Destruction of American History: DON'T DO IT.

[AtomicEraTom]

You know, I'd say this shocks me, but I don't think any amount of stupidity does anymore.

Actually, that's exactly what the artist thought: "With the availability of most books for e-readers, traditional books take up too much space and collect dust. I wanted to find a way to recycle these books for a good use."

Where is my crowbar?

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

I saw in my paper that a local artist was taking antique books, tearing them up, and folding the pages into these little sculpture things. She would use one entire book for each piece. If I wasn't angry enough at that, I read this caption under one of them: "and this one is made from a first edition of Gone With the Wind - What a great tribute to history." :rage:

Oh yeah, that reminds me of another increasingly popular trend on sites like Etsy: Gutting & stripping down vintage items so they're lighter-weight to be hung on a wall, and making them into clocks.

Especially popular with vintage 1950's record players and old records. These type players are perfectly restorable, they are not useless junk. I remember emailing one eBay seller who had one of these gutted-phonograph-clocks with a LOUIS ARMSTRONG ON EARLY-30S OKEH record. I offered to buy the record. He said, sorry, he couldn't remove the record, he glued it to the clock and drilled out the center hole. I'd saved a pic of that one, but can't find it now. You can read the item descriptions of these phono-clocks currently for sale, and they're categorized as "GREEN" and "ECO-FRIENDLY" becuase they're recycling waste which would otherwise naturally be discarded (such as Louis Armstrong original early-1930's Okeh pressings, and just all old records & record players in general...) They give them clever, witty slogans like "Rock Around the Turntable!".

You may recognize some of the artists here - Julia Lee and her Boyfriends, the Ink Spots... At least no early-30s Armstrong's on Okeh among the ones currently for sale...

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[V.C. Brunswick]

Actually, that's exactly what the artist thought: "With the availability of most books for e-readers, traditional books take up too much space and collect dust. I wanted to find a way to recycle these books for a good use."

Where is my crowbar?

This is the same mindset that considers graffiiti art. The barbarians aren't at the gates, they're now the arbiters of culture.

 

[Fletch]

You know what we're up against here? Not exactly stupidity...maybe cupidity, given that the motive is profit...BUT. These particular items are not respected even by the collector fraternity.

There is a different kind of collector mentality at work than many of us eclectic Lounger-types may be familiar with. Interests are typically narrow and defined by the technology itself - not so much by history, more by what the fraternity is actually into and working on. As well, there are issues of practicality, such as size and resale value.

- Radio collectors don't want phonographs.
- Phonograph collectors don't want anything electric.
- Nobody wants full-size console equipment that weighs half a ton.

It's too bad instruments like that glorious Capehart have to be parted out, gutted, or made into cutesy curios. But at the end of the day, market forces and indifference are hard to fight - even when you have people who appreciate these things.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There are times when the Invisible Hand of the Market is actually a thumb in the eye.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

There are times when the Invisible Hand of the Market is actually a thumb in the eye.

Yep, Lizzie. As Joe E. Brown would have said, ...

 

[C-dot]

Oh yeah, that reminds me of another increasingly popular trend on sites like Etsy: Gutting & stripping down vintage items so they're lighter-weight to be hung on a wall, and making them into clocks.

Seeing that nearly makes me retch with anger, because it's close to home: My father has a couple of quite old electric trains, worth a lot of money and even more sentimentally, and he was storing them at his childhood home. His sister, my aunt, married a man with huge green dollar signs for eyes - Whatever isn't nailed down in that house isn't safe. My father discovered that he had removed the trains from the house, so he showed up at the guy's doorstep asking for them back. The guy's response? "I was going to mount them on a wall for my son." :eusa_doh: Thank goodness my father took them back in time.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Thank goodness my father took them back in time.

Good save!

Seeing these items gutted makes me want to spend more time buying the non-working items which will otherwise get destroyed, restore them, and resell them, so they'll become Too Valueable As Like-New-Working Items to destroy - but alas, not enough time in life...

