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Movie Collectibles offer a great many opportunities for the type collector, as there is seemingly a never-ending list of different collectibles that can be added to a collection.  What this outline covers are some of the basics that are sold here at things-and-other-stuff.  This list is done to draw attention to some of the terms used in our listings.

Trading/Tobacco Cards: Usually issued in sets, often numbered, similar to baseball cards except that instead of stats on back often there is a summary of a movie stars recent activities.  Many cards will be issued only with logos on back (tobacco companies for example) or with blank backs, which can make identifying certain issues a tough proposition.  Early movie cards were most commonly issued in tobacco packs though cards also commonly came with candy and gum as well as other items such as magazine supplements or even sewing needles. (Image A=Trading Card, B=Tobacco Card).

Postcards/Arcade Cards: Postcard collecting is a huge hobby in and of itself.  Needless to say along with the hundreds of different types of images on postcards ranging from city monuments to historical figures to wild animals, movie stars were a popular choice for postcard images.  I group Arcade Cards with Postcards here only because of the similarity in size (3-1/2” X 5”), but they are an altogether different subject.  Arcade cards were issued in machines made expressly for the purpose of vending them and while collecting movie stars is a popular subdivision of Arcade Card collecting there were other types of sets issued including Sports, Aviation, Fortunes and more. (Image C=Postcard, D=Arcade Card).

Supplements/Paper Premiums: Extending upon the idea of the supplement cards mentioned above, early film magazines would sometimes offer Paper Premium pieces inside issues.  By premium I am referring to any item given away as a bonus with a purchased item.  The British film magazine, Picturegoer, often issued premiums with issues.  Another type of premium would be the popular Dixie Cup Lid where a movie star (or other) image would be on the reverse-side of an ice cream cup lid, a free bonus collectible for buying their product.  Other types of premiums one would have to mail money or box tops to a company in order to receive.  A perfect example of this would be the Dixie Premium Photos which one could acquire by sending in twelve Dixie cup lids in exchange for a beautiful 8x10 or 9x12 portrait of their favorite star.  Lux Soap issued a beautiful black-bordered premium set in 1934, which I am currently unsure of whether it was available directly to fans through a direct offer or only passed on to stores selling the soap.  Probably the area of movie collectibles I am most interested in for it seems to hold the most mystery as to origin and issue. (Image E=Picturegoer Supplement, F=Dixie Cup Lid, G=Dixie Premium Photo, H=Lux Premium)

Fan Photos:  These were issued in sizes as small as 3-1/2” X 5” up to 8” X 10”, but the most common and most popular are 5” x 7”.  These are the photos a fan would receive when writing to their favorite star at the movie studios.  They were mass-produced, but high quality photos printed on heavy stock.  They usually carry a facsimile signature and often a mark identifying the original photographer or studio responsible for the photo.  Although a much rarer find, sometimes you can acquire these photos with their original mailers, which contain a studio return address, sometimes an ad promoting the star’s latest film, and are postmarked giving an exact date of origin as well.  The 5x7’s seem to be the standard from the late-1910’s through the early-1940’s and then there seems to be a switch over to the smaller sizes (perhaps due to World War II?).  The larger photos were available at a premium to collectors—often the 5x7’s would have a redemption stamp on back offering an 8x10 in exchange for 25 cents. (Image I=5x7 Fan Photo)

Movie Stills/Publicity Photos/Portrait Photos/Fashion Stills/Wire Photos-Press Photos/Keybook Photos: These are all members of the same family, real photographs issued directly by the studio to promote the latest stars and their movies.  Like movie posters and lobby cards this is an area of great specialization with a huge number of collectors and dealers alike; however after years of searching for information on the internet I decided the easiest thing to do was offer my own explanation of the differences here.  With a huge market specializing in reproductions, it can sometimes be very difficult to identify original, collectible material.

The safest bet is to purchase Keybook photos, but they are very rare and often carry a heavy premium in price.  These stills were used as the studio’s masters, and are found with holes punched at the top of vertical poses or the left side of horizontal poses.  They often have an A.A.C. (Advertising Advisory Council) stamp on reverse along with descriptive text in type printed directly onto the reverse of the photo.  You will sometimes see photos without the keybook holes punched through them with the A.A.C. stamp as well—this is a smart buy as well, these photos are originals.  These photos are also often double-weight photos (referring to the heavier stock on which they are printed).  Earlier double-weight photos (and here I am not referring to Keybook photos), most of the one’s I’ve dealt with from the 1920’s, also often had a linen backing which is desirable. (Image J=Keybook Photo, Image K=A.A.C. stamp on reverse & typed tag).

Also desirable because of the air of authenticity are those photos with photographer stamps, as well then studio stamps or news agency stamps on reverse (often even including the exact date of production or use by the press) or Press tags, which were often paper attachments glued either directly onto the reverse side of the photo or glued at the bottom of the edge on reverse and being folded over the top of the photo surface.  Sometimes typed tags were directly imprinted onto the back of the photo as well (as described above where talking about Keybook photos).  (Image L=Tag glued on back, studio stamp, photographer stamp, Image M=Tag glued to bottom of reverse and folded over to front, Image N=Reverse of Wire Photo).

