Old 78rpm Vinyl Records

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Kathy

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Going through my deceased friend's house, I have come across some fairly good quality 78 rpm's which I am absolutely fascinated by.

The title of one of them is called "That's why darkies were born". Can you believe this? By Kate Smith Henderson. Had anyone heard of it before? No one would get away with recording a song like that now would they. This is not meant to be a rascist comment but I was gobsmacked when I saw it in this PC world in which we now live.

I am going to spend lots of time cataloguing all the various items I have found, war medals, a cape belonging to a masonic lodge, a CBE, fascinating books, antique furniture and artwork all for auction.

I am so "into this now" I have even started watching Antiques Roadshow regularly.... :blink: :shy:
 
Never heard of Kate Smith Henderson . Kate Smith was an American singer of rather ample charms who sang from the 1920s and was best known for being the Amercian Vera Lynn singing God Bless America in the war
 
Someone had to pick the cotton,
Someone had to pick the corn,
Someone had to slave and be able to sing,
That's why darkies were born;

Someone had to laugh at trouble,
Though he was tired and worn,
Had to be contented with any old thing,
That's why darkies were born;

Sing, sing, sing when you're weary and
Sing when you're blue,
Sing, sing, that's what you taught
All the white folks to do;

Someone had to fight the Devil,
Shout about Gabriel's Horn,
Someone had to stoke the train
That would bring God's children to green pastures,
That's why darkies were born.


Paul Robeson also sang this song, which seems surprising given the rather patronising sentiments. Maybe he had his tongue in his cheek, though - even if that's a difficult thing to do when you're singing. :)
 
Kathy, you probably know what to do already, but it's worth mentioning here 'Miller's Guide to Antiques' yearbook, and 'Miller's Guide to Collectables' - both available quite cheaply in any high street bookseller. They'll give you a fair idea of what certain trends are, especially for medals (collectables. But before you send everything to a general sale, or go to a lot of personal effort cataloguing items, it'd be worth having the auction house that you choose send round a valuer to give you a (free) eyeballing of the items, give you an idea of what they might fetch, and then set a reserve on what he/she recommends as an acceptable minimum bid.

It's especially important if the furniture is likely to be worth something, and the valuer can also guide you as to which items might fetch the most at a specialist sale, rather than a general one.

The auction house will take a general description from you for acceptance purposes, but they generally make up their own description for the sales catalogues, so I'd ask how much detail they want from you. If you don't know all the different designers who worked for Moorcroft, for example, it's worth letting them suss out the codes on the pot's bottom, rather than you spending hours trying to decipher it!

If you know all this already, just ignore me! Good luck - it's an exhausting business, but always interesting on the day to see why people buy certain things. (Incidentally, we sold some family militaria to a specialist dealer, and I think we got a better price that way. We were paid cash in hand on the day, and there was no commission fee, which you'll have to pay, to the auction house. This can take a hefty swipe off sales, between 12-16%, so if I may make so bold, if there are any specialist items, see what a dealer will offer you as his very best price. We weren't disappointed.)
 
No, I didn't know any of that Krizon, so thank you for your advice! I will let you know how I get on. I had some probate valuations done, which for IHT purposes are useful, but obviously I don't really have a clue what anything is "really" worth but it will be interesting finding out. I have done a little research on the internet into auction houses and various specialists, and looking at the prices of things that have already been sold, just for a rough guideline but will see if I can get a hold of the book you have recommended. Thank you!
 
You're very welcome, Kathy. Try to get both the Miller's guides - as we're well into 2005 now, the prices should be at least 50%, and they aren't expensive. They're fascinating, because they have specialist sections, all lavishly illustrated with good photos of recently-sold stuff representing the different areas of interest, from porcelain to oriental rugs, furniture, paintings, sculpture, etc.

The 'Collectables' is good because they've sensibly broken out the 20C items like Dinky toys, toy trains, Steiff teddy bears, and all the movie stuff like Star Wars collectables. It's surprising how good the prices are for some of these things - although you can barely give away an old Gonk! :lol:

You might never be able to pass by a car boot sale again after this... <_<
 
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