Always Check the Merchandise (Vintage Finds) - Paper Ephemera

 When I was a little kid, I remember an occassion where I sat in one of my maternal families storage places, amongst a big ol' pile of books.  While I had an incredible reading range at a very young age, most of these books were antiquated, dusty volumes of nonsense to me (back before I liked Dust!).

I'm not sure what my family was doing (prolly sorting through stuff for a Flea Market), but I was bored.  I picked up one of those old books, and started flipping through the pages.  The history of some state's agriculture, blargh! ---but i just looked at the pictures.  They were boring as well.  So I went to put the book back, and ended up dropping it.  Out flew a very, very old envelope.

This envelope turned out to have a 1934 Gold Certificate Bill in it, and some other Blue and Red paper (as an adult, I realize these were probably stocks or bonds).  Needless to say, this accidental discovery ended up paying a big profit for my family... Thanksgiving, Xmas, and into the New Year.

While I haven't had a find like that since (+25 years), it does go to show, always check your Merchandise, or your purchases.  You might end up with something cool.

While on a mad-dash rummage sale, I picked up a batch of books, purely on a whim, and because I was trying to grab anything old before the Sci-Fi Weirdo next to me got to it... I scored 3 weird finds:

A 1953 Driver's Ed book for Public Schools

 

A 1960's BoyScout Handbook:

And a 1936 Dieting Book, lol!



While all of these are adorable, these lovely hardbacks are very much in "Well Read" condition.

I wanted to flip through the pages of the Boyscout one, since I know there would be some lovely Kitsch/Retro pictures, and awesome little tips in it.  Well, look what was inside!

 

 

It's a 60's style Sear's Roebuck "Manual" (really, an advertising piece trying to get you to buy a Sears BBQ) for Grilling!  It's so cute, with pictures and silly slogans, but check out the Meat!

The Diet Book was awesome, full of nonsense people (especially women) used to believe about eating, but did have some very progressive stuff in it, like how Over-Eating is triggered by your Romantic Life and Happiness.  Inside of it was this cute old Recipe Card!  I love the printing on the card, with the little stove logo, and I'm sure I'm going to upcycle this little gem into a lovely keepsake.  Even the Recipe is amazing, "Cold Oven (?) Pound Cake"!?!

I was not expecting what I would find in the Driver's Ed Handbook.  This thing was issued in the mid 50's to Public Schools, but the last Student issue date was in 1970.  I think it's terrible that even back then, we had issues getting New Books to students and educators (Sigh, I guess Time's haven't changed?)...

 

The last student to use this book was named "Sandy".  Sandy was a clever girl that wrote in her book, with a bit of High school wit, and found a clever way to pass notes to her friends.  You see that "History Quiz"?  Yeah, its actually a note to her friend, and opened up, it talks about all the things a teenage girl would write about.  Class...Boys, Gum...what some girl said...

 

It was so strange, yet amazing.  This isn't a book, or something important that got published.  This was a tiny snippet in the life of some one, decades ago.  By Far, this was my best find at the Rummage Sale,.  Even though I only paid for the Book, I got a trip in a Time Machine, into someone's life....

Thanks for reading guys!

Also Shared on: