Sep 13

Other Bad Habits

Men have hobbies and collect stuff.  Its what we do.

Besides the bad habit of occasionally buying a car and then eventually selling it for less I collect photos.  This started 30 years ago when I got Ted Billings photo albums from his wife Winifred.   Ted is mentioned quite a bit in the topic on the Bring A Trailer Duesenberg from last week.  He ran a restoration shop in the 50s/60s/70s and took a lot of photos.  He also liked cars that I like so the albums were very cool to me.   My dad started in the 50s also and he gave me all his stuff too.  Then I started looking and buy photos.

eBay made it easy to blow money and I swear I have personally built the market for prewar photographs.    These days I have become very particular and maybe buy something on eBay once a month.   Maybe.

This is maybe 25% of my stuff.  I have it organized in albums and bankers boxes.  Along with the photos I have collected auction catalogs (I have hundreds),  original owners manuals, and other junk.

I know @SteveMackCT collects petrolina,  @Hupp31 had photos and sales stuff like me,  @DuesyGuy has corned the market on Model J parts.    Do you guys have collect other stuff (and maybe regret it?).

Sep 13, 2026

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Replies (49)

· Sep 13

There are two auction houses in Germany that have regular auctions I buy from. It his highway robbery. By the time the auction house puts their vig on and then charge you packing and shipping you can almost double the bid for total cost.

Here is one I'm bidding on today at the Ladenburg auction. I only by verifiable pre 1970s photos. And the older the more they are worth to me. Pre-WWII is the gold standard. Early 50s is not bad. I already have a bunch of photos of this car. In fact I might even have this exact one. But I'm bidding anyways. Opening bid is 50 Euro.
September 1954, original black-and-white photograph, Mercedes-Benz 540K with inside steering, Watkins Glen,

https://www.automobilia-ladenburg.de/

· Sep 13

Oh well thanks, AJ. I was looking for a place to go broke in multiple currencies.

· Sep 13

AJ, I was thinking of buying a few photos but the concern I have is some sellers are making multiple photos off the original and selling the copies - so it's not like rummaging through an antique show and buying a select photo that hasn't seen the light of day in decades. I guess I'll pose the question, how do you know it's original, or does it matter?
- Dan.

· Sep 13

Always have to see the back of the photo Dan. If they don't show the back then it is a copy.

The German ones are period, although you usually have to guess the period. If they are copies they will say.

At 70/ photo US plus all the shipping/handling and other fees they can't afford to piss off a real bidder.

· Sep 13

This is a cool eBay one I got outbid on. Caddy with German body taken in the USA. Do not believe the car still exists. See the back of the photo.

1 / 2

· Sep 13

1960s photo with appropriate back side. The new prints are always pure white and clean. Anything period usually has a stamp.

1 / 2

· Sep 13

Here is another Ladenburg one from today with an opening bid of 50 Euro. Taken in England in the 60s I have many photos of this car already. But still need to bid for some reason.

· Sep 13

The most I've ever paid for a photo was this one, which is the only shot of this car I have ever seen. I think all in it was 150 dollars. Way way more than I usually spend. But you can see this car is fantastic.

· Sep 13

Wow! What is this car A.J.? German?

· Sep 13

Looks like Cadillac?

· Sep 13

1932 V16 Cadillac. Voll & Ruhbeck body. Not known to survive but if it did it would be a Pebble BOS contender with the right owner and restoration.

· Sep 13

This is the other German house that has a regular auction that might have some cool photos. I would say 75% of the time I get outbid. Thank god. So there are other guys that are bigger idiots than me.

https://auction.nicola-ac.de/

· Sep 13

I'm bidding in another auction today that is a "Check the Oil" auction. I'm not spending a lot on this but I want this corp magazine for the Stearns site. Have never seen it before.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/236276163_1930-stearn-knight-corporation-magazine-louisville-oh

· Sep 13

14 dollars shipping!!!

· Sep 13

They auction house makes their money on packing and shipping paper items like this. These guys are reasonable compared to our German friends.

The Ladenburg auction looks to have closed and I "won" 7 photos. When they compute the shipping and handling I will post it. Might not be for a week.

· Sep 20

Durn! We need to coordinate our efforts so we're not bidding against each other!

