I am a huge fan of the theatre and whenever I'm in NY to see a Broadway show, I always stop at the empty building that held the old Liberty Theatre and give it a little pat for good luck. The Liberty was only a legitimate Broadway stage from 1904 until the early 30's when it became a movie theatre. The entrance was on 42nd street but the actual auditorium holding the stage was back on 41st Street. The revitilization and construction of 42nd Street resulted in it's closing down for good. But laws in effect about preserving the original old theatres kept them from tearing it down. There were two Egyptian style pillars on both sides of the entrance to the theatre and they can still be seen at the entrance to Ripley's Believe it or Not on 42nd St. I'm fascinated by this old theatre ghost because it holds so much of the history of the golden age of Broadway theatre. This was where George M. Cohan presented most of his musicals and where he introduced "Give My Regards to Broadway". OK - this has nothing to do with sheet music - it just explains why I jumped when I found a piece of sheet music to one of the musicals presented at the Liberty - "Have a Heart" with music by Jerome Kern, in 1917. The music sheet is for the song "Come Out of the Kitchen". It has a lovely image of the actress Louise Dresser (who sang the song in the show) on the front. I had collected playbills for Liberty shows for a long time but I had never seen a piece of sheet music and I had to have it. I ended up bidding against another buyer and ended up paying around $42 for it. It is now beautifully framed and hanging in my kitchen. (Of course!) I'm sure the seller never expected to get that much for it but it was worth every penny to me. So you never really know what will make you money and what won't!
Thank you for sharing! Glad that there are others out there that appreciate old buildings and the history that they once held. It's always interesting to learn what other people are on the hunt for and the reasons why. If I ever come across any sheet music from a show at The Liberty, I will let you know!
@@PaperandMoose Oh - Thank you so much! Sheet music, photos, programs, advertisements. I collect them all for the Liberty. As I said she was only a legit theatre for a relatively few years but in those days plays often had a one or two week run and so MANY were presented there. I have a huge fat binder holding the 35 playbills I've managed to find over the last 15+ years. I know there were at least 120 plays and musicals performed there so I'm happy with anything I can find.
Wow. This was an eye opener. Naming no names but I recently found a resell who was unpacking his finds and tossed, threw away, junked as worthless, and ignored suggestions to sell it. Wonder if he threw out the 3000.00 copy. No matter how often some of us tell new folks to research before throwing it out they don't. It is astonishing that more persons don't appreciate the tips and knowledge handed to them. Like this lovely, well researched video. Thank you.
I sell sheet music. It's not just the sheet music itself that sells. The art work, the patriotic, maybe just the singers, the writers, the publisher etc.. I follow Don the Auction Professor and he has TONS of video's on his channel as well. Using other platform's to sell on as well as using other research venues such a Worthpoint etc., helps as well. I price all of mine high with best offer and let it sit. As in I list it and forget it! Hope this helps. Nice video 🔥👩🌾
The only sheet music I used to see sell well a few years back was patriotic sheet music published during the civil war. Of course anything usually coming from the time period of 1860-1865 and civil war is just desirable and competitively bid on. The trend to frame sheet music had it’s day. If Joanna Gaines (Fixer-Upper) would start decorating with sheet music or fruit crate labels, we would see a resurgence in these item’s prices. Don’t speculate, always buy what you love! Renee makes the best point about rescuing significant paper items so others can add to their collections. Notice that she never says, so you can get rich!
As you know I normally pick up sheet music for the junk journal purposes. But your really well made research video made me to look at it from a different view. Thank you for introducing Scott Joplin, will check and listen to his music.
