Common Items May Soon Be Valuable

It’s always nice to get a peek at what might be hot in tomorrow’s collectible market.

Here are six areas where would-be collectors might get in on the ground floor. They were compiled by Ada Fitzsimmons, editor of the Paper Pile Quarterly (Box 337, San Anselmo, Calif. 94950), in the publication’s January issue.

--Video post cards. These are videocassettes that, typically, might show scenes from a particular area of the country. They also have been used as family holiday greetings.

--Electronic room keys. They are becoming more and more popular with hotels in an effort to protect guests from intruders. The cards, given away free, usually carry an advertising message and can be easily stored and displayed.

--T-shirts. They have become increasingly popular in the last decade as an advertising vehicle.

--Smoking items. They could become more scarce--and, hence, more collectible--in future years as the government steps up its campaign about the health hazards of smoking.

--Nutrition items. The range of collectibles has picked up steam as the trend continues toward eating more nutritious foods. Cookbooks, food advertisements and menus all fit into this category.

--Savings and loan advertising giveaways. Despite much-publicized problems, the industry has greatly expanded in recent years, sparking a burst of advertising premiums ripe for collecting. Included would be pens, banks, cups, calendars and local history booklets.

For collectors of early Western documents, letters, maps, photos and the like, there’s a free catalogue available from American West Archives, P.O. Box 100, Cedar City, Utah 84720; telephone (801) 586-9497.

“The interest in rare and historical documents associated with early Western history has really jumped in recent years,” writes American West’s Warren Anderson. “Up until the early 1980s, this specific collecting field was overlooked and undervalued, but that has all changed today, especially with the rarer pieces and autographed pieces.”

Daniel E. Fast of Santa Monica says he “would like to communicate with other collectors of pieces by Sascha Brastoff, a designer active in Southern California since the 1950s.

“He and his studio created many, many pieces in ceramic and enamel, all hand-decorated in multiple motifs. They were distributed through his shop on Olympic Boulevard in West Los Angeles and on 26th Street in Santa Monica, as well as nationally.”

Fast’s address is 2901 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 305, Santa Monica, Calif. 90403.

Soble cannot answer mail personally but will respond in this column to questions of general interest about collectibles. Do not telephone. Write to Your Collectibles, You section, The Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.