Khaki Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 I am not sure whether this is the correct place for these thoughts as I was not totally satisfied with the options as an alternative. I just posted a photograph of a GW toffee tin under 'miscellaneous' and upon looking at other postings under the same 'banner', I still felt that it was in the wrong place. As ephemera is a well indulged collecting theme, would it be possible to have a post dedicated to that popular area, thoughts anyone? khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 But a tin is not ephemera as it gets reused. Football programmes, bus tickets, leave chits, leaflets etc etc are typical ephemera as they have no use other than at the time of issue and are normally discarded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnumbellum Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 There is a problem of categorisation. 'Ephemera' means literally, 'lasting for only a day', and normally refers to such items as bus, tram or train tickets, events programmes not specially produced as souvenirs, promotional flyers or leaflets, even luggage labels. A toffee tin has a much longer life, and whatever other category one might slot it into, I would dispute it as ephemera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 There are loads of items that fall outside any specific topic heading and if there is no specific place to post then I guess “Other” will suffice. Anyway your post gives me the excuse to post this olive oil/vinegar dispenser and an item of ephemera! Cheers Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 19 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 19 June , 2014 In terms of definition that is quite correct, but continued survival of these items is that all have evolved into mementoes regardless of their original disposable nature. Whether or not they are called ephemera or bric a brac or just mementoes does not matter to me, it's just that I thought they deserve a place of their own. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 19 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Thank you Norman, The older I get, the more I enjoy the simpler items of what once was everyday use and I appreciate their survival. Wonderful items ! khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Please repost your image of the tin here, another item of mine difficult to categorize Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 But a tin is not ephemera as it gets reused. Football programmes, bus tickets, leave chits, leaflets etc etc are typical ephemera as they have no use other than at the time of issue and are normally discarded Slightly off-topic, when we moved house some years ago, my father-in-law came to help shift stuff. I the attic he found several boxes of Cambridge United programmes, going back to the mid-70's. He suggested chucking them out, much to my horror. I pointed out they were collectors' items ... he pointed out, in return, that I was the only person stupid enough to collect them. Fair comment. We still have them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 19 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Norman as requested khaki (PS. very nice tank) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Thanks Khaki a very nice article. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 There used to be a craze for collecting ephemera, but it was very short-lived. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 19 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Well Ron, I may be crazy, but I still enjoy the simple items of the GW years, it's a strange world really, if any of these 'ephemera' items were Grandfathers they would be treasured family items to be passed down, but when they have no provenance they fall into a neglected realm. Oh well ! more for those that enjoy them I suppose. regards khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest exuser1 Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Many years ago uncoverd the letters photographs of a Great War pilot ,who happned to be the test pilot who first flew the Hawker Hurricane,the auction house tasked with clearing the house had put them in bin bags and left them for the bin men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 19 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Hello. Incredible story, I wonder how many other treasures have met a similar fate, don't like to even consider it really. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_sole Posted 19 June , 2014 Share Posted 19 June , 2014 Must Buy Potato Masher Oil Bottle ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnumbellum Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 Hello. Incredible story, I wonder how many other treasures have met a similar fate, don't like to even consider it really. khaki One such is a collection of letters written by WW1 conscientious objectors to James Douglas Maynard in Birmingham, due to be thrown out by the auctioneers responsible for clearing his house after his death in the 1950s. Fortunately, they were spotted in time by someone at the sale. They are now in the Imperial War Museum, and were the subject of a BBC Radio WM interview a few months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest exuser1 Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 Hello, Incredible story, I wonder how many other treasures have met a similar fate, don't like to even consider it really. khaki Had a couple of instances such as that,whole group of letters from a young officer name of Lavers got MC at 18 then KIA ,letters and paperwork were with a bundle of 1970s knitting patternshad to buy the patterns to aquire the letters! The Bulman MC letters and albums were a exception the Hurricane log books have never been found and its belived they were lost in the 1960s. I had a instance with a antique furniture dealer in Kent,they had cleared a home taken the furniture and the rest was to go to the dump the driver passed on to me all the paperwork ,photograph albums ,documents and WW2 medals of a Glider pilot major saw action at Arnhem and Rhine crossings then killed on one of the Comet airliner crashes, i traced the collection back to the dealer and asked if he had any other items from the home, i was hoping for the logbooks "Oh no we through that cxxp out" he said ,i walked out of his showroom full of massed produced cheap furniture and wonderd as to if these muppets know their game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 There used to be a craze for collecting ephemera, but it was very short-lived. Ron Just one day in May - how time flies Incidentally it is amazing how ephemera can turn up, clearing my late aunt's flat some years ago I was looking through her books and found, used to mark a recipe in one, a 1945 USAAF requisition slip allotting her a hotel room in Brussels (she was with SHAEF) I've also found scraps of stuff in the pages of WW1 vintage books bought in the 2nd hand shops in Hay on Wye (but nothing earlier than 1921 and nothing military but one can always hope) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kath Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 A personal prejudice - I treasure items classed as ephemera such as postcards, letters, etc. which have a direct link to a man, over his medals. Kath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themonsstar Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 The first lot of bits are table napkins from around Belgium and Northern France, the Hill 60 is a Bell I picked them all up in a charity shop in Woking years ago, the second picture of the tin of Turkish cigarettes issued to the troops and the fez were given to me by an old lady whose father was an officer in the Royal Army medical Corps, the tin has its pips and crowns inside. Just some bits I have picked up what don't fit within my collecting theme but I still like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 20 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 20 June , 2014 Two items that I purchased had been found behind a drawer in a desk were the award letter to a QSA medal and an army commission same period different name, strangely enough sometime later I was in a small militaria store that I frequented and in came a young man who started a conversation with the dealer, he was as it turned out a collector and customer. As it was a small store and there being only the three of us there all conversations could be easily heard. He mentioned to the dealer that he owned his G/fathers QSA medal (not being for sale)as a matter of general interest. It was the same name as on my QSA document. I politely added that fact to the conversation thinking that he may wish to acquire it. He looked me straight in the eye for a moment then turned away from me (he was next to me) spoke momentarily again to the store keeper and then left. I never saw him again. It struck me as quite odd behavior, as he could have had the document to add to the medal. I have never quite gotten over that small incident. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 20 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 20 June , 2014 Hello T.M.S. Very interesting items, the napkin rings look great and the tin and fez are amazing finds. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 One for the pedants here. A 1920s dictionary of mine gives ephemera as a singular noun, plural ephemerae. A modern one gives ephemeron as the singular, ephemera the plural. Can we have a ruling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kath Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 Khaki, some mystery as to how he obtained the medal? Kath, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 20 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 20 June , 2014 Hello Kath, As it was his grandfathers, I always presumed that he inherited it. regards khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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