On a cold but dry Saturday, the 55th annual Papermania Plus opened to a large and enthusiastic crowd that was on hand to delve through the wide variety of ephemera and related materials offered. The show, conducted at the Harford XL Center on January 10 and 11, featured more than 160 exhibitors from throughout the East Coast states, as well as Michigan, Ohio, California and Canada.
The popular show draws an almost cultlike crowd obsessed with the Papermania offerings that include such items as toys, historical documents, rare books, posters, advertising, daguerreotypes and trading cards.
“Many of our dealers have a dedicated following in their specialties,” Gary Gipstein of Hillcrest Promotions, Wethersfield, Conn., said. Gipstein’s parents, Paul Gipstein and Arlene Shea, founded the show in 1976 and Gary and his mother continue the tradition, much to the delight of exhibitors and shoppers.
“We always do well at this show,” said Bob Zaremba of West Chatham, Mass. His point was proven when two Ben Nason (American, b 1915) 1940s travel posters promoting the New Haven Railroad, drawn by the well-known artist in a graphic Art Deco style, were sold soon after the opening bell. Zaremba and Danielle Jeanloz, his wife and partner at Antique Maps & Prints, were also showing The New Topographical Map of the State of Connecticut, 1850, by Clark & Tackaberry.
Ken Florey of Madison, Conn., brought unusual items to the show this year, including a late Nineteenth Century/pre-1920 collection of suffrage movement pins. About 300 in total, the collection included pins from the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in its signature colors of gold and black or purple, green and white. A tobacco jar with the same colors proclaimed, “I say, ‘down with trousers,'” and suffrage movement sheet music, one dating to 1850.
Other whimsical offerings were a vintage “Physogs, The Novel Card Game,” circa 1930s, with original parts and instructions, offered at Jane and David Cohn, New York City, and a huge †roughly 10 feet wide by 6 feet high †Bill Bailey, circa 1945, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus clown poster at John Hendsey’s booth. “I thought it had an elephant on it,” said the Rumney, N.H., dealer as his boothmate, Dan Gaeta of Waterbury, Conn., opened and hung the two-part poster.
Posters and prints could be found in every corner at Papermania. Wilfrid M. de Freitas, Montreal, Canada, displayed eye-catching Vanity Fair prints at $850; World War I posters, printed in multiple languages †Yiddish, English and Italian †urged everyone to conserve paper, at Glass Menagerie, Bolton Landing, N.Y., which also exhibited a multitude of 1930s Italian and French Art Deco transportation travel posters, military and political posters, food and drink posters and a plethora of others.
Promotional stills of various vintage, and not so vintage, movie stars and TVLand covers featuring Lucille Ball hung side-by-side with celebrity photographs at T.J. Straham’s Greenfield, Mass., booth. TJ’s Collectibles shared space with Wex-Rex’s rare and unusual psychedelic rock and roll concert posters. Although Gary Sohmers was not on hand Saturday morning, the Hudson, N.Y., dealer was showing the Beatles †John, Paul, George and Ringo †replete with guitars and amps for one’s nostalgic pleasure.
On a more historical note, Eric Caren sold an American recruiting broadside from the French and Indian War, 1754‵8. “It was one of the earliest I’ve ever seen from the colonies,” the New York collector said, “and I sold it for $5,000.” The owner of Caren Archives also had a Revolutionary War naval broadside, signed in ink April 13, 1776, by John Jay as president of the Continental Congress.
Rare advertising could be found in the booth of Rex Stark from Gardner, Mass., but pride of place was taken by a half-plate daguerreotype, circa 1850‵5, of General Winfield Scott, marked at $18,500.
Stark’s boothmate, John Kashmanian of Providence, R.I., was presenting a black and white image of Babe Ruth with a group of boys, orphans, who had “saved a train wreck by signaling to the conductor there was something on the track.” The local heroes met with their hero and he gave them caps, bats and balls, as well as supporting the orphanage financially.
Gerald and Carol Newman, New Milford, Conn., had a variety of items in their booth, including World’s Fair and railroad memorabilia, several early Coca-Cola advertising trays, a model ocean liner and a large black and white photograph of Middle Atlantic motorcycle dealers and the Western Pennsylvania Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealers †hundreds of people with motorcycles †at an early 1950s convention.
Variety abounded at James Olinkiewicz’s Island Antiques, Shelter Island, N.Y. A framed bookmarker with the Emancipation Proclamation embroidered onto the cloth was hanging next to World War I and II recruiting posters and a box of vintage police, sheriff and inspector badges.
Elizabeth Baird, Falmouth, Maine, displayed Victorian valentines, American and German. An exceptional German 1890‱910 example was deeply embossed with gradated paper; another pop-up variety had a pair of white doves cooing in a nest of leaves in front of a thatched-roof cottage with a blue heart pinned winningly to the door.
Oddities abounded in the booth of William Macina, New Haven, Conn. A pair of half-moon Bakelite lamps with lovely ladies perched on the curve sat on a shelf filled with a collection of European beer bottles, a Pure Ponce Molasses ceramic jug, a collection of vintage candy tins, cigar boxes and a large cobalt decorated early crock.
Subtler treasures, however, could be found in the multitudinous book and art displays. Purveyor of antique books, autographs and art, Gilann Books, Darien, Conn., showed a pen and ink original drawing of Babar by Laurent de Brunhoff. Gil Rodriguez also had an original watercolor, probably Tiffany, of a stained glass window, circa 1890.
Photographic miscellany could be found in various booths: Erin Waters, Smoketown, Penn., brought daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, and Brian Caplan, Courtland Manor, N.Y., offered early photographs of Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Lilly Langtry and a very young John Kennedy.
And in the booth of John and Elizabeth Freas, Tamerlane Books, an Art Nouveau/Arts and Crafts advertising sign was displayed prominently offering “Winter Clearance,” at a small Yorkshire, England, store, circa 1928; a wonderful sign maker’s sample box, circa 1900 †which the Havertown, Penn., dealers said was the most elaborate example they had seen †had two tiers filled with samples of letters available in brass, silver plate, ceramic, etc. The box was marked at $1,750.
As collectors hurried from booth to booth, with large bags and rolling carts exploding with purchases, everyone seemed to be having fun, which is what Papermania always offers.
The next Papermania Plus event will be August 22 and 23. For further information, www.papermaniaplus.com or 860-563-9975.
