Paper, Postcards, and Postage!

And I thought it couldn't happen so close to home!

A box of postage- and postmark-laden envelopes.

On Saturday, I drove an hour to Allentown, Pennsylvania, and then spent five hours poking around and shopping at the Allentown Paper Show.  Two enormous rooms filled with about 250 vendors--it was an ephemera-lover's heaven!  I just found out about the show's existence from my friend Sue about two weeks ago.  I was so excited to find out about this opportunity so close to home!

A selection of vintage magazines and sheet music.

Vendor booths held vintage postcards, magazines, posters, sheet music, postmarked envelopes, matchbooks, photos, cigarette cards, books, currency, receipts and bills of sale, school report cards, contracts--if it's made of paper, someone had it!  There were also bottles, lace, tin toys and tea sets, and vintage box games.

Rows and rows and rows and rows of postcards.

Many vendors had large boxes overflowing with disorganized photos for sale, four for a dollar.  Other vendors had carefully encased photos for sale for up to $12.  Many vendors had boxes filled with postcards for 25 cents or a dollar.  Most others had carefully categorized postcards ("animals," "children," "coffee drinkers," "trains," "Christmas," "risqué") individually prices from $2 to $12 or more.  It was amazing the range of prices that could be found! 

A vintage tin tea set.

Sixty-something men predominated when it came to the demographic of both vendors and shoppers.  Most of the women appeared to be there as sidekicks to their husbands.  I probably saw less than a handful of people who were my age or younger.

A range of paper-oriented objects in one vendor's booth.

The vendors were friendly, and happy to strike up conversations about what kind of items the buyers might be looking for.  One man guessed my interest in collage, and began pulling additional boxes of postal ephemera out from under a folding table.  Most were happy to offer deals at check-out, and it was clearly acceptable to make an offer to pay less for items of interest. 

More carefully-curated postal ephemera.

Vintage toys and game boards.

A box of stamps and postmarked envelopes was for sale for $30, but the vendor accepted my offer of $20.  Letterpress stamps were selling for $5 each, but I got two for $5 when I asked.  At one booth, I collected a bunch of coupons that the seller originally wanted $1 for every two, but then I ended up getting a bag filled with rubber banded coupons that cost me much less.  I won't say I got out of there "cheap," but I will say that I got a lot of ephemera for my money.

Another booth with a wide range of collectibles.

Poster booth.

Awesome hand-illustrated envelopes.  The vendor wanted $75 for the set of 12...a little outside my budget!

Within an hour, my fingers were covered in the dust and grime of vintage papers.  After five hours of deliriously-contented browsing, I walked out with a treasure trove of ephemera to add to my collection.

Box of random vintage photos.

Cigar boxes.

If you come back by the blog on Tuesday, I will share photos of what I purchased, as well as give you details about a GIVEAWAY!

See you on Tuesday!