eBay Still A Poor Man's Treasurehouse

SJ Ex 4 - Enlarging a square inch or two of an old photograph may create an ugly, unbalanced image, but sometimes it's the best way to point out detail of interest, such as lost signage

I feel guilty that Saint John history has fallen on my list of priorities, but it can't be helped. Yet while LOST VALLEY articles don't get written so frequently, they are still being researched and are waiting in the wings. Research is the easy part. I know twenty researchers for every writer and what is so sad is that over the years I have acquired parts of collections put together by men who never wrote more than display cards or photo captions. Their knowledge died with them.

My S.J. database is now supported with about 2000 images and I constantly "weed" as sharper views are found. For example, years ago I downloaded from the New Brunswick Museum website all those images which were of interest to me. Since the Grinches at the N.B.M. chooses to tease the public with low resolution scans (scanning paid for with your Federal $Tax$ Dollars, by the way) I discard muddy scans as quickly as I can. Last year Harold Wright kindly sent me some of his scans of 19th Century stereo views to replace N.B.M. exhibits which are so poor they only frustrate rather than inform. Most vintage Saint John photography and certainly the old postcards are in the Public Domain, and if you're patient, cheap duplicates will turn up. I've been at it since my Saint John High years in the 1970s, so it takes a lot to get me excited.

Often 'breakthrough' images do appear, and on eBay of all places. These are photographs which are so unique that they throw light into the shadows of the past, offering up details which our ancestors took for granted, but now are essential for our reconstructing their world. Since January at least thirty significant Saint John photographs have been sold on EBay. Most have been repatriated to Saint John by collectors. Two of the buyers are also writers, so the public may get to their trophies in illustrated books of tomorrow. I was content to just download the Ebay JPEGS to my PC. I don't need to "own" history. I just need to work with the raw material as it turns up.

My favorite eBay Treasure of the last few months was a set of seventeen private photographs printed on postcard paper, but which were never mailed - so called "REAL PHOTO" cards. These cards were never mailed, and there may be no other copies. The negatives would have been discarded. Somehow they ended up in the hands of a dealer in Ashland, Massachusetts, and though a few bidders tried to cherry pick the best, I was pleased