The town of Argonia, Kansas became nationally and internationally known back in '87 when the 500 or so voters elected the first woman Mayor in US History. Her name was Susanna Salter and was one of a number of female mayors elected during the years after the civil war.. yep.. civil war I wrote. '87.. 1887 I meant! Can you imagine? Woman didn't even have the right to vote until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1919 and yet women were being elected to office?
It turns out that Kansas was a pretty good place to live back then for women as in 1887, women were given franchise and thus, the right to vote in First, Second and Third class cities; Argonia was a third class city. But still, in that day and age, let's face it. Woman were, at best, not very involved with politics, right? Perhaps they spoke about it while doing the laundry or having tea, but to run for an office? Unheard of!
Now it did run in her family. It turns out her father was the town's first Mayor. It was just incorporated in 1885 and her husband was the town's city clerk. But still, she was the mother of two children and again, back then, that always came first, no? She was a member and an active one, of the Women's Christian Temperance Union or W.C.T.U. for short. They were the day's political activist group if you will. Now that woman had the right to vote, they put together there ticket of men for the upcoming 1887 election that they felt best suited to hold the towns offices, regardless of party affiliation (how refreshing!). The president of the group was not at the meeting and Mrs. Salter presided at the caucus.
It appears there were a certain group of men in town who didn't take kindly to women getting their noses involved with politics as that was their exclusive domain as men and they resented the women for intruding into their affairs. Two of these men attended the caucus and heckled the proceedings; even attempted to nominate a candidate, but were voted down.
Of course, that wouldn't stop these men. They decided to call a secret caucus and, in the back room of a local restaurant, 20 men gathered with the purpose of teaching these women a lesson. They drew up a slate of candidate similar to the one the W.C.T.U. had with the exception of the office of Mayor. There, they put the name of Mrs. Susanna Salter! They assumed that the women would vote for the W.C.T.U. slate and that the men would not vote for a woman. They though that if Mrs. Salter got only their 20 votes, if would embarrass the W.C.T.U. as a political organization and curb some, if not all, of it's activities. Why did they pick her? Simply because she was the only officer that was eligible as the rest lived outside of the town's limits.
Now this could be done as a surprise because back then, candidates didn't have to file before election day. The faction simply had the ballots printed with Mrs. Salter's name on them, of course without her knowledge or consent. Early voters were shocked, so they say, to find she was a candidate! The republican club chairman, realizing what has happened (thanks to the grapevine that exists in every small town) got in touch with Mrs. Salter and asked her if she won whether she would accept the office of not. Her answer was yes. The republicans responded, "All right, we will elect you and just show those fellows who framed up this deal a thing or two." I can almost see John Wayne swaggering off into the sunset after that! :)
All day long they explained the situation and campaigned to get the vote out. Her husband was angered when he saw her name on the ballot but even more angry when he learned of her intent to except the office if she won.
At any rate, the town didn't like the fact that anyone would try and manipulate their vote, regardless of the outcome. She was elected to the dismay of the 20. Ironically, 3 of the men in that group were elected to serve on the council along with her.
So, how did she do? Unremarkably ok. She set the tone at her first presiding meeting where she told the 5 councilmen, "Gentlemen, what is your pleasure? You are the duly elected officials of this town. I am merely your presiding officer." From what we could find out, nothing occurred at all.
There you go; our first female Mayor. And it was all because someone didn't think women should have anything to do with politics at all! And because of that, it ended up with a woman in the chair!
Thanks for reading :)
Seller Sourcebook
Friday, March 1, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
2013 is here and so are we!
Yes, we are. Still surviving and still trying! Bonanza, as promising as it was, just couldn't hold a candle to the sales we experienced at eBay. It's pretty amazing really. We keep trying to find an alternative but when it all comes right down to it... there isn't one. At least, not for us.
So, Aronels has reopened our store on eBay and closed the booth at Bonanza. We've already tripled our sales in less than 2 weeks on eBay than we saw in 4 months on Bonanza, enough said.
To quibble over the cost of doing business when there's the difference of NO business or having business; it's pretty much a moot point.
