Trixie Belden Mystery of Emeralds Artwork

The artwork for the 1960s edition of Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Emeralds sold for $2,050.00.

Trixie Belden Black Jacket Artwork

The auction for all of the artwork for the 1960s edition of Trixie Belden and the Black Jacket Mystery closed at $2,050.00. The seller gave this information concerning the dimensions:

Front/Back Cover Art 22"x 30" (piece is folded in two)
(Back cover art is a separate piece measuring 10"x13")
Interior Page Art 15"x20" 15 pages

Trixie Belden and Ginny Gordon Artwork

For a number of months, an eBay seller has offered items from the archives of the Golden Press/Western Publishing Company. The offerings include uncirculated file copies of books and all other items sold by the company over the decades, plus the original artwork for many of the items.

The artwork for the 1970s edition of Trixie Belden and the Red Trailer Mystery sold for $247.28.


The artwork for the 1970s edition of Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona sold for $409.06.


The artwork for Ginny Gordon and the Missing Heirloom sold for $260.00.


One lot contained all of the artwork for the 1960s deluxe edition of Trixie Belden and the Gatehouse Mystery. The auction closed at $1,128.78.



To be clear, I did not purchase any of these lots. I copied the pictures from the seller's auctions so that we can all enjoy the images.

The Early Days of eBay

I get really peeved when people misrepresent eBay's rise to prominence. It all has to do with people who complain that the alternative sites are not doing enough to draw in buyers. Many people claim that eBay rose to prominence by advertising. This is not true. People complain that alternative sites do not have name recognition and that eBay had great name recognition from near the beginning under the name "eBay." This is also not true.

Google has archived the Usenet database (even all those insane alt.books.nancy-drew posts live on), so we can take a trip back through time and see how eBay rose to prominence. The founder, Pierre Omidyar, used the Usenet groups to spread the word. We can also see that eBay was not known as eBay.

In order to find the old word-of-mouth advertising, I ran an advanced search restricted to the second half of 1995 in order to locate Pierre's messages shortly after eBay's creation.

AUCTIONWEB: Interactive Web Auction

The above message was posted on September 13, 1995. The URL is eBay.com/aw, but notice that the site is called "Auction Web." I remember it by that name. We did not call it "eBay." I also recall that the main URL, eBay.com, was a portal that linked to the auction part and then to Pierre's other business.

Here is one from someone else on September 12, 1995.

Auction Web

Here's another:

AUCTION: Pickett Slide Rule

Everyone called it "Auction Web." Back in my first few years on eBay, I printed out copies of all of the auctions that I bid on or won. Here is a scan of one of them.


Look how the page does not say eBay anywhere, and the name at the top is Auction Web.

In the early days, the internet was very small, and "Auction Web" did not have to run television ads. We found Auction Web fairly easily. The site grew very fast, because it was the only one with auctions. The site which is first is the one which gains the most success.

Yes, eBay did grow by huge amounts once it began advertising on television. However, eBay was already getting huge by the time it advertised, which I believe was around three years after the site's inception.

Some people think that if alternative sites sink large sums of money into advertising then the alternative sites are guaranteed success. Not so. In 1999, Amazon launched Amazon Auctions and spent a lot of money on advertising. I am pretty sure that I recall television ads.

I signed up to sell in the Amazon Auctions, and my auctions closed at higher prices than similar ones did on eBay at that time—at least during the time that Amazon advertised. It was great: Amazon's auctions had lots of buyers because of the ads. The problem is that once the ads ended, the buyers left, and nothing sold. Amazon Auctions no longer exists.

Advertising is very tricky and must be done at the right time. Upillar.com did some high dollar advertising recently. Ever heard of it? Probably not, unless you heard the same ads that I did. For a couple of days earlier this year, Upillar had a well-known radio talk show host advertise the site. Let's see how that worked out.


Upillar had a big jump in traffic, and then the traffic has now fallen almost as low as the previous level. That must have been a bunch of money wasted. Let's compare this to Bonanzle's traffic over the same time period.

Upillar's peak traffic at the beginning of this year solely due to advertising is where Bonanzle was at in early 2009 without advertising. Bonanzle has continued to grow, without advertising. Yes, Bonanzle needs to advertise, but the owners are so far playing it safe by not squandering large sums of money to no purpose. Once Bonanzle reaches a certain level—whatever that might be—then advertising will pay off big time. I think the magic number is 500,000 users. Bonanzle is currently approaching 300,000 users.

Alternative sites are better off building a strong foundation than in wasting large amounts of money in advertising. Advertising is important, but the money should not be wasted. People who need to sell in order to survive are better off staying on eBay where the traffic is higher. People like me who have a primary source of income not connected to selling online will do fine on the alternative sites.

