Papermania Plus – Something For Everyone

A little bit of everything at Papermania Plus In Hartford CT. This dealer featured movie memorabilia; books, pinbacks and Fate magazines at one table.

On a beautiful summer day, customers came from many states to search among a variety of goods, not all necessarily made of paper.

Collectors congregated at Hartford, Connecticut’s XL Center for Papermania Plus 74, which took place on Saturday, August 25, 2018.

Shoppers looking for interesting finds at Papermania Plus 74

There were all sorts of antiques, ephemera, collectables and memorabilia for sale including books, comics, original art, movie stills and posters, postcards, photographs, magazines, manuscripts and a few other things that you might be surprised to find at Papermania.

Promoter Gary Gipstein assembled more than four score quality dealers to offer their wares. Prices ranged from a dollar to four figures for some rare items.

But you don’t have to be a collector of anything specific to enjoy the show. There is so much to look at and appreciate, that it is unlikely you could come here and not go home with something desirable at a very fair price.

So what did we notice?

Here is a small sample of the things we found interesting.

Hundreds of original documents, manuscripts and letters, many of which were over 200 years old.

Look at that handwriting. People used to have beautiful penmanship.

Many of these letters and documents were priced at just $10.

Dealer Jake Tito is a young man who has taken up the noble profession of used bookseller. His company is the Henry Knox Book Company. You can tell Jake loves what he does and was enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge with customers.

Jake not only carried a wide array of  books for just $5.00, but many other items, including this striking looking Christian Democratic Union election poster from  post-war Germany.

If you are into American politics, another dealer had this original Tricky Dick poster. Did Richard Nixon ever look happier than he does here?

An authentic autographed large poster of aviation hero and America Firster, Nazi sympathizer, Charles Lindbergh looked enticing.

This 110-year-old book of New York City views was only $12.00.

Before magician Harry Houdini became world famous as an escape artist, he was known as the “King of Cards.” As with everything he did, Houdini was a master at manipulating playing cards. This original poster is a very early example of Houdini advertising.

As we said not everything was made of paper.  This copper colored art deco Chase newspaper holder was reasonably priced at $35.00.

You can buy a team autographed baseball at a lot of shows. But what about a David Letterman autographed baseball?

One of the things you would not expect to come across and is probably one-of-a-kind, a very large sneaker signed on one side by Larry Bird. The other side was signed by Kevin McHale. This one sneaker at $235 cost less than a pair of some of those fancy new sneakers. And those new ones are not signed by Larry Bird!

The next Papermania Plus will be a two day affair, January 5-6, 2019.