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've adopted a number of abandoned but functional typewriters over the years -- for the express purpose of keeping them away from the metal-pincing claws of the people who chop the keys off to make ironic jewelry. Just recently I gave one of these machines to a friend from work who always wanted one -- knowing she'd use it for the purpose God and the Royal Typewriter Company intended and it'd be safe from the scrap pile for another generation.

It's not hoarding if you intend to use it.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

I've adopted a number of abandoned but functional typewriters over the years -- for the express purpose of keeping them away from the metal-pincing claws of the people who chop the keys off to make ironic jewelry. Just recently I gave one of these machines to a friend from work who always wanted one -- knowing she'd use it for the purpose God and the Royal Typewriter Company intended and it'd be safe from the scrap pile for another generation.

It's not hoarding if you intend to use it.

...it's like you KNOW me... (although, I really do need to get busy setting aside time to restore them and get them re-sold, and OUT of the house -- it's ridiculous now, my closet is Almost Completely Full, I hang my shirts in the laundry room now...) Good for you, LizzieMaine.

 

[HadleyH]

This is the same mindset that considers graffiiti art. The barbarians aren't at the gates, they're now the arbiters of culture.

Yes, in the immortal words of film mogul Adolph Zukor : " Now the the lunatics are running the asylum”

Welcome to this century.

 

[Connery]

When I think of this issue I have to accept that there will be those who do not understand or appreciate the significance or value to society or the importance in their own life of those items, ideals and perspective of that which has made us a great society. I consider it not only my privilege, but, my responsibility to maintain and preserve the ways of an era which I love. There are not many of us compared to those who wish to sweep the past under the rug as if it did not occur. For example, I have a chair, a simple hard back chair, that was made for a child. To look at it, there is nothing remarkable about it. It is a least a hundred years old and represents(to me ) many great times with my grand parents and great-grand parents, but, also lessons they taught me as well. To someone else that chair is just a chair. As long as I am aware and there are people like us here the past and what it represents will be safe.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

For what it's worth (no pun intended), while First Editions of Gone With the Wind are by no means rare, a May/June 1936 Macmillan First Edition/First Printing is worth between $800 and $2,000 (depending on condition of course). By December 1936, Gone With the Wind was in its 29th printing.

 

[rue]

For what it's worth (no pun intended), while First Editions of Gone With the Wind are by no means rare, a May/June 1936 Macmillan First Edition/First Printing is worth between $800 and $2,000 (depending on condition of course). By December 1936, Gone With the Wind was in its 29th printing.

Off topic, but curious.... what is a September 1936 version worth?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Off topic, but curious.... what is a September 1936 version worth?

Off the top of my head, perhaps $30-40 depending on condition.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

:doh:

Seeing that nearly makes me retch with anger, because it's close to home: My father has a couple of quite old electric trains, worth a lot of money and even more sentimentally, and he was storing them at his childhood home. His sister, my aunt, married a man with huge green dollar signs for eyes - Whatever isn't nailed down in that house isn't safe. My father discovered that he had removed the trains from the house, so he showed up at the guy's doorstep asking for them back. The guy's response? "I was going to mount them on a wall for my son." :eusa_doh: Thank goodness my father took them back in time.

The sheer audacity of those possessed with the big green dollar sign eyes never ceases to outrage me. :doh: Glad your father got them in time.

 

[rue]

Off the top of my head, perhaps $30-40 depending on condition.

Thank you V.C. .....

Even though it's not much, the book is priceless to me

 

[AtomicEraTom]

The record player clocks make me absolutely SICK. What a waste. If I hear the words 'dead format' one more time, I swear.....

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Strangely enough, 40 years from now I can see vintage techno geeks moaning about people making jewelry and other knick-knacks out of old circuit boards (they're already doing that now).

"I can't believe somebody made earrings out of a classic 2011 Dell Inspiron 580 motherboard!"

 

[C-dot]

Strangely enough, 40 years from now I can see vintage techno geeks moaning about people making jewelry and other knick-knacks out of old circuit boards (they're already doing that now).

"I can't believe somebody made earrings out of a classic 2011 Dell Inspiron 580 motherboard!"

OT: If that is a classic Dell, mine is an ancient relic lol