· Sep 21

My fault. I figured there was nobody else out there bidding on Stearns stuff! I'll get it scanned and posted. Not picking it up until Hershey.

· Sep 13

I made the mistake of learning that keyword searches on Biblio.com can yield some very interesting finds in old photo albums and rare books. That’s proven to be quite expensive, especially since my wife won’t say a word about it because she has a full blown library of her own.

· Sep 13

I still owe you photos of the Hupp parts catalog that is 6" thick.

· Sep 13

Travis….. I think you shed light on one of the keys to a successful marriage……. “She has her interests that rival our own”. It is very effective if the dollars consumed are close to parity between the two rival factions.
In m so lucky because my wife has her thing which has no limit and makes old cars seem only moderately foolish financially………. She is a travel hound. She’s very capable of meeting and exceeding my shenanigans wasting money on the old car hobby……= marital bliss 😳

· Sep 13

My Mom had horses my dad had cars. You can argue cars are bad but nothing compared to horses.

· Sep 13

I’m very fortunate that my wife is quite tolerant of my hobbies. As long as it doesn’t put us in the poorhouse and she still has a spot in the garage, she gives me carte blanche.

· Sep 13

I think we have all heard the spot in the garage speach.

· Sep 13

To riff a little off of A.J.'s original post, all of my friends have hobbies and most collect something. One guy has baseball cards he started collecting in 1st grade. Another guy has fishing lurers. Sometimes the hobby is as simple as keeping the yard clean. But a guy without hobbies usually has some other bad habit that is filling that time.

· Sep 13

Very true. I can tell you firsthand though, the fishing lures can make cars seem cheap.

· Sep 13

It might be cheaper to have a drug habit.
You'd have less stuff and be really motivated.

· Sep 13

You’d definitely have less stuff but whatever they’re pushing around here is most definitely NOT performance-enhancing.

· Sep 14

Of course, the collecting can get out of hand. Someone paid $120k for this toolbox that was in the garage in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/snap-on-2/

· Sep 14

Again proving tbe need for the laughing emogee!

· Sep 14

😂

· Sep 20

‼️

· Sep 14

As I write this we happenned to have Antiques Roadshow on where they appraised a mi nt Steif teddy bear at 8 - 10k. Mrs. Mack has a couple of vintage Steif Bears in her collection but none that have appraised for that. .. I totally encourage her to add to them...

I have a growing interest in collectible shotguns but am still doing my research. Unlike some other collectible guns collectors seem good with well loved and contuoisly used examples in the field or with clays. I would love to put a vintage shotgun or two into the clays rotation.

(edited)

· Sep 14

Steve, it seems like old guns come in just as wide of a value range as cars. Anywhere from Model T to Model J. I inherited a pile of mostly well-used Model T’s from my grandfather. They’re interesting but not valuable.

· Sep 14

Holland and Holland comes to mind.🫢

· Sep 14

Absolutely!! My compromise on something collectible and usable was going to be a CT Shotgon - I like the semi-custom approach and hand finishing but leveraging modern machining to get things started but for the $$$ too much feedback on post sale service so I am a pass with those guys. Too bad they are reproducing a lot of classic designs with original tooling in many cases and of course the local ties..

· Sep 14

I joke that I collect collections. I just wish I could afford to. The bad thing is I will likely have to move soon, and have so much stuff (hoarder?) I don't think I can keep much of it.

Among my favorite collections is 78 rpm records. I have more than 2000 of them, mostly 1920s, a couple hundred from the 1910s, and even a few really early ones. I don't actively collect any 78s from after about 1934.

ALL worthwhile collectibles require a lot of study to know the difference between a five dollar item, and a similar five hundred dollar item. I often tell people a model T engine block (bare block in good condition) could be worth anywhere from five dollars to over five THOUSAND dollars? Do you know the difference?