Next method of reliability is the text at the bottom of the photo.  Often stills, portraits, and fashion photos will have text naming the star, the film title, the studio or even copyright dates available in the bottom border area on front.  Recently when I acquired a large batch of photos I was only able to identify some of them through the studio numbers on the photo—these numbers often begin with a lettered abbreviation of the film title for stills or the star’s name for publicity shots, followed by a number which is a label for that particular set.  Twentieth Century Fox used numbering instead of lettering to identify the films as well, so a recent batch of stills I dealt with contained a number of Jane Withers photos, many from the film “Golden Hoofs” and others from “A Very Young Lady”—both 1941 releases.  A few were marked in some way with the film title, others had no markings except for the studio numbering.  I was able to identify publicity photos from “A Very Young Lady” because one photo with the film title typed on back had studio number 491/84 while another, with no other form of identification, was marked 491/20.  Common sense dictates that “491” was Twentieth Century Fox’s coding for the film “A Very Young Lady,” so I was able to identify an otherwise impossible photo to ID. (Image O=Still Photos, P=Publicity Photo, Q=Fashion Still).

I like using these methods to prove to myself that a photo dates to the original period that it was taken/released.  There are so many reproductions out there that I will personally stay away from photos without any of these type markings and am leery of those with only studio identification numbers and no other markings.

Signed Items: I purposely do my best to stay away from autograph material because I’ve been burnt before and so personally do not trust the market.  Yes, there are a number of reliable and professional certified autograph dealers out there and if this is your interest you should pick out a couple of those you trust and work from there.  I like bargains myself and I found out early on when collecting baseball memorabilia, with autographs you often get what you pay for.

That being said, many of the movie collectibles that I sell are issued with “autographs.”  By this I am referring to the cards, premiums and fan photos that were issued with facsimile signatures.  These are not real signatures but are either imprinted within the photo image or even stamped on the photo surface.  I usually describe these in my listings as with “facsimile signature (not a real autograph)” or a similar qualifier to take away any confusion.  I buy items in quantity, so sometimes there is some material that I feel may actually be signed.  Again, I advertise these items as autographed with reservations.  But I will make mention of the signature when there is an obvious hint such as ink/marker chipping away at the surface, signature extending into the border of an item, or most definitely a personalization.  Even so, please keep in mind that many celebrities had ghost signers take care of their fan mail.  Probably the best-known example is Mama Jean Harlow signing most of her famous daughter’s fan mail.  If I’m selling an item as “signed” I will always add this reservation referring to the possibility of a ghost signer, just so you don’t get too carried away and believe my saying it’s signed means it’s authentic. 

Dating: This is a general remark about the dates I’ll place on items.  Often there is no “catalogue” or “price guide” for the types of items I am dealing with, so I’ll have to use my judgment to hypothesize a reasonable date of origin for an item.  If I include a date the item does date vintage to at least that period.  Any later re-issues or reprint type items will be clearly marked as such.  In dating items I have no come across I have two things working for me: quantity and the Imdb.  If I have a bulk amount of items I can go to the Internet Movie Database and begin looking up the names of the stars.  Using that as a resource I receive what is generally a very reliable source of dates such as dates of birth, death, first movie, last movie.  If you have enough different names to choose from you can narrow down a date pretty closely.  A child star helps, or an aging star in with a batch of younger stars.  This is the method used when there are no hints as to date whatsoever on an item as it is issued, all you have is a name.  If there is mention of a movie it is a much simpler process of just looking up the movie and finding a release date.

A) 1917 Kromo Gravure Bessie Love Trading Card

B) 1936 Jean Harlow Godfrey Phillips Tobacco Card

C) 1922 John Barrymore Postcard

D) 1930's James Cagney Arcade Card

E) 1921-22 Mary Pickford Picturegoer Supplement

F) Late 1930's Carole Lombard Dixie Cup Lid

G) Mid-1930's Clark Gable Dixie Premium Photo

H)1934 Fay Wray Lux Premium Photo

I) 1920's Louise Brooks 5x7 Fan Photo

J) Late 1930's John Wayne Keybook Photo

K) Reverse of 1946 Katharine Hepburn 8x10 Double-Weight Photo.  A.A.C. stamp can be seen at bottom right.  Descriptive text is example of typed tag.

L) This photo has a tag glued to the back, an RKO Studio stamp as well as a stamp from photographer Alex Kahle.

M) The tag on this Joan Crawford photo is glued to the bottom of the reverse and folded over to the front.

N) Reverse of Constance Talmadge Wire photo which has a stamp from the ACME News Agency as well as a tag glued on and the date stamped.

O) Still Photo from Psycho.  Note the studio ID number at right edge.

P) 1941 Jane Withers Publicity Photo.  This photo is all about Withers, not a particular movie.

Q) Carole Lombard Fashion Still.  Text on reverse goes into detail about what Lombard is wearing.