The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 13, March 24, 2002, Article 12

BOXES, DUST JACKETS, AND NUMISMATIC EPHEMERA

  An article about a recent sale on eBay brings relates in a
  roundabout way to numismatic ephemera.  There are a lot
  of interesting items out there which have a close connection
  to numismatic items or numismatic literature, but which
  escape the attention of all but the most ardent collectors.

  From the March 2002 Wired News article:
  "A lot of seemingly worthless items are auctioned on eBay
  every day.  But perhaps taking the phenomenon to new
  heights, an empty cardboard box has just been auctioned
  for more than $500.

  The box dates from 1984 and contained one of the first
  Macintosh computers.  The box was sold without the computer.

  "My Mac is long gone," explained the seller in the auction's
  listing, "but the box has been sitting in my attic for the last
  18 years."

  The box was slightly yellowed and discolored on the top
  and sides, but did include all of the original packaging
  materials: the Styrofoam inserts, plastic sleeves and boxes
  for the keyboard and mouse."

http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,51208,00.html

  How many 19th century purchasers of U.S. Mint proof
  coins saved them in the original packaging?  How many
  of these envelopes and packages have been thrown away
  over the years?  Do any of our E-Sylum readers have any?

  Similarly, the packaging and marketing material for U.S.
  commemorative coins is also an interesting sideline.
  Over time we may find that these ephemeral items have
  a good bit of collector value on their own, much like in
  the book world where the lack of a dust jacket can
  slice hundreds of dollars off the value of an otherwise
  fine book.

  Has anyone seen this phenomenon in the numismatic
  literature market?   I know the late Ken Lowe told
  me that when cataloging books for The Money Tree
  sales, he deliberately left out any mention of a dust
  jacket,  preferring not to have to go into that level of
  detail to satisfy the few collectors who were concerned
  about them.  This practice also prevented nitpickers
  from using an imperfection in the dust jacket as a
  strike against the book, or casual catalog readers to
  mistake a dust jacket problem for one with the book
  itself.    If the winning bidder's book arrived with a
  dust jacket, it would be a happy bonus.

  While I never get too excited over a dust jacket, in
  in my own library I have continually upgraded the
  condition of my books, and always kept the nicest
  dust jackets.  I was surprised to discover that some
  jackets are indeed very hard to come by.  Some
  of my books are wearing the only examples of
  original dust jackets I've ever seen.  Thoughts,
  anyone?

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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