds by some automated mail sorter at the post office, cheap thin tape works just fine for that purpose if I only could get it to stop shredding into strips of odd widths and just come off the roll smoothly...

   Tah dah!

       Fancy tape holder refilled with dollar store tape!

   Note the cheap tape sticking up jauntily ready for use and not sticking to the wrong side of itself!

   Yep, me and my brain are feelin' pretty groovy right about now...  

  

Vintage Boston Postcards

Vintage Boston postcards found this past weekend while flea marketing in lower NH:  

The mysterious glamour of cheap women found hanging around The Grafton Flea Market

We haven't a clue as to whom these fine beauties are. But for the low, low price of only one dollar each, we simply could not leave them to be pawed by every "Tom, Dick and Harry" that came along last Sunday at The Grafton Flea Market.

 

    The bottom one signed by "Princess Pat" I thought might be a little hard to find as that is most likely not the given name a woman of adult age in 1947 was likely to be born with.

 (These days, who knows? There are probably a dozen or so Princess's in my town alone. But I digress...)

The top one I didn't expect to be so hard to find out more about but had no luck at all searching "Clancy Kelly", "Clancy Keily" or even "Bernard Baker".
Whoever she was (is?) I guess will remain a secret between her and Bernard, I'm stumped...

     Not knowing who they are could make these glossy 8x10's hard to resell but we might wind up posting them on Etsy.  (We've sold other vintage photos of folks with out any names at all on Etsy, it seems as good a place as any, and a better place than the dollar table at the flea market, to find these two a good home...)

    I'm not sure I want to sell them just yet tho,
       it's my thoughts that when Grrl Pickers eventually opens up a brick and mortar location,
         we could build a collection of these that would look awesome on the wall.
   Class up our (so far imaginary) joint and all that jazz...
 
    Besides, I'm getting more and more attached every time I look at them.

     I've already started calling them "Mary Ann" and "Ginger" and now that they have real names, I can see myself having trouble actually parting with them.

The surprising glamour of cheap women found at the flea market, what's not to love about a day spent picking through the bargin table?

                            : )

                                               -Laura

HUGE yard sale this Saturday September 22, located on Bowker St. Brookline, MA

   For folks in the Boston area,
         this is event is going to be the CAN'T MISS yard sale of the season!
 
    8 families are participating and we know these folks have great taste. Considering the beautiful homes these gently used and vintage items are coming from, we have no doubt that this  yard sale is going to be JAM PACKED with all kinds of great and wonderful finds.

   The yard sale / block sale will be from 9am until 1pm on Bowker Street in Brookine, MA 02446.

(Bowker Street is located off of Kent street and is accesible by public transportation, it's just a short block or 2 away from the Brookline Village Green Line T stop.)

 Bowker is not a long street and the sale will be very visable and easy to find once you are on the street, small park on the corner of Bowker and Kent is a great place for young kids to play after you shop the sale! A fun Saturday morning out for the whole family!

  We have been informed that items for sale will include:

       Victorian lamp parts and other brass and iron "goodies" great for steampunk creations
       A vintage wicker rocking chair
       Breuer chairs  and classic Harvard chairs
       Cuisinart food processor
       Videos
       LOTS of books  

           And much, much more!

    If you only make it to one more yard sale this season, make this the one, it's sure to have something great for everyone!

      Also, you can have a fun after sale adventure by taking a look at the vintage and antique images (link below) of the Brookline Village area and see how the buildings have changed over the years:
 
     The Brookline Historical Society Archive Images of Brookline Village

      Grrl Pickers spent a lot of thier grrlhood in Brookline and are always delighted to go back and revisit our old neighborhoods to see how things have changed.

          Hope to see you at the yard sale, it's looking like Saturday is going to be the good weather day for the weekend and it will be a really great time!  

                    Happy 'Yard-Sailing'!

