Expert: Kitty Kavey - 10/11/2011

Question
Kitty

I have a collection of about 40-50 Screen Guide's from the 1930's & 1940's. I have seen one or two of these on e-bay from time to time, but that's about it.

Do people collect these?

I would imagine if the magazine contained info on specific actors, it would have some vaule.

By career, I am an Engineer and  Marketing guy, and I am out of my element with these types of materials. They belong to my 96 year old aunt, and she just bought them way back to read, and they have been around ever since.

Any direction / information / source of info you could give me would be greatly appreciated. You folks do a great job.

My wife even answers' questions about counseling / drugs/ etc.  Thanks in advance  Ken

Answer
People do collect old magazines, some for the content and/or advertisements, and some because of the subject.  You can do a search on eBay for completed listings to find out exactly what something similar to what you have has sold for in the past.

There's a good article on eHow.com by Linda Johnson about antique magazines that you might find helpful.  In addition to her suggestions, I'll add that your local library can often have (or get) a copy of the magazine evaluation guide mentioned in the article:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4622453_appraise-antique-magazines.html

Once you determine the approximate market value given the content and condition of your screen guides, you can also look into selling the lot through an antiques dealer - and there are antique booksellers who also deal in magazines and other printed materials.  That may be easier considering the size of the collection you have, rather than trying to sell them individually via eBay, or shipping a large and heavy lot all at once to a single winning bidder.

Good luck to you,
~Kitty