List of the going and the gone

Here was something that caught my eye. It’s just a list of the things younger Americans either don’t know or will never learn about. A reminder of just how old I am, and how much the world has changed.

A couple of the things that really struck me about this list of 100 things kids will never know includes:

Typewriters – which is how all my college papers were done, and I still occasionally use

Super-8 film and cameras – which is not a great loss, but is visually interesting

Walkman’s – do people under 30 even know what they are?

Cassette tapes and/or 8-tracks –see Walkman

3 networks on television – yep before cable there were just 3 major channels

An album – though CD’s and DVD’s may be called that, I mean the original vinyl discs

A television without a remote control, in black and white, and/or with a round dial

A phone that is not digital, nor portable

Television stations turn off for the night – yes they used to not be 24/7

A floppy disc – do they even have that for computers any more? Remember when they came in 5 inch size?

Atari video game systems and the joysticks they had – or Intellivision. There was another one too.

Reading books – an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, an almanac, or just a regular book for entertainment

Writing letters to talk to friends - For that matter, calling someone and having to call back because there were no answering machines, text, IM, and so on

Writing full grammatically correct, properly spelled sentences

Learning how to write in script

Life without a computer

Playing games on a board with people

Going down the block to use a payphone, or a payphone that you could close the door on

Being restricted to just 1 ringer sound

Doing math in school without a calculator – that includes trigonometry, algebra, calculus, and geometry

Slide rules – I don’t even remember that

A library card catalogue system

Paper wrapping on candy bars

There are many more things that the list at Geekdads has. A few things they left out include:

A time before music videos – buying a record just because the singers sounds good

Cartoons only being on tv for 2 hours during the week and 5 hours on Saturday

Banking hours being the only time to go to a bank

Pizza costing 55 cents

Beer cans with pull-tops

Soda and orange juice in glass bottles

No warning labels – on anything

One phone company for the nation – Ma Bell and it was cheaper

When being a soldier was an honor – still is in my eyes

Drinking was legal at 18

Using tokens to get on the subway in NYC – they cost a little as 50 cents as I remember

Not having to worry about school shootings, or the loner students, or child molesters

A time when rap was about having fun

Break dancing

Men wearing platform shoes

Growing afros 14 inches or more – not for braiding just the afro (men and women)

Non-digital clocks

Playing outside

There is so much more. Just imagine though what the next generation will not know or forget.

The collectibles in the attic

Everyone knows that stamps and coins are collectibles. Every so often any one of us has looked up an odd coin that we found in a pocket while doing laundry or stuffed in the sofa. Some may go through old letters of a family member when moving from one house to another and thought about looking up this or that stamp. It’s obvious and known that these are potentially valuable items. Baseball cards are perhaps the best know must check items. But there are so many more.

The world has changed in many ways over the last 4 decades alone. Technology has improved and the culture has changed. Thus many items are now considered valuable that once were worthless (or at least to a mom cleaning up a cluttered house). I know that firsthand even way back in the 1980’s when I lost my first comic book collection to my mother’s spring cleaning effort. I won’t even say how much that collection was worth, simply that it included a couple hundred of the earliest Spiderman, X-Men (including #4), Hulk and other issues.

But for the sake of younger more modern collectors I took a look at video games, books, cell phones and the like.

In looking at video games most are older than the current youth generation. In fact I’m sure most kids under 20 probably have never seen the game consoles that play these games. Still I’m sure that in more than a few closets or attics there lies these gems waiting to hit eBay. The best item to find is quite rare, in fact only 26 exist but they are out there. It’s the Nintendo World Championships: Gold Edition, worth at least $10,000 each. This game for the NES console is 18 years old, and in terms of gaming the equal of dinosaurs. But if your mom runs across a gold colored cartridge game, check it out before she throws it out.

Going even further back in time, the equivalent to maybe the first amoebas or protozoa’s, is the Atari 2600. I doubt that most under 30 even have heard of this game console, let alone played on one. But if you are an old gamer like myself, and a bit of a packrat, you may find a dusty copy of Air Raid. Now if you are so lucky as to find this, you may expect to get about $3,500. And this is not the game Air Raider’s, also for the Atari 2600 but nowhere near as rare or valuable. If you have a blue Atari cartridge game, that plays similar to Space Invaders if you have a TV that can play it, then I suggest you investigate it a bit.

Going into a different direction is something I never consider would be worth anything. Children’s picture books. We’ve all had them, we’ve all read them. More than a few of us may have even chewed on them. And if in your family these books have survived from child to child, you may have a windfall. If you can part with them.

There are several dozen books of some value. And it’s understood that many of these books will not be in pristine condition as they are for children (though values for an original in very good or better condition can double its base price). I’ll just mention 3 of my favorites, which I recall reading as a child some 35+ years ago. (My mother must have had excellent taste since each of these is in the top 15, two in the top 10.

The Story of Babar. A great book, first made in 1933. Current value $2,200 to $3,800.

The next 2 are in the top 10 and are favorites of mine. I very distinctly recall reading, and re-reading, the first of the 2:

The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins. Made by the genius of children’s books, and memorable – at least to me. Dr. Seuss made an indelible mark on generations, and still counting. That mark is reflected in the value of this book. $3,800 to $6,200.

And my most favored book of childhood (and among my top books as an adult). I can still recite 75% of the entire book, word for word. Sounds odd I suppose, but if you are feeling depressed or stressed try reciting it. You may be surprised by how much you recall and how you feel afterwards. Written by the great Dr. Seuss in 1960. Green Eggs And Ham, $2,800 to $4,800.

Now there are numerous other items that are collectible today. I can’t possible cover them all. From collectible card games, cell phones, DVD’s, miniature figurines (ie. Warhammer 40,000), printers, pocket watches, ties and on.

Suffice to say, the next time you want to throw out that ancient doodad in the attic, check it out first. You may be surprised at what you have.