As I have already reported, I am now as successful on Bonanzle as I once was on eBay. If I were selling the same amount on eBay that I am selling on Bonanzle, I would qualify for eBay's power seller program. This was not the case last year. I had quite a few slow months on Bonanzle, but I was able to let my items set in my booth until the traffic finally increased enough for me to get sales.

The Nicholas Flamel Series

Jack recommended this series to me awhile back. I decided to buy the books and read the first three earlier this year. The fourth book, The Necromancer, was published at the end of May. I promptly began reading it as soon as I finished the Linda Carlton series.

I enjoyed The Necromancer the most of the four books. With the Flamel series, I feel like the books are getting better and better. This is exactly as it should be. As the Harry Potter series neared its end, the books did not seem to be as good as the earlier ones. I was disappointed with the last three Harry Potter books.

I am in a quandary as to how to explain what the Nicholas Flamel series is about without spoiling too much of the plot. Here goes...

Sophie and Josh Newman are 15 1/2 year old twins who are spending the summer in San Francisco while their parents are off on an archaeological dig. Josh works in an antiquarian book store, and Sophie works in a coffee shop.

One day a man named John Dee arrives at the book store and confronts the owner, Nick Fleming. Both men use magic, which Josh witnesses, and the book store is destroyed. Nick's wife, Perry, is kidnapped. Josh and Sophie's world is turned upside down, and they end up on the run with Nick Fleming.

The Newman twins soon learn that Nick Fleming is the historical figure, Nicholas Flamel, who has become immortal through a spell found in the Codex. John Dee, who is also immortal, stole the Codex from Flamel, but the last two pages were accidentally ripped from the book during the fight.

Flamel informs the twins that they are the legendary twins of silver and gold auras, and that John Dee will have realized this fact and will now be hunting them. The legendary twins have the power to save or destroy the world.

John Dee wants to bring the Dark Elder Gods back to the earth and restore it as it was in ancient times. If this happens, then humans will cease to exist. So, what we have is a battle of good versus evil with the twins thrown in the middle.

In these books, all of the mythological figures from past religions are real and exist in various Shadowrealms. Some of them live in the human world alongside humans. Not only that, but quite a few historical figures, such as Joan of Arc, have attained immortality and are introduced to the story along the way.

At times, the information overload is a bit much, and the reader has trouble absorbing all that occurs. This becomes easier for the reader as the series progresses.

Both Sophie and Josh are not certain whether they can completely trust the Flamels, and John Dee plays into this by manipulating Josh. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that Sophie may lose Josh to the forces of evil and may end up fighting on the opposite side as her twin.

Each book has ended in a cliffhanger, and the fourth book has a doozy of one. I wish I could read the next book right now, but I'm going to have to wait a year. This is a very interesting series.

Linda Carlton's Hollywood Flight

Linda is watching a newsreel in the theater with her friends when she is electrified by the announcement that the famous aviatrix, Linda Carlton, has signed on with a film company to appear in a Hollywood film. Linda's friends believe the story, and it is with great difficulty that Linda convinces both her Aunt Emily and Dot Crowley that the Linda Carlton in the newsreel is an impostor.

Linda and Dot leave quickly in the Ladybug for Hollywood. During their journey, the girls are forced to land on an office building because of a storm. As luck would have it, the office building houses a newspaper, and their photos are taken. Quick-thinking Dot gives the reporter false names, since Linda hates publicity.

The emergency landing of "Sallie Slocum" and "May Manton" appears in newspapers across the country, so when Linda arrives at the film studio, the secretary thinks that Linda is Sallie Slocum, an impostor! Linda finds it impossible to prove that she is the real Linda Carlton and faces arrest as the impostor!

This summary covers just the first 60 pages of the book. This final Linda Carlton book is action-packed, just like the other books in the series. Linda and Dot are even chloroformed! I couldn't help thinking of Nancy Drew.

I anticipated reading the Linda Carlton series for several years. I usually have a pretty good idea of whether a series will be below average, average, or above average. I expected the Billie Bradley series to be no more than average, and I was correct. I expected the Linda Carlton series to be above average, and I was not disappointed.

In all five books, Linda goes from one thrilling adventure to another. If I were to pick just one series to which to compare Linda Carlton, I would have to select the Beverly Gray series. Linda is in multiple plane crashes, stranded on a desert island, and arrested more than once for crimes she did not correct. Linda ends up in Cuba and in Hawaii at different times, just like Beverly Gray. Linda has multiple admirers who vie for her attention.

I read this series in approximately one week, because I had to know what would happen next. I found all five books to be excellent, and I liked volumes 3 and 5 the best, since they have the wildest adventures. Edith Lavell wrote three series: the Girls Scouts series, the Mary Louise Gay series, and the Linda Carlton series. I greatly enjoyed all three series, but I like the Linda Carlton books the best. It is a shame that the series is so brutally hard to collect.