ABC
-----Antiques – Books – Collectibles -----
Old Magazines
Hold ’em, Chuck ’em, but don’t Fold ’em
By Ray DeThy
A previous column from last year titled “They Just Took the Dumpster Away” was an
admonishment for anyone who was closing-out an estate to be careful of throwing away
any paper items until there was, at least, a telephone conversation with an expert who
deals in such material. Though there are many paper-related genre such as newspapers,
calendars, letterheads, photographs, letters, etc., the ones that are most likely of value are
magazines.
Following are some good insights that may provide you with an estimate of which
magazines may or may not be worth getting some advice before making a decision on
their disposition. Remember, these are brief generalizations. There may be exceptions to
some. The one overarching criterion, beyond all else, is CONDITION.
AGE: is important but not in the usual way. For magazines, it’s not the oldest that’s the
most valuable. It’s the period from approximately the late 1890s until the early 1940s.
During this period several events caused it to be called “The Golden Age of Magazines”.
One was that the magazine was the primary visual means to see what was happening in
the world for many families. Television had not yet appeared and color photography was
not yet a universally available medium. The result was that colorful advertising
illustrations for stories and major events were the mainstay for marketing and general
communications. Many magazines spent incredible amounts (for the times) on original
art as the means of gaining market share. Thus, in general, any magazine from this
period is a possibility for good value if it has colorful and artistic interior pages, and/or,
cover.
MAGAZINES OF LITTLE VALUE REGARDLESS OF THEIR AGE INCLUDE:
Most of the text-only magazines, such as, Time, Newsweek, Mentor, Priscilla, etc.
Strangely enough, there are exceptions for these kinds of magazines values and
that is their covers. Some of them have only one art piece and that is the cover
(see later in this column). Another exception is National Geographic’s: though
there are internal color images, they are not artistic in nature but more academic
and other than the back cover advertisement for Coca-Cola, National
Geographic’s are “chuckable”.
MAGAZINES OF VALUE INCLUDE: those from the Golden Age that fall within the
following categories: Please note that some of these magazines may be of interest to
collectors in more than one category and that multiple interests tend to increase demand
and price.
1. Covers of magazines that are in pristine condition with no defects or attached
mailing labels can frequently have a retail value of $3 to as much as $20. or more.
Sport and movie stars of the very highest general interest such as Ruth, Mantle,
Mays, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne and other luminaries bring highest values.
Artists such as Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish also produced artistic covers
that are highly collectible.
One irony that relates to magazine cover- collecting is that the most collectible event of
any given time-period may not be one that produces high values in the long-term. In fact,
such events may make values nearly worthless. Example, John F. Kennedy and related
material is of no value today because a high percentage of those living in 1963 bought
and saved (in wonderful condition) almost everything printed about J.F.K. – Result?
There is far too much available for the few interested secondary market interest of today
and if there is an unlikely sale, it may be for less than 50 cents per magazine. Similar
situations exist for “Moon landing”, “Nixon’s resignation”, and “WWII” events etc.
2. Complete Magazines’: values are often viewed as collectible to the extent that the
cover art/images and/or internal images are collectible. There is little extra value
for the complete magazine.
3. Celebrity Images: and related text material is valuable especially if the celebrity
is similar to cover criteria noted previously. Color or presentation is not
necessary for articles and photographs of Elvis, the Beatles and other similar
celebrities. These evoke values in the $2 to $4 range.
4. Tear Sheets: are the pages from magazines that have been removed from the
magazine and sold individually to a variety of collectors. These tend to be the
most valuable aspects of collectible magazine material.
Tear Sheets related to Advertising of Products and Services during the Golden Age
Period include ads for: Railroads and Ocean liners; automobiles; food, tobacco, and
hygiene products; and jewelry, fashion, cosmetic items. Many of these full page color
ads were printed from original art paintings by most of the fine artists of the 40 year
period when these were produced. However, fine examples of art nouveau and art deco
period designs make tear sheets by unknown or unsigned artists equally valuable. Some
examples appear in today’s Values and Tips.
Famous Illustrators’ Tear Sheets: because the single most important means that major
companies used to further their products and services was to commission the finest
illustrator-artists to be their public persona. So important was having a well-known
artist/illustrator as a company’s image-maker that there was fierce competition among
companies to hire the best available. Maxfield Parrish had exclusive contract
commissions to produce ads for Mazda electric Light Bulbs, Colgate-Palmolive products,
Community Silverplate Co. and others. Coles Phillips was the image producer for
Willys-Jeep Autos. N.C. Wyeth worked with Coca-Cola and others and for 20 years,
Norman Rockwell produced covers for the Saturday Evening Post and American Boy
(Scout) Magazines. Other less known artists such as Rose O’Neill who did the images
for Campbell Soups and her own Kewpie and Loyd LaDriere who produced over 100 full
page ads for Cream of Wheat achieved less general fame than the other pre-noted
illustrators but his images, none-the-less, bring substantial prices. The average values for
full page color ads by the 15 or 20 greatest illustrators are $3 to $40 or more. Condition
must be near-mint.
In summary, I want to reemphasize the importance of condition. Most collectors who buy
magazine material are going to frame and display it so that any small blemish that is
visible will make it unacceptable.
Ray deThy is the owner of Verde Antiques and Rare Books and Verde Appraisal Service,
both in Manahawkin. He has been an appraiser since 1985.
VALUE & TIPS
VALUES
Appropriately, the value and tip for today’s column relates to magazine tear sheets. The
five photographs represent a variety of illustrator art for the Golden Age period.
Number 1: is a black and white illustration that appeared in the Ladies Home Journal in
1901 (the magazine cost was 5 cents). It was done by the noted children’s art illustrator
Jessie Willcox Smith. Value $3-$4.
Number 2: is a color 1915 Cream of Wheat illustration by Loyd LaDriere. Its value is
$5-$8.
Number 3: is a color and metallic print advertisement for a 1935 Cadillac by an unknown
designer/artist. Its value is related more to the design and artistic printing process than to
the imagery. Its value is $7-$8.
Number 4: is a 1920 Ladies Home Journal advertisement for Willys-Jeep auto by Coles
Phillips. Its value is $8-$12.
Number 5: is a Community Silverplate advertisement by Maxfield Parrish that appeared
in the Ladies Home Journal in 1918. Its value is $10-$20.
TIP
It is obvious from the items selected for today’s values section that all ads are not created
equal. Some artists and especially, Maxfield Parrish, can bring prices as high as $100.
for a single magazine tear sheet. The reason for very high prices for items that may have
been originally produced for as little as a penny or two is that these tear sheets are, in
effect, original prints. That is, even though were reproductions of original art at the time,
the rationale for calling them ORIGINAL is that they were first printings of the particular
image. The proof for that first printing is the date of the magazine.
The irony is that, using Maxfield Parrish as an example, one can buy a high quality
current reproduction of one of his earlier works for as little as $2 or $3. The difference
between that minimal sum and what may appear as an obscene value for the tear sheet is
the rarity of each. There are perhaps thousands of the current reproduction available as
opposed to a hundred or less of the original tear sheets that have survived until today in
frameable and displayable condition.
Rarity costs!