Those oil-filled pens and other objects with moveable images are called “floating action,” “tilt” or “action” items — or just plain old “floaty” collectibles. These simple but fascinating things have been popular souvenir and promotional give-away items since the process was invented in the late 1940s. Pens are the most common floaty items, but pencils, [...]

As promised in the 1972 Central States Football League (CSFL) Yearbook post, scans from the pro-football league’s 1974 yearbook. This one is also from the Wisconsin team the West Allis Spartans. (Again, if you wish to post/share these images, please credit this site with a link to this post, thanks!) Opening message from Al Nau, [...]

Until I found these two pro-football yearbooks, I’d never heard of the Central States Football League or CSFL — and I come from real football country; Wisconsin, home of the Green Bay Packers! I still don’t know much about the league… Seems to have started around 1961 and ended about 1975.  If you have any [...]

Inside the February 1961 issue of Magic Circle, a publication of Perfect Circle Corporation, a contest to win tickets to the Indy 500 and/or a 1961 Thunderbird. I’m guessing the original owner of this vintage magazine never entered — because the official entry form was still inside the magazine, unused! PS Here’s another clipping from [...]

When an old friend let me sort through their old baseball cards I figured the market had enough life to squeeze a couple of hundred dollars out of them. I’d mentioned a couple of nice dinners, how about a burger and Coke instead?

I know next to nothing about hot rods, dragsters, automobilia or even cars in general, but I do recognize the value of vintage car part catalogs, like these Almquist “Equipment of Champions” catalogs, to fans and collectors of such things. And I’ll admit, looking at old hot rod custom sport bodies, kits, 3-D chrome emblems, [...]

A couple of years ago, my son Hunter scored a sweet purchase at a garage sale: a NFL All-Pro Football game (Ideal # 2520-5, from 1967) for $3. He helped me review the vintage National Football League board game too, which prompted an email from Larry — and if you ever wondered why I spend [...]

I currently have a couple of the more important issues of The Sporting News in my possession, but decided to try and generate a little excitement with them on eBay so they’re only going to be mine now through Sunday. Since they’re soon headed out the door I thought it’d be a good time to [...]

Then check out this vintage sugar packet featuring the famous boxer. This packet of Jack Frost Tablet Sugar not only features the famous sports figure (and his “Best Wishes”) but it’s from his restaurant, Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant Bar & Cocktail Lounge located on 49th & Broadway in New York City (there were apparently several locations). [...]

After recently acquiring a batch of 1935 Movie Star Dixie Premium Photos … and, of course, making them available for sale … I wanted to revisit the popular collectibles one more time, something I see I most recently did last April on the VintageMeld. That post is more centered around Tom Popelka’s excellent Dixie Premiums [...]

To me collecting has always been about amassing and organizing, maybe a little displaying, definitely learning, and combining those last too a little bit “I know something you don’t know,” which is by all means a mature enough reason to start this story when the bug first bit, age 6. My entry into the world [...]