Hi Rene! I have a large bankers box packed full of old sheet music that I need to sort and organize, and I came to RU-vid to find some tips on how to go about that. This video will be super helpful - thank you for the info! I've only quickly sifted through what's in the box....most of it is older, 50's and earlier, so I'm hoping I'll have some good one's in the pile (maybe some Scott Joplin, perhaps?). I think I'm going to start with sorting by year/date range, and then go from there. What would you suggest after that, should I go with genre, artist, or? Also, aside from possible value just for the music and/or artist themselves, as you mentioned some folks collect for the graphics. I've also known some decorators to use the music sheets as part of a table place setting with the music sheet under the stack of plates. Say you're having a roaring 20's costume party you might use music sheets from the 20's as part of that table décor. Fun! Love your channel, love your content, and especially love that when you're out treasure hunting you focus on the things that bring you joy. So important. Keep doing what you do! :)
My Daughter Vickie and I love your channel and also your honest love of vintage items, we thrift together all the time now and this because of your channel, you have brought us closer together, thank you Renee xx
Wonder how many ppl buy their own stuff to bring up prices.. I've always wondered about that. Tampering with the prices to manipulate eBay sold listings.
I sold some black Americana years ago and found in researching that the main group of people who collect the racist items are Black Americans. Interesting video.
I don’t know what you do as an avocation but you would make a terrific history teacher in a school. Thank you for the heads up on sheet music. I am a vinyl record collector and reseller. This is right in my wheelhouse. Cheers!
I wanted to be a history teacher growing up, but that changed later in life. I do enjoy being able to share all sorts of different material on RU-vid, much different than my current job. Glad you enjoyed the video!
This was quite informative! I use eBay to find items I want to keep. Not a reseller but I find it interesting from their view. Like keeping the treasures I find!😃 As always, another fascinating feature from you. Thanks for such great information!
Hi Rene, If you put in sheet music as your search you get more selections, prices are the same though just more variety...20 years on eBay and a powerseller I won't sell anything that won't bring me at least $10.00 so I sell in lots especially paper Lots which I can do in a couple of minutes.😄😄😄
The lowest that I sell paper for online, whether postcards or ephemera, is usually $8. Otherwise, I take the items to the flea market and get a couple of dollars a piece. Bundling in lots is also a great way to move paper, as you suggested. Congrats on the eBay success - 20 years is a long time!
Wow! My Dad played piano and my Mom kept his old sheet music. Now I have to look out for Scott Joplin! Thanks Renee! I try to share your videos on Twitter for those who love history, ephemera, etc.
Hi Renee, So sad what happened to Mr, Joplin makes me curious if he may have been among the many given syphilis in the " name " of research I think vaccines in Tuskegee Alabama?! What happened to these good people broke my heart sadly to say I live in Alabama HOWEVER I would never condone anything of this nature being done on any human! Where I live in Alabama we all love each other! thank you for sharing, I thought that I would share that bit of bad history with you, I thought that you may like to research that bad part of history.
Have you ever read the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks? Very interesting in regards to the medical field and medical research. I listened to this book on CD and enjoyed it - has a great mixture of history and story!
You really have to know sheet music to make anything from it. But, if you can find boxes of it for really cheap, there could be a real gem in there. You just never know!!! Love this video, Renee!! The AD at the front was a trailer for The ADAMS FAMILY Movie which was really NEAT!!!
There's a new Adams Family movie coming out?? I must find the commercial! What you said was correct - buying sheet music individually at a flea market or auction probably isn't your best bet if you want to resell. Buying in bulk however usually works, as you can find a couple that you can make your money back on and then either bundle the rest to resell for other reasons like re-purposing, or try your hand at letting people look through them at the flea market.
My interest is the period 1920-1960. The 1900-1920 period has some great artwork. When I think of Hugo Winterhalter...Canadian Sunset, the big hit of 1957 comes to mind. It was on all jukeboxes and top ten radio stations. Beyond 1970...my interest in the pop scene died! Know little or nothing of the "modern" stuff. Records parallel sheet music. Joplin was one of the foremost ragtime composers. I have some of his old 78's, plus records of lesser known rag artists.
