Educate redcaimen on the stuff he finds in his familys storage

[redcaimen]

Even after dividing the obvious good stuff with my siblings and their grasping avaricious wives, I am in possesion of a few generations of packrat crap, most of it worthless,some of it possibly worth something and some of it obviously worth something but we arent sure what.

SF has a lot of people who know a lot about a lot of different things. Please let me know if any of the stuff I list might be worth something. I am saving up for a "hookers and booze world tour" and am eager to convert my ancestors precious memories and sentimental nick nacks into indifferent uncaring greenbacks.

Tapa cloth - yards of it. Big sheets of it. coasters made out of it. book covers made out of it. - Grandparents lived in hawaii in the early 20's

Real hula girl type grass skirt in excellent condition. I assume made in 1920 or even earlier.

Menus and official passenger lists from the SS Manoa of the Matson line. - My grandparents are listed in the printed passenger list as the Caimens of Washington DC.

Going through a tapa cloth bound keepsake book I have a pass to the AS Hindenburg for Lakehurst New Jersey (where it blew up) signed by the ships watch officer but for 1936 and not the fateful 1937. Also a station guest pass signed by the commanding officer of the US naval air station there.

A ticket to the 10th olympiad in LA. 1932

An Army Navy game ticket (torn in half) 1936

An identification card for the Panama Pacific International Exposition signed by my grandmother and indicating that it must be signed in the presence of a clerk. Not really sure what this is. It says on it to "return this card to inside inn cashier on departure".

A ticket for the Delaware river Ferry - good for passage of one two horse or auto vehicle.

Probably about 1000 postcards from 1905 into the 40's - some untouched and others with messages and stamps.

Many early roadmaps. Maybe a hundred.

A 1946 dog license We had the 138th dog licensed in San Diego.
A 1952 dog license (probably for the same dog "suzie-Q" number 15375. A good indication of San diegos growth and the growth of civil control like registering your dog.

Boatloads of china and stemware but none in complete sets. The complete sets have all been grabbed up. Do salt and pepper shakers have much value if the rest of the dining set no longer exist?

Thats enough for now. I guess I will need to take pictures.

 

[jgold47]

thats pretty cool, I would love to find some stuff like that. I bet most of the tickets and historical crap you could sell on ebay. I bet there are a lot of collectors for stuff like that. Hell half of that stuff sounds like it would find its way into a local applebees.

 

[Joffrey]

Half of those things should be tossed in the trash.

 

[rdawson808]

Aside from the cloth and the grass skirt, I'd probably keep every single thing. But I'm nostalgic like that. I truly wish my family had stuff like this sitting around.

b

 

[redcaimen]

Youre just encouraging me. My therapist seems to think this is not in my best interests.

I have photos of more crap but Im having trouble managing my attachments.

I have a pachinko machine that we got when I was a kid in Japan. They were removing the old machines to make way for new ones I think. This was 1967 so this machine has got to be 1960 or older. I have pictures on flickr but dont know how to get them here. There are only a few balls left though.

I have 4 bills of confederate money. It looks real. Not the bullshit fake stuff you find in gift stores at civil war battle sites. a 5, a 10 and two 20's.

I have several tins of iranian caviar from approx 1972. There was a Savak (sp?) agent (at least that was our assumption - actually my parents assumption. I was more interested in getting home in time to watch captain 20 on tv) who was fond of my mother and would send some weekly.

I have the skulls of two small animals. One really small - probably a mouse. The other much bigger. Possum? Fox?

I have a brass bottle opener and corkscrew in the shape of a fish. Looks like 40's or 50's style weirdness. Its kinda cool so I dont know whether I would trade it for hookers or booze.

I have what is described on the original packaging in Japlish as "a Map-Kerchief The Map of the Japan". Its a handerchief with a detailed map of japan on it.

I have stationary and airmail envelopes for the Hotel Del' Annapurna, Kathmandu, Nepal. The stationary helpfully informs you that the cable is "ANNAPURNA" and the phone number is 11711.

What I hope to matierially aid my H and B world tour are what look to be chinese wicker baskets. My grandmother was big into chinese stuff. I will have to wait until I can get photos of these. Hopefully somebody out there will recognize their shocking value and I can begin planning my itinerary.

