It may seem strange, to some, that
anyone would pay good money for ephemera. After all, it's only
bits of paper, right?
On the other hand, collecting
ephemera has been a favorite pastime of many collectors and has
probably been around for as long as paper itself. When most
people think of rare papers, they probably think of the national
archives and the US Constitution or the Declaration of
Independence. However, there are many other paper collectibles
with a diverse range of rarity and values. The most common
hobby, by far, has to be postage stamp collecting. But
many other people collect autographs, letters and other
ephemera. There is a very large community of collectors of paper
currency with values that meet or exceed many vintage watches.
This is not to mention that there are numerous fields of
collecting that involve paper as the primary medium such as
comic books, baseball cards, vintage postcards, rare books &
manuscripts, etc.
Collectors spend anywhere from hundreds of dollars to
millions of dollars with dealers and auction houses on such
collectibles. Some of the same auction houses also sell vintage
Rolex watches. It is no wonder that Rolex ephemera has become a
hot sub-category in recent years in its own right even if only
within the vintage Rolex collector community.
Of course,
we haven't seen mind-boggling prices as in other ephemera. But I
have noticed that a number of vintage Rolex booklets are now
selling for hundreds of dollars and blank Rolex guarantee
certificates fetch into the thousands on eBay, when you can
find them!
The best part of collecting
vintage Rolex ephemera is that there is much more to the fun
than just collecting the bits and pieces by themselves. Beyond
the interesting properties of the ephemera and historical value
of some of the items, the enjoyment of of completing a set that
came with a watch 30, 40 or even 50 years ago is a very
satisfying feeling.
Completing a set is probably the
main goal for most vintage Rolex ephemera collectors and it
involves some knowledge and/or research to determine what the most
correct ephemera matches up with a particular vintage watch
model and the year of its manufacture.
Although you may have to spend
some time and money acquiring ephemera, especially the rare
papers, it is usually a good investment especially if your watch
is a good example. Even in today's difficult economic times, the
price you spend on correctly matched ephemera can be easily
recouped even with a handsome profit when the time comes to sell your
timepiece. Not to mention that having the correct ephemera with
your watch will make your timepiece more desirable to discerning
collectors and will help the watch sell much faster than a loose
watch.
Ephemera is not just fun and
potentially profitable to collect, it is less expensive and
takes up little space in your collection than a watch itself and
possibly eliminating
the need to ask permission from the wife before you make a
purchase! Regardless, ephemera adds value to watches we already
own and makes the collection more interesting!