I think it all comes down to how much an organization is able or willing to invest in time, effort, and cash to advertise and push a location such as Bonanza or Etsy or any of the smaller venues that are available for sellers to work with. They are cheaper to sell on, no doubt. But they also only have a smidgeon of the traffic eBay draws on a daily basis in return. And now with Google and Bing charging to get involved with the shopping search systems.... well, once again, how much?
I'm hoping that Wanderlust will become a more active blog this year. My goal is to write at least once a month if not more. The topics will definitely be about products that we find in our travels (as was supposed to be!). So bookmark us.. come back once in a while and perhaps some interesting information will be gracing the blog! Thanks, as always, for your precious time. Happy New Year as well! May it be blessed with Health, Wealth and Happiness.
So, Aronels has reopened our store on eBay and closed the booth at Bonanza. We've already tripled our sales in less than 2 weeks on eBay than we saw in 4 months on Bonanza, enough said.
To quibble over the cost of doing business when there's the difference of NO business or having business; it's pretty much a moot point.
I think it all comes down to how much an organization is able or willing to invest in time, effort, and cash to advertise and push a location such as Bonanza or Etsy or any of the smaller venues that are available for sellers to work with. They are cheaper to sell on, no doubt. But they also only have a smidgeon of the traffic eBay draws on a daily basis in return. And now with Google and Bing charging to get involved with the shopping search systems.... well, once again, how much?
I'm hoping that Wanderlust will become a more active blog this year. My goal is to write at least once a month if not more. The topics will definitely be about products that we find in our travels (as was supposed to be!). So bookmark us.. come back once in a while and perhaps some interesting information will be gracing the blog! Thanks, as always, for your precious time. Happy New Year as well! May it be blessed with Health, Wealth and Happiness.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Changes....
It's Labor Day Weekend and what a perfect time to begin a new chapter!
We're a small business, no doubt and we do this more out of enjoyment than any desire to become wealthy or see Aronels become a huge success with Amazon or Google buying us out in the end. :) Reality is, we do enough business to keep us afloat and so long as we continue to enjoy what it brings, we can comfortably continue to explore; and that's what we did.
For years, we've relied on eBay to be our only (for the most part) portal of sales. And we're happy with eBay, unlike may other sellers out there. But, we also recognize that eBay isn't very friendly, any longer, with the small sellers. More and more, the directions they take push more and more small sellers out of their stores. Seeing all this, we decided to look at what else was out there that was reasonably priced and yet still afforded the sales potential we have with eBay. We sell the individual items that start or complete a collection.. items that are unique and definitely items that are vintage or antique. So we looked at portals such as Etsy and Ruby Lane, Ebid and Highwire. All of these venues have their own pluses and all were valid options for us to consider. But along came Bonanza in the form of an email announcing some exciting new options for sellers like us and we were hooked.
Bonanza now offers the opportunity to not only sell via your own storefront (or booth), but through their advertising co-op, your products can be viewed by potential customers on eBay, Google Shopping and soon Bing! That's four different ways that customers can easily find your product and it's all down with a minimal amount of effort on our part! And the cost? Amazingly, a percentage of the products final price IF it's sold. I'm simplifying it and for more information, please do visit www.bonanza.com, but in essense.. that's the deal. And, although we state we'll pay a 13% commission, as an example, the actual fee we pay may be less thanks to Bonanza's ability to bid with quantity. There's also an optional membership fee that we can choose to join as well starting at only $10.00 a month, but at this point, we're using the free service to see how it all works. But I feel pretty confident in saying that Aronels has found a nice new home.
Over on the right, you'll see a new widget added that displays some of our product line right here on the blog. Nice little feature Bonanza offers!
All in all, we'll be offering more unique and vintage collectibles for your buying pleasure at our new booth! It's reachable via www.aronels.com and we hope you stop by often. You never know what you're going to find there!
We're a small business, no doubt and we do this more out of enjoyment than any desire to become wealthy or see Aronels become a huge success with Amazon or Google buying us out in the end. :) Reality is, we do enough business to keep us afloat and so long as we continue to enjoy what it brings, we can comfortably continue to explore; and that's what we did.
