Movie Collectibles vs. Movie Memorabilia

[Cliff Aliperti]

Hi, I'm new to group and on my way in the door, Dianne convinced me to start a group centered around my main passion, movie collectibles. Well, I've got that set up and await Dianne's announcement of it tomorrow, but in the process we had an interesting discussion which made me think I should begin the group's content with a quick clarification.

We decided to call it "Movie Cards, Collectibles and Memorabilia," which will hopefully be fitting. Cards are pretty self-explanatory, but while I consider myself a dealer in Movie Collectibles I don't think of myself as a seller of Movie Memorabilia. What's the difference you may ask, well, that's what this post is for.

In my mind, Movie Memorabilia consists largely of those items involved within the direct production of the movie. In other words, among the items that I don't personally handle would be props, scripts, costumes, and other items directly involved in the production of the film. If that's what you collect, well I really hope you join the group as you'll be able to pick up a lot of slack for me there!

Movie Collectibles, which I consider my specialty, in my mind consists of those items which collectors of the period could lay their hands directly on. While Movie Cards fit under this umbrella, they are obviously a large enough hobby to stand alone. What I'm referring too are largely ephemeral items such as Newspaper and Magazine Supplements; the papers and magazines themselves; Promotional Issues; Premium issues such as the popular Dixie Cup Lids and Premiums that you could collect with ice cream; fan photos, which were the photographs sent back by the star and their PR team, or even the studio themselves when fans would write; and other such items. Pinbacks would be a good fit here as well, though I don't do too much with them personally.

Hovering in between Memorabilia and Collectibles are items such as Movie Posters and Lobby Cards (neither of which I handle) and Movie Still Photos (which I do). To me those items veer more towards memorabilia, because how did you get them: basically you worked in a movie theater or knew someone who did. They weren't easily attainable like say a copy of Photoplay was.

So that's how my mind runs as to some of the dividing lines between Movie Memorabilia and Collectibles, however, as I said, if you collect or are just plain interested in any of these items, you're more than welcome to join the group. Hope to see you there.

Thanks,
Cliff Aliperti

[C. Dianne Zweig, Editor]

Thanks Cliff for moderating thie group. Movie Cards, Collectibles & Memorabilia click on "Groups" at the top of the page and then click on Movie Cards, Collectibles & Memorabilia. Groups are free.so join now. Dianne, Editor