                                       -Laura and Lacy

                                          : )     : )  
   
   

   
           

Large Multi-Family Condo Complex Yard Sale This Weekend (9/15)

We met a lovely woman at the Grafton flea a short while back and she informed us that her condo complex would be holding a large yard sale this coming Saturday, Sept 15th.

  Since she purchaced a couple of great 78rpm records from us we can attest that her taste is awesome and we bet she'll have all kinds of great stuff for sale, as well as lot of neighbors with great stuff as well.

   Unfortunately, we have other plans this weekend and can't make it but that just means more great pickings for anyone who can.

  The yard sale is:  Saturday, Sept. 15, from 8:30am to 1:30pm. at The Laurelwood Condos,  Laurelwood Drive, Hopedale, MA

    It looks like it's going to be a great weekend for yard sale-ing and Grrl Pickers wish The Laurelwood Condos great success with their sale!

              Have a great weekend, happy picking!

                         : )    : )

     

I can't believe it's not Kathie Lee!

Fun find of the day:

  Going through old copies of Sports Illustrated looking for which articles I should mention when listing them for sale on eBay I found this little retro nugget.

    It's interesting that in 1981, Mrs. Frank Gifford doesn't merit getting her own name printed in an ad that she clearly is the "star" of, and now in 2012, we are all way more familiar with the first name of Frank Gifford's current wife than his.

Frank can't believe it's not butter?

 Grrl Pickers can't believe it's not Kathie Lee.

Scenes from the flea markets (Grafton, MA and Avon, MA)

Past couple of weekends in a photographic nutshell:

Setting up:

Lizard man at Grafton: When we mentioned that we had seen him the week prior as well, Lizard Man replied, "Well, we like to make sure he gets out a bit..."

A man not only concious of his pets physical health but mental health as well, gotta love him.   

Lacy surveys the kingdom at Avon Baptist Church Flea:  

Much thanks to Katya for stopping by and making sure we have at least one picture with the both of us in it:

And one more just in case on of us doesn't like the first one, (K knows us well):

Crack of dawn at Grafton, we had already been there an hour fending off early birds with our "lack of flashlights" super powers:

Moments later, same place with different setting on the camera. Pollen by the bucketloads raining down on us all day? Yep.

Flea marketing, it's not for the weak of sinus...

Later in the day, same spot starts to get rockin':

Grafton flea in full mid day gear:

Perhaps Lacy will for give me for posting this picture of her with a silly look on her face as her hair looks so spiffy in it, perhaps....
     

Made great use of the case gifted to us by the awesome Donna Berquist:

 Grafton, MA. Later in the afternoon as things started to wind down, can't say there isn't a lot of beauty to be found where the rustiest of junk presides....

Messing about apres flea int he Grrl Picker office, AKA Laura's basement:

Taking our act on the road:

Would we sell more if we did it all on skates? 

We have all winter to practice and test that theroy out next spring!  

   
   

Pick tip of the week: Knight Rider Kenner Toy Car

Not sure what is attracting bidders to this item, is it the car or the David Hasslehoff action figure?
 
    They certainly are bidding on it in droves tho, 24 bids and it's up past 50 bucks. I would not have guessed that such a silly thing from a quite forgetable TV show would still be so in demand with eBay buyers.

     But then I was the first (and only) person in line at my local video store the day that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie came out on VHS so who am I to scoff at someone elses desire for a downright silly thing?

     Grrl Picker tip if the day is to keep an eye out in your parents basement and at those yard sales and for Knight Rider stuff (aspecially by Kenner), there seems to be quite the demand for it: 

Knight Rider KITT car toy with action figure

   Who woulda thunk?!?

Vintage Magazines

We have been having some great success lately selling vintage magazines through eBay and I thought I'd write a post with some suggestions for other sellers or anyone who might be considering tossing that old stack of magazines that 'grandma' or 'grandpa' collected.

   Who knows what the human mind may sentimentally attach itself to and for what reasons but as vintage re-sellers we are so glad that people do collect and hold onto what seem at the time to be everyday items but that as years past, turn to gold.