Case in point, slight side trip as it was not 78s. About thirty years ago, I wandered into a yard sale one afternoon. The fellow had a bunch of 45s, some priced okay. He also had two book like albums of 45s with about fifteen to twenty records each, all Elvis Presley. I enquired the price, and he proudly proclaimed (I think it was) $300 each album. I nearly choked. He then exclaimed that he KNEW that they were worth that because when he had first opened up in the morning he had three such albums of Elvis 45s. Then he let slip the key detail. The album that sold had a few (he was unclear on the actual count, but thought three to five Sun label Elvis 45s. At that time, Sun label Elvis 45s were selling for about $600 EACH! So, of course some lucky garage saler was eager to hand over $300 for the album. The other two albums, all common later stuff. That one that had sold early was easily worth ten to twenty times the two remaining albums put together.

One needs to know their stuff.

(edited)

· Sep 14

Wayne, I think this all makes you a very normal guy!!! I have never branched out from car stuff which keeps me boxed in a little bit. Moving could be brutal. I need to clean my dad's garage and the second floor is 1400 square feet of everything. Some of which I can toss, a lot I shouldn't.

· Sep 23

I don't know about normal?
I also collect movie memorabilia, mostly silent era. I have over two hundred "photoplay illustrated novels", those are books with scenes from the movie. About a dozen are early talkies, including a 1933 Tarzan, and 1931's Dracula. The rest are silent era. I have a few souvenir feature booklets that one may have purchased from the theater when the film was being shown. These were only produced for some major motion pictures in the era. Those are somewhat rare, among the ones I have is 1927's "Wings", winner of the first "Best Picture" Academy Award.

I have at least a hundred other era books, magazines, and newspapers (even the headline "Drastic Dry Law!" for when prohibition was enacted!).

At its peak (40 years ago?), I had more than a dozen antique cameras. I sold all the valuable ones when one of the kids gave me an unexpected and significant hospital bill. I still have about half of the bunch (none very valuable), including a 1930ish Keystone hand crank 16 mm movie camera!
I used to often use one of my antique cameras on club tours and automobile shows.

To use with my antique automobiles, I also have quite a bit of era camping and picnic gear.

Like I said. I think I collect collections.

I love history! All eras and the parts of them. The giant leap from pre-modern man into modern man that took place around the 1890s into the 1920s is my favorite era. All those "things" to me are "touchstones". They help connect me to that history.

· Sep 14

I have that queezy freeling that I won stuff I don't really want to pay for now.   Momentary dophamine from the bid is followed by the depression of the finall bill.   What until you guys see what our German friends tack on.

Congratulations!
Enclosed you will find your results of the Automobilia - Ladenburg Auction Online 4  2026.
You will receive your bill including shipping and handling costs within the following 14 days.
Post auction sales,  can only be added to purchases within three days.
In case your address has changed, we kindly ask you to notify us by telephone or via Email.
If you pick up your items, please let us know within 2 days, otherwise the packaging fee will remain on the invoice.
If you do not send a message within 3 days or notify us by phone, no changes are possible.

· Sep 16

I’m waiting on a 1934 issue of Motorsport magazine from the UK. We’ll see how much that ends up costing me. I really wanted it for a Hupmobile eight road test that’s in it but it also has some stuff in it about the Mercedes and Auto Union cars so that should be worthwhile.

· Sep 14

I've definitely been there. Sometimes you just have to say screw it. I am presently bidding on something in Cambridge since I can't find a similar example in the U.S. Since it will come due when I'm at work I basically had to bid at the top of the estimated range. After that, the 25% auction commission, attempting to get VAT refunded, packing and shipping by an independent and then tarriff charges (and all of it over-estimated on the front end) I'll probably be paying double.

· Sep 15

Dan, when buy in Europe I just double it. I've got a sick feeling in my stomach that I just paid 350x2 for like 7 ok photos from the 50s. Stupid.

· Sep 15

AJ= an economic stimulus plan all on your own!

· Sep 15

@alsancle You've just described the purchasing experience for every Canadian that buys something from the US. By the time I'm done with the exchange, duties, taxes and the courier's "because we can" fees, everything is double.

· Sep 20

I guess this qualifies. This is the "feature wall" in our family room. My wife is a good sport.

· Sep 21

Ok Roger. That is cool! and I love the dog.

· Sep 22

They're in alphabetical order, currently from Abbott Detroit to Yellow Knight. I mounted them with pool noodles so when I get a new one, everybody moves down a peg.

· Sep 22

That is so cool! You win!!!!

· Sep 22

@blgitn Wow!