For years, we've relied on eBay to be our only (for the most part) portal of sales. And we're happy with eBay, unlike may other sellers out there. But, we also recognize that eBay isn't very friendly, any longer, with the small sellers. More and more, the directions they take push more and more small sellers out of their stores. Seeing all this, we decided to look at what else was out there that was reasonably priced and yet still afforded the sales potential we have with eBay. We sell the individual items that start or complete a collection.. items that are unique and definitely items that are vintage or antique. So we looked at portals such as Etsy and Ruby Lane, Ebid and Highwire. All of these venues have their own pluses and all were valid options for us to consider. But along came Bonanza in the form of an email announcing some exciting new options for sellers like us and we were hooked.
Bonanza now offers the opportunity to not only sell via your own storefront (or booth), but through their advertising co-op, your products can be viewed by potential customers on eBay, Google Shopping and soon Bing! That's four different ways that customers can easily find your product and it's all down with a minimal amount of effort on our part! And the cost? Amazingly, a percentage of the products final price IF it's sold. I'm simplifying it and for more information, please do visit www.bonanza.com, but in essense.. that's the deal. And, although we state we'll pay a 13% commission, as an example, the actual fee we pay may be less thanks to Bonanza's ability to bid with quantity. There's also an optional membership fee that we can choose to join as well starting at only $10.00 a month, but at this point, we're using the free service to see how it all works. But I feel pretty confident in saying that Aronels has found a nice new home.
Over on the right, you'll see a new widget added that displays some of our product line right here on the blog. Nice little feature Bonanza offers!
All in all, we'll be offering more unique and vintage collectibles for your buying pleasure at our new booth! It's reachable via www.aronels.com and we hope you stop by often. You never know what you're going to find there!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
The Jefferson Memorial Factoid
We recently came across a batch of vintage postcards and are slowly researching and going through them so we have the information necessary to put into our catalog. A lot of these are Real Photo Postcards which we talked about in an earlier post and the latest we put up for sale is a great shot of the Jefferson Memorial at night under a full blossom of the beautiful cherry trees. While looking over the research on it, it hit me... along with many other wonderful locations, DC is a roadtrip that everyone should take at least once as a child and then again, once as an adult. I remember my first (and to this point, only) trip with my family. I was somewhere around 12 and I recall how everything was SO big and how amazing some things were and how boring other things were. That's the reason I say we need to go back at least once more; for as an adult, we can appreciate and most likely, enjoy the boring things from our trip in childhood!
The Jefferson Memorial.. Facts:
The Jefferson Memorial.. Facts:
- Total cost to build - $3,000,000.00
- Took about 3.5 years to build and was completed in 1943
- Monument designed by John Russell Pope
- Monument stands 128 feet tall
- Statue sculpted by Rudolph Evans
- Statue stands 19 feet tall
- About 2.5 million people visit the monument every year
- Free to visit and never closes
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Starting an Advertising Memorabilia Collection
Advertising Memorabilia is huge. Everyone has seen restaurants, for example, displaying old ads in frames or promotional calendars as part of their decor. If you ever watched the picker shows on TV, they drool whenever they come across vintage products hidden in the back of a building.. not having seen the light of day for years. It's addictive, that's for sure. And it might have, along with a nudge by a loved one to get a hobby, sparked an interest in you starting your own collection of some sort. :) Why not Advertising?
In our opinion, it's a great subject matter to collect. You can, for example, start small and collect matchbooks from the 1970s and back. They were a great source of advertising for local businesses as well as national chains and such. Or how about magazine ads or calendars? Or collect product that has to do with a company you know about.. for example, Coca-Cola or McDonalds. Most collections cause some sort of emotional reaction from their owners.. otherwise why collect. But, in our opiniong, collecting advertising stirs up more than just emotions.. it's nostalgic; memories of our youth perhaps or tales that our parents recall when they see an ad you put on the wall for Borax or some other product from the day. And it doesn't have to be expensive.