   We started by posting an old 1980's issue of National Enquirer that we had picked up for free on a table of FREE stuff at a flea market and when that sold we started asking friends and family if they had any old magazines they would like to get rid of.
 We hit the jackpot with Laura's Mother in Law who had squirrelled away a bunch of old magazines that Laura's husband Michael had delivered to the house when he was still living there.
      "I just piled them up in the spaces under the eaves of the house, they made good insulation. No one's touched them in years."
    She invited Laura over to have a look and now the Grrl Pickers are the proud owners of over 200 copies of LIFE, TIME and Sports Illustrated.
  
    LIFE, with it's great pictures is one that a lot of collectors held on to so even beautiful commemorative issues are rather commonly seen and don't earn much when sold online but, TIME and Sports Illustrated are tyoes of magazines that people for the most part, read and then tossed away when the next issue arrived the following week.
     Looking at the covers only, the issues we have don't seem very exciting but it's when we start opening up the issues that the true rusty gold comes to the surface.
    The state of the economy in 1977 is not of great interest today but looking closer at issues of TIME we are reminded that 1977 was the year Star Wars was released and of course a national news magazine has stories covering the excitement of that debut.

   Up and coming young senators of 1978 are a pretty yawn inspiring bunch but looking closer at issues of TIME from that year we are reminded that Ralph Bakshi released his (at the time) ground breaking animated adaptation of The Lord of The Rings. Old issues of general interest magazines have advertising and articles about that moment in the history of a very popular collectible franchise.

    On a more grim note, many old news magazines also cover true crime of the day. Stories relating to the police hunt and capture of notorious criminals are almost as collectible as advertising and articles from popular movies.

   Which brings us to Sports Illustrated. The bulk of the magazines we recently aquired are issues of Sports Illustrated and not being a big sports fan I (Laura) wasn't all that keen on diving into those right away. I also didn't want to accidentally sell any issues that might be sentimental to my husband, as they are actually his magazines that he subscribed to some 30+ years ago...  But having looked through all the TIME and LIFE I brought an interesting looking issue of Sports Illustrated upstairs to look through while I ate breakfast. It had a cover story about illegal gambling and game score fixing that focused on Boston college level sports teams so, at the very least I thought, the local angle could be interesting to me and maybe others. The I saw the byline,
                                      Henry Hill.
   Highly collectible mobster turned informant, whose story became a very popular movie, THAT Henry Hill.
 
    From glamourous actresses (we sold a TIME with Diane Lane on the cover for 6 bucks plus shipping to someone in the UK), to movies of note, (a LOTR heavy issue of TIME is also on it's way to the UK), to common and not so common criminals, (another issue of TIME with an article about the not yet caught 'Yorkshire Ripper' recently sold for just over 10 dollars plus shipping), old magazines are chocked full of all kinds of saleable goodness, if only we take the time to look past the boring cover stories.
  
      I'm not so sure the mountains of National Geographic collecting dust in everyone's "Nana's" house are worth much of anything, just being so commonly collected they are probably not but who knows?

    We are endlessly surprised by what people will buy and just want to pass on the message to any other sellers, don't let a great pick slip away!
Give those old boxes of magazines another look past the covers, the potential value of what you find just might surprise you.

Mary Pickford article on the occasion of her death:

Serial Murderer, John Wayne Gacy:

Ad for Alien, the first one:

Article about Norman Rockwell on the occasion of his passing:

   
   I expected to get maybe a buck or 2 for these at the flea markets and I am finding they are in demand internationally, go figure...      
  
   
   

Reflections Antique Empourium Cohasset, MA

We have driven by this place a million times on our way to the beach and it never seems to be open when we are in the area but it always looks like it's a thriving business, it never looked like it was out of business, just kind of semi-permanently closed.

As the building is so intriguing, we were determined that as soon as we saw it open we would stop immediately and check it out. We got our chance this past weekend and were not disappointed. 

Reflections Antique Emporium is an absolutely magical cornucopia of vintage wonderment. It's the sort of place that you would imagine (or would like to imagine) that everything comes alive at night to dance and frolic with each other as soon as the proprietress locks up for the night.      