I also have two ashtrays from the republican convention in san diego in 1972. They depict an elephant with the words Oops! under it. Is this because elephants make a big mess or because they didnt actually hold the repub convention in san diego in 1972 but someone assumed they would and went ahead and had ashtrays made? I dont know.

I have a nixon for president button.

I have a McCarthy for Fuhrer button but it reminds me of my father so its not for sale.

Enough for now.


Whats a good photo hosting site that is EXTREMELY easy to understand and use?

 

[redcaimen]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

Aside from the cloth and the grass skirt, I'd probably keep every single thing. But I'm nostalgic like that. I truly wish my family had stuff like this sitting around.

b

No Dawson. Its a sickness. I have grade school report cards for my grandparents. No one in my family has thrown out anything for friggin generations. Im tired of paying storage bills. I want my garage back. Yes, I feel guilty tossing some of this crap but my hookers and booze tour will not wait for sentimentality.

 

[rdawson808]

Originally Posted by redcaimen

No Dawson. Its a sickness. I have grade school report cards for my grandparents. No one in my family has thrown out anything for friggin generations. Im tired of paying storage bills. I want my garage back. Yes, I feel guilty tossing some of this crap but my hookers and booze tour will not wait for sentimentality.

Then chuck it all in the ******* garbage and stop asking questions. I think it's worth something, pimarily because I have no such memories of my family. If you don't, then get rid of it.
b

 

[jgold47]

I really think all that **** would sell on ebay. You would be shocked. Take it to one of those ebay places and watch!

 

[redcaimen]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

Then chuck it all in the ******* garbage and stop asking questions. I think it's worth something, pimarily because I have no such memories of my family. If you don't, then get rid of it.
b

You dont understand. Im trying to convert this crap into money for my H and B tour much like chicken **** can be converted into fuel to run internal combustion engines.

I found another animal skull! Any more and Im going to start to wonder what the hell was going on.

If it makes you feel any better, Dawson, no one has any memories past at the very most great grandparents. Usually you know who they were, what their names were and maybe a story or two about them but beyond this threshold the people in the pictures staring back at you are total strangers. Your father is your link to your grandfather and you are your childrens link to your dad. There is no genuine sentiment beyond this reach. Just names and maybe faces.

 

[Dakota rube]

I've sold boxes of similar miscellany that was my parents' and pocketed, at last summation, nearly $20,000. You'd be surprised what some people will pay for what appears to be junk.

 

[redcaimen]

Originally Posted by jgold47

I really think all that **** would sell on ebay. You would be shocked. Take it to one of those ebay places and watch!

I have been looking at ebay. It looks like the stray porcelain will sell there. Im learning you can find out quite a bit about the value of glassware etc.. here.

I was dissapointed in the market for old LP's. I have an unopened sound of music album with julie andrews looking about 19 in the picture. One was for sale at $9.99. No takers. Sheesh. Johnny cash albums maybe $3 bucks. Not even worth listing.

Learned about the confederate cash too. Nothing special. maybe 15 to 25 a bill. Worth selling I guess but I want a piece of crap that I can sell for hundreds. Aside from my giant clam shells it doesnt look like its going to happen.

Still have hope for the chinese wicker stuff.

 

[daft]

Either sell or donate to a museum.

 

[Dewey]

If the postcards are real photos, you may have your goldmine. By photo I mean actual photographs, i.e., postcards made by printing negatives on heavy postcard-sized photo stock.

Even older, non-photo city views can be worth a lot.

 

[Connemara]

Cool stuff red. Incidentally, my grandmother is in the process of cleaning out the home in which she has lived since 1957. She's a notorious packrat and I imagine there are some things worth saving. Actually, she's already given me some books from the 1930s.

 

[redcaimen]

Originally Posted by Dewey

If the postcards are real photos, you may have your goldmine. By photo I mean actual photographs, i.e., postcards made by printing negatives on heavy postcard-sized photo stock.

Even older, non-photo city views can be worth a lot.

Thanks, Dewey. This is the kind of tip I would have no clue about but I figured someone on SF would. I'll gather a bunch of these.