In our catalog, for example, we currently have copies of 1989 Lithographs Norman Rockwell painted back in the late 1920s or early '30s for Coca-Cola. They hired Rockwell to create a run of different paintings that they would then go on to use as advertisements. These images were put onto calendars and such to put Coca-Cola's name everywhere they could. We have copies of "Barefoot Boy", "Out Fishin'", "The Old Oaken Bucket", and "Carry me back to Old Virginny". There selling at $5.99 each and you can check them out here.
Whatever you decide to collect.. do it. I, personally, collect sports memorabilia. In particular I collect pretty much only for my favorite teams. I don't do this as an investment; I do this because I enjoy it. I have steins, balls, teddy bears, photos, dirt and plaques commemorating important events in the team's history. How much is it worth? Who knows. I don't care.. I love looking up from my computer in my office and seeing the various pieces of my collection. It puts a smile on my face and that is always a good thing.
So, just a tidbit of information to perhaps aid you in starting a collection. I chose to take about Advertising Memorabilia because I feel there's a wide diversity of items that can be collected and the choice can be selected by your investment decisions. And the fact that when you look at the ad or thermos or toy or ball, you smile is the main goal of this hobby.
Enjoy and visit Aronels soon! We're always adding new vintage and unique items into our catalog for your persual. Enjoy the wonderful weather and most of all, enjoy life.
In our opinion, it's a great subject matter to collect. You can, for example, start small and collect matchbooks from the 1970s and back. They were a great source of advertising for local businesses as well as national chains and such. Or how about magazine ads or calendars? Or collect product that has to do with a company you know about.. for example, Coca-Cola or McDonalds. Most collections cause some sort of emotional reaction from their owners.. otherwise why collect. But, in our opiniong, collecting advertising stirs up more than just emotions.. it's nostalgic; memories of our youth perhaps or tales that our parents recall when they see an ad you put on the wall for Borax or some other product from the day. And it doesn't have to be expensive.
In our catalog, for example, we currently have copies of 1989 Lithographs Norman Rockwell painted back in the late 1920s or early '30s for Coca-Cola. They hired Rockwell to create a run of different paintings that they would then go on to use as advertisements. These images were put onto calendars and such to put Coca-Cola's name everywhere they could. We have copies of "Barefoot Boy", "Out Fishin'", "The Old Oaken Bucket", and "Carry me back to Old Virginny". There selling at $5.99 each and you can check them out here.
Whatever you decide to collect.. do it. I, personally, collect sports memorabilia. In particular I collect pretty much only for my favorite teams. I don't do this as an investment; I do this because I enjoy it. I have steins, balls, teddy bears, photos, dirt and plaques commemorating important events in the team's history. How much is it worth? Who knows. I don't care.. I love looking up from my computer in my office and seeing the various pieces of my collection. It puts a smile on my face and that is always a good thing.
So, just a tidbit of information to perhaps aid you in starting a collection. I chose to take about Advertising Memorabilia because I feel there's a wide diversity of items that can be collected and the choice can be selected by your investment decisions. And the fact that when you look at the ad or thermos or toy or ball, you smile is the main goal of this hobby.
Enjoy and visit Aronels soon! We're always adding new vintage and unique items into our catalog for your persual. Enjoy the wonderful weather and most of all, enjoy life.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Real Photo Postcards.. HUH?
From time to time, we come across vintage postcards and our latest find is no exception. We have a few boxes filled with great postcards from as early as 1900! Can't wait to start researching and digging through these treasures. The ones being put into our catalog now are interesting in that they are what's called Real Photo Postcards or RPP for short. The first postcard researched happen to be for the Schofield Barracks Post Movie Theater and we cane across the fact that this was a RPP and of course, wondered what's so different about that. Always thought that all postcards showing places were from photos, but turns out it's not always the case.
An RPP is actually developed onto special photographic paper that's the same size and weight as a postcard. It also has a postcard back to it. Apparently, postcards use a variety of printing methods similar to newspapers or magazines to print pictures, but they're not actually the "real" photograph.
A trick I found on the web (credit to alanascherishedtreasures.com) helped us determine whether the postcard was actually an RPP or just a regular old postcard. Use a magnifying glass to look closely at the image on the postcard. If you can see tiny dots.. lots and lots of dots.. then the image is printed and not a real photo. If, though, you find you're viewing a solid image.. it's a Real Photo Postcard. Another way is that there MIGHT be an indication in the stamp box on the back of the postcard which explains what type of photographic paper was used in the making of that postcard. Unfortunately, our RPPs all have one cent stamps on them blocking the stamp box from being viewed.
Kodak first introduced a camera, the 3A Folding Pocket camera in 1903, which was designed to use film that was the exact size as a standard postcard at that time (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches). This was known as a postcard format camera. The camera enabled photographs to be printed on postcard backs.
In 1907, Kodak created a service which allowed the general public to make a postcard from any photo they took.. the service was called Real Photo Postcards. It offered a pre-printed postcard back and the ability to directly transfer a photo negative onto it.
Not only did this technology provide entertainment and the ability to share special moments with family and friends, but it also allowed journalists to travel across the county to document the scenes of America; historic occasions as well as tragic events. Celebrations and parades to floods and fires, this medium helped transport happenings of the day across the country and around the world. And thankfully, Real Photo Postcards are here today to give us views of the past we'd never have otherwise.
So head on over to Aronels and see our latest RPPs. They'll be entered in the catalog over the next few days!
A trick I found on the web (credit to alanascherishedtreasures.com) helped us determine whether the postcard was actually an RPP or just a regular old postcard. Use a magnifying glass to look closely at the image on the postcard. If you can see tiny dots.. lots and lots of dots.. then the image is printed and not a real photo. If, though, you find you're viewing a solid image.. it's a Real Photo Postcard. Another way is that there MIGHT be an indication in the stamp box on the back of the postcard which explains what type of photographic paper was used in the making of that postcard. Unfortunately, our RPPs all have one cent stamps on them blocking the stamp box from being viewed.Kodak first introduced a camera, the 3A Folding Pocket camera in 1903, which was designed to use film that was the exact size as a standard postcard at that time (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches). This was known as a postcard format camera. The camera enabled photographs to be printed on postcard backs.
In 1907, Kodak created a service which allowed the general public to make a postcard from any photo they took.. the service was called Real Photo Postcards. It offered a pre-printed postcard back and the ability to directly transfer a photo negative onto it.
Not only did this technology provide entertainment and the ability to share special moments with family and friends, but it also allowed journalists to travel across the county to document the scenes of America; historic occasions as well as tragic events. Celebrations and parades to floods and fires, this medium helped transport happenings of the day across the country and around the world. And thankfully, Real Photo Postcards are here today to give us views of the past we'd never have otherwise.
So head on over to Aronels and see our latest RPPs. They'll be entered in the catalog over the next few days!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
New Blog.. what's it all about?
Welcome and thank you for visiting Aronel's Wanderings and Wanderlust! This is our new blog and as such, it's always tough to figure out exactly what the first offering should be about. How about why Wanderings and Wanderlust? Makes sense to me!
Now Wanderlust! Wikipedia tells us that it's a strong desire for or impulse to hike, wander or travel the world. The American Heritage Dictionary says it better for us; a strong or irresistible impulse to travel. Aronels was born because of our love of traveling from sale to sale; auction to auction; who knows where next! We'll find something at the end of the trail and bring it home to add to our catalog. Hopefully, you'll like it!
So we wander with lust for unique and vintage collectibles. That sounds about right. :) We'll use the blog to talk about places and things.. perhaps a special piece of glass or advertising that caught the eye and attention. Whatever, we will talk.. right here.
Now Wanderlust! Wikipedia tells us that it's a strong desire for or impulse to hike, wander or travel the world. The American Heritage Dictionary says it better for us; a strong or irresistible impulse to travel. Aronels was born because of our love of traveling from sale to sale; auction to auction; who knows where next! We'll find something at the end of the trail and bring it home to add to our catalog. Hopefully, you'll like it!
So we wander with lust for unique and vintage collectibles. That sounds about right. :) We'll use the blog to talk about places and things.. perhaps a special piece of glass or advertising that caught the eye and attention. Whatever, we will talk.. right here.
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