 

The eclectic arrangements on the shelves both out front and tucked into alcoves of the building are wildly imaginative and encourage browsers to not only take one thing home, but to take many as it's almost painful to consider breaking up such fascinating tableau.   

Old, new and crafty combinations of the two meet all over the shop. 

The shop comprises both floors in what was for sure once a single family dwelling, and something for the whole family can be found throughout. Toys, clothes, books, games, jewelry, housewares, ephemera, there is nothing that was ever manufactured for consumer trade that is not somehow, somewhere represented in this magical shop.   

 At first glance it seems kind of crazy crowded and I was afraid to wander too far or look to close for fear of not being able to find my way out and/or breaking something expensive but a lot of thinking went into the set up as each small room propels you into the next with the joyous glee of discovery.     

Don't miss the upstairs!

Not just an antiques emporium but a showcase for upcycling artisans as well:

It's hard to miss the elephant in the yard. Elegant whimsy meet brilliant marketing in such a way that you can't tell you've been sucked it til you are already there, on a buzy main road posing next to a disinterested elephant...  

Someday, I hope Grrl Pickers has a bricks and mortar shop even half as lovely as this one.

A fun place to browse with an absolutely top notch inventory. Prices are reasonable for the great items if one were looking for a gift or to add to a personal collection but it's not the best picking location as the items contained within are priced at their fair market value. 

But it is right next to the beach so even if you head out there and can't make a great score, there's always going to pick some great shells off the beach to make sure you don't go home empty handed. 

Grrl Pickers highly recommends a visit to Reflections Antique Emporium to anyone who may be in or passing through the Nantasket beach area (located at 808 Jerusalem Rd, Cohasset, MA tel: 781-383-6465, call first if you are headed there from a distance, the hours are a bit erratic and they are frequently closed. Probably out getting more great stuff for the shop!)  

Almost forgotten history - Barney Rapp

One of the reasons I love digging through old dusty ephemara is the trip through almost forgotten history it can lead you on.

   A week or so ago I made a great pick of over pieces of vintage sheet music and as I have been posting them in our ebay and etsy shops, I have been researching the cover artists (both illustrators and performers) and finding out more about music in the 1920's-1930's.

      A really fun find tonight was Barney Rapp.

I had a piece of sheet music with "Featured by Barney Rapp and his New Englanders" on the cover so I searched Barney Rapp on ebay and you tube to find out more about him (and what kind of ball park to price my item in).

  I found this:

    Barney Rapp promotional postcard


And this:

Barney Rapp You Tube video

  
     Apparently Barney Rapp was one of the first performers that Doris Day sang with, it seems that she was a young teen at the time ( this rings true with information I remember from a biography I read about her years ago) so at that time, Barney Rapp would have been the star and Doris Day would have been a novice singer getting her first big breaks.

    Funny how time changes things around.

 Here is a link to the sheet music I posted for Grrl Pickers on eBay:

    Just A Year Ago Tonight Barney Rapp and his New Englanders sheet music      
 
    

Cute Etsy thing of the day - Frog Hat for Pug

Kind of a niche market, before you order this thing you pretty much should have a pug dog ready and waiting to wear it but I just could not resist how incredibly cute this dog is and presumably, how much cuter it is wearing this incredibly cute hat:

Frog hat for pug dog

   Oh the cuteness of the different poses, I can hardly stand it! : )

  

Pick of the Week - Trumpet Girl Brooch

This week's Pick of the Week is an item we found on Etsy that embodies the fun of summer parades and easy going weekend whimsy:

Antique Convect Glass Photo Brooch, Paris

  I picture this brooch securing a fat silk ribbon to a wide brim summer hat and perhaps taken on an afternoon boat ride. I love vintage items that you can easily imagine a story around, this is one of those great sort of vintage finds that Grrl Pickers love.

                                 -Laura

Time to put away the flannel jammies...

