musical ephemera from 1912

Collecting vintage ephemera is not easy task, even if it was existing in wide circulation copies at the time. There exist the stuff the folks used to keep, and theres the stuff they did not - just used it, and thats all.

Not everything stands the test of time, in particular, useful literature that has been actively read and used, and did not stand quietly in luxurious leather bindings, decorating the shelves, does not stand this test. For example, children's books, or musical notes - all these small editions were actively used at one time, worn out, and most of them did not reach us. A friend of mine collects musical scores from early century editions (and a few others too), and recently together we celebrated a big addition to his collection - he bought 4 new editions!

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А я получил большое эстетическое удовольствие, выкладывая их в композицию покрасивее для фотографирования. Фоном послужил прекрасный винтажный китайский сундук с резной крышкой. Фоткал практически в темноте, поэтому диафрагма f/2 и столь малая глубина резкости, которую я оставил намеренно, рассчитывая что художественный эффект размытия не окажется лишним в данной ситуации,- однако f2, пожалуй, все же перебор... освещение ключ ко всему, да.

Most important aspect - not the least one - is the price. Alas, the rule of supply and demand holds us all with its dead hand ...uh, I will not indicate which specific part of the body it holds us with 8-). Many things do not exist in large quantities, have never existed - therefore, there is not enough of them for everyone. And when demand is high and supply is limited, the price tag skyrockets to the moon. Price is not equal to value, right? I hate to buy something worth a dollar for the price tag by 50 times higher (well, I guess nobody likes it! do you?)

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My friend "followed" the seller of these notes at the "Udelnaya" flea market for about a year (!). Some of those music notes - labelled at 100-200 rubles price (equial to 2-3 dollars), he have bought immediately, while others the seller estimated at 500-800 rubles, and tried to sell. A friend of mine regularly checked his counter and urged the seller to lower the price and go for real. And, finally, he succeeded: after a year (!) of almost zero sales, the seller made sure that there were no others willing to spend 10 dollars on these tiny (2-3 pages only!) penny notes, which were not of great historical value, and, moreover, were poorly preserved.

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As for me, I like to see the traces of time on them, in fact, it is for this that I like these little pieces of paper stained with paint and time ... This is the only side that personally attracts me to them - I prefer modern music :) By the way, funny nuance: the cover of many of these notes is cut from the top by 6-10mm. In this place, as far as I understand, the owners often signed the sheet music with their initials so that they would not get confused, lost and not left to other owners ... However, the sheet music still "went" to other owners, who carefully cut off unnecessary identifying owners from the cover plots. Nothing changes, and human nature ... hehe ... 130 years ago, morals were certainly softer, but still, still ...

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location:	St.petersburg, Russia	November 2020	natural lighting
camera/lens:	Canon 5D	Sigma 50mm 1.4	raw-conv.
f/2	t 1/160	ISO 800	---

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PS. In case you are in doubts where your post about old grandpa's clock or grandma's jewelry from 1856, or a family Coffee Grinder from 1972 should go -- here is a hint: 'Antiques & Vintage' community is the place!

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