The artwork on covers is one of the reasons many non-collectors still purchase sheet music today. Whenever I bring some to the flea market to sell, I usually have a few people that purchase some just because they like the look of the cover. They buy now and figure out what to do with it later!
I just found Scott Joplin sheet music in my collection while watching this! I have Maple Leaf Rag 1899, from the Goodwill outlet. :D I had no idea this was worth anything, thanks so much!
Enjoyed your video, was very informative. I am aware of Scott Joplin because I used to collect Black Americana ( mostly slave items) and if I ran across the sheet music I’d pick it up if cheap I’m always a little cautious using an auction with only one bidder to determine an items worth. No one to bid against them to show that others are interested too, maybe just a single deep pocket collector that just had to have...next one you won’t have him bidding. Would be interesting to see if the same bidder got both the scott Joplin sheet music. I’m been buying and selling “ junk” for over 30 years ( started very young! 😃) and one thing Paper & Moose your channel has done is to expose me to things I normally wouldn’t look at like paper Now you got me digging in boxes of paper! It’s the same with my girl, she was all excited the other day to find this ‘80s T Shirt, looked like nothing to me. Put it on EBay and its at $450 with 5 days to go! Never to late to learn
I love paper mostly because you just never know what you are going to find. Also very much love the research aspect! 80s fashion is back in now (though some of the styles I'm not sure why haha). Good luck with the remaining time on the shirt, hope it does really well for you!
The reason it was $4 shipping is that it was probably sent in a "sandwich" of cardboard, in a large envelope. Ebay almost requires tracking in order to have proof it was delivered. First class parcel starts at $2.66,(Discounted price with ebay & etsy) MORE at the post office!), but the PO has changed, so farther away costs more. so over 4 ounces it is $3 something, so it rounds up to $4. Then consider the FVFee, and the fee on the shipping, plus the cost of shipping materials (Unless you know where to get big envelopes free?), paper to print labels, ink for your printer, tape, maybe a glue stick.Electricty to run your device and your printer... Selling something at $4 is hardly worth your time.
All true. I think I've had postcard shipping prices on the brain, so I'm used to that price. But for all the reasons that you stated, selling something for a few dollars when you have all the work between listing and shipping seems foolish. Plenty of people do though, for many reasons. I would rather just take those lower cost items to the flea market and sell them there. I might only get a dollar or two, but I'm not spending the extra time to package it and take it to the post office.
i jumped to my pile of sheet music and wouldn't you know SCOTT JOPLIN 3rd one down I freakeeeeeeeed out!!! looked it up and BAM worth 6 bux LMFAO i thought I had a winner too it was called Ragtime Rage with his pic on the front I thought FOR SURE this is worth something hahaha NOPE
Bundling would do well. I'll probably first take them to the flea market and let people pick through it. Often times people will pick up a handful for either their own collection or just because they enjoy the artwork on the cover.
There are lots of pieces of valuable sheet music. Do not worry about dollar things. Start at least with the goal of $25 up. Many go into the hundreds. How do you do this? Study and understand what you are doing. I have a library of over 200 books on sheet music. I have studied this over 50 years. My total collection of sheet music is a little over 20,000. Know points, 1sts, editions, states, etc. Good luck. You won't learn much from this video.
To know the sold price on Etsy try this link. After youd found the item sold copy the link on that page : www.flippertools.com/tools/etsySoldPrice/etsy-sold-price.htm
If you find a sold item on Etsy, you can copy and paste the URL into this website to see what it sold for. www.flippertools.com/tools/etsySoldPrice/etsy-sold-price.htm
why are you shocked of the $4 shipping? First class package prices went up again, the least expensive costs over $3...then you are charged fees on shipping and you have the cost of mailers, tape, and printing labels...$4 seems about right or a little low if your package weighs more than 4 oz
My brain was on what I pay when I ship out postcards (so that's around 2 ounces). I don't think I'd list something for a few dollars on eBay anyway, but many sellers do. Every dollar does add up!
