Friday, June 9, 2017

Nancy Drew Reporter Lobby Card

I do not go to antique shops or estate sales very often these days.  The reason is that these days I tire easily and cannot tolerate going many places.  It's just no longer any fun at all.  I'd rather sit at my computer and browse online listings.  I do try to skim the estate sale pictures just in case, but I will only attend a sale if it is in my immediate vicinity or if I see something extremely good in one of the photos.

This afternoon I decided to skim the estate sale photos, and I actually hoped that I wouldn't see anything of interest, since I had no desire to go to any sales this weekend. I scanned the photos quite quickly, only looking for photos of books and ignoring everything else.  The books I saw were of no interest.  And then I paused while scrolling one page of photos, because I had seen something.  I did not know what I had seen, but I knew something had grabbed my attention.  I scrolled back up and found the following photo.


Most of you are probably just like me in that you can sense an item of interest in a glance without consciously processing what was seen.  Somehow, I spotted the Nancy Drew lobby card in a flash, and I was only looking for books.

I then discovered that the sale was in progress, and I assumed that it had started this morning around 4 1/2 hours before.  Was it even worth bothering?  My expectation was that the lobby card would be gone, but I decided that I needed to go just in case, even though the sale was 15 miles away.  I immediately got in the car and left.  When I arrived, I discovered that the sale had started only 50 minutes before and that people were still waiting to get inside. This meant that there was a chance that the lobby card was still there.  I added my name to the list and had to wait 30 minutes to get inside.

Once inside, I went from room to room trying to locate the lobby cards.  I couldn't find them and assumed they had sold.  On a second trip through one room, one of the people running the sale was explaining something to a customer and mentioned Nancy Drew.  Just my luck.  I stood there waiting, hoping that the card I wanted was not going to be selected.  The customer put the lobby cards down, and I picked them up, removing the Nancy Drew lobby card from the sleeve that contained the lobby cards.

Have you ever noticed that people always make a big deal about seeing Nancy Drew on anything?  Shortly after I picked up the Nancy Drew lobby card, an employee wrote up my ticket.  She made a point of saying, "Nancy Drew!"  They always say it with a lilt to their voice.  Have you noticed that?  I am glad that everyone has nice memories of Nancy Drew, but at the same time, I wish my primary interest were a bit less likely to attract attention, especially when I am about to purchase something priced at below value.

Here are two photos of the lobby card, one with the camera flash and one without.



I have never been very interested in purchasing the memorabilia associated with the Bonita Granville Nancy Drew films.  I also am not interested in the memorabilia associated with the television series of the late 1970s.  My focus has always been on the actual books more than anything else.

I have never even purchased the reproduction lobby cards.  It's just not an interest.  I have always thought that I would never own anything associated with the Bonita Granville Nancy Drew films unless I got really lucky one day and found something inexpensively.  And so it finally happened.

I am not going to divulge exactly what I paid, since I could always decide at some point to sell the lobby card.  For now, I will keep it and will most likely frame it and hang it on the wall.

4 comments:

Jenn Fisher said...

That's an awesome find :)

Amanda from Seattle said...

So awesome, I have reproductions....it is just serendipity.

Jennifer White said...

It is serendipity. I feel like it was meant to happen. Sales don't usually start at 1 PM; they almost always start at 9 AM. I saw the photo at about 1:20 PM, which was right after the sale started.

A Candle to Read By said...

An amazing addition to your collection. Framing to hang on the wall sounds great.