Grrl Pickers made a new friend on facebook today and are so impressed with our new friend's eBay shop that we have decided to make one of her great vintage items our newest,

 "Pick of the Week"

 This is the perfect thing to wear while sipping an icy cocktail and watching the blades of a vintage metal fan spin by an open window on a hot summers night:

From BrownEyesBlue ebay shop, Vintage 1950's nightie

 Check out the rest of her shop while you are there, lots of fun stuff at very reasonable prices.

  Summer time is coming, is your evening wardrobe ready?

                       : )

Pick of the Week

  This week's Pick of the Week is a trading card from the 1978 BeeGees flick Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band feturing Aerosmith.

Pick of the Week - Aerosmith trading card 1978

  'Cause the only thing Grrl Pickers like better than hot guitar guys is vintage guitar guys. : )

# Use the 19th

Grrl Pickers are absolutely delighted to post thier 35th item in the Grrl Pickers Etsy shop:

The 19th ammendment, use it or lose it.

We can't wait to make more of these and have a bunch of our 'uppity women' friends over for tea! : )

 

Click below to view in Grrl Pickers Etsy shop:

# Use the 19th Tea Towel

Lucky Day

A couple of days ago I found myself digging through the dusty gold at my favorite place to pick old records ( Lucky Day Thrift in Stoughton, MA) when I came across something unusual.

 I didn't realize just how unusual until I got it home and gave it a closer look.

    I have to preface this by stating just how much I love 78rpm records. From the substantial weight of the records themselves, to the importance they place on the song by only featuring a limited amount of the very best ones on each record to the great labels and history behind the artists and recordings. Each 78rpm record produced was made to be played At the time they were produced,
 no one was thinking,
   "I'm going to keep this sealed in it's original package because someday there will be a thing called the internet and my grandkids can go to college on the value of this record."
     Even if the original music fans who bought these records had a crystal ball, they would have chosen to not invest heavily in 78's. At best, I make a buck or 2 on each I sell. Enough to get me on the subway to get to work in the morning but not enough to send me to Harvard, or even Yale. Still, it's the thrill of the chase that makes the picking game fun...

    Every scratch on every 78 record I buy makes me think of some "cat" in a racoon coat carrying a stack of hits over to the home of some flapper "kid" with a scandalously short cropped hair cut so they can perfect crazy dance moves to that same hit song repeated over and over again to the delight of the whole neighborhood.
     Maybe I've just got an over active imagination but considering the condition I find these things in, I don't think I'm all that far off the mark.

Anyhoo...

    Yesterday I found a selection of records that tickled my fancy and an item that I thought was a bit of neat old advertising so I went to reverse haggle with the boss.
   (Lucky Day profits benefit charity and I have never once left that shop without insisting that they take more than they are asking for the piles of great finds I walk out with.
   "Really? Only 5 bucks? Did you see how awesome this thing is? I don't want to cheat you. I'll give you 10 bucks and that's my final offer."
    (A 1940 edition in acceptable condition of "The Well of Lonliness", Ink Spots 78's, many vintage sweaters and handbags that Grrl Pickers easily made 500% profit upon re-sale. The place is a GOLD mine for quantity vintage sellers)

   But I digress...

      This is the fun thing I found on my last pick at Lucky Day:

   It was not a neat piece of advertising ephemera, it's an actual record.

     I noticed the grooves on the front and looked up a few key words from the record.

      "Durium" records were produced in the mid 1930's to accomodate the shrinking wallets of depression era music lovers. They were inexpensively produced and in turn, cost less for the consumer. They're not particularly tough but that makes finding one in halfway decent condition even more rare.

     Fun for me as a contemporary seller is that this tune was apparently used in the soundtrack for the modern flick 'Water For Elephants'. A movie made of a book that I and many others absolutely loved.
   This record is now posted for auction on ebay, let's see if anyone else finds it half as fascinating as I do...

    And so the circle keeps spinning, can wait to see what treaures the flip side (our next pick) brings!
                                                                    : )