President Ford Memorabilia Floods Auction Sites
Friday, December 29, 2006
Souvenirs, mementos related to late president make "a startling increase"
As the nation pays its respects to former President Gerald R. Ford, interest in items connected to the 38th president have flooded aBay and other auction sites.
Searching the term "President Ford" netted a total of 935 items on eBay as of late Friday afternoon. That number is an increase of 100 since Barton Deiters posted a story on the subject in the Grand Rapids Press, the Michigan paper based out of Mr. Ford's hometown.
Deiters found items ranging from gold-gilded, signed copies of Ford's last book for $889 to campaign shot glasses for $5. The writer may not have been looking too intently, however, since we found a set of the late president's golf clubs up for sale - a potentially significant collectible considering Mr. Ford's foibles on the links. So far, however, the $5000 starting bid has attracted no takers for an auction that ends New Year's Day. In fact, our very informal survey found a great many items with no bids - perhaps a testament to how many items related to President Ford have been offered for auction.
"There's a startling increase in the interest in things related to President Ford," Tim Miller, owner of Nashville, Tennessee-based flatsigned.com - a dealership of rare and autographed books, told Deiters. Miller has a Ford-signed copy of J.F. terHorst's 1974 book "Gerald Ford and the Future of the Presidency" on eBay. Bidding Thursday was at $499. And he says the number of Ford-related items at auction might be higher if not for the holiday season.
"If not for the unusual timing between Christmas and New Year's, there would be even more interest."
As the nation pays its respects to former President Gerald R. Ford, interest in items connected to the 38th president have flooded aBay and other auction sites.
Searching the term "President Ford" netted a total of 935 items on eBay as of late Friday afternoon. That number is an increase of 100 since Barton Deiters posted a story on the subject in the Grand Rapids Press, the Michigan paper based out of Mr. Ford's hometown.
Deiters found items ranging from gold-gilded, signed copies of Ford's last book for $889 to campaign shot glasses for $5. The writer may not have been looking too intently, however, since we found a set of the late president's golf clubs up for sale - a potentially significant collectible considering Mr. Ford's foibles on the links. So far, however, the $5000 starting bid has attracted no takers for an auction that ends New Year's Day. In fact, our very informal survey found a great many items with no bids - perhaps a testament to how many items related to President Ford have been offered for auction.
"There's a startling increase in the interest in things related to President Ford," Tim Miller, owner of Nashville, Tennessee-based flatsigned.com - a dealership of rare and autographed books, told Deiters. Miller has a Ford-signed copy of J.F. terHorst's 1974 book "Gerald Ford and the Future of the Presidency" on eBay. Bidding Thursday was at $499. And he says the number of Ford-related items at auction might be higher if not for the holiday season.
"If not for the unusual timing between Christmas and New Year's, there would be even more interest."
posted by Chris and Frank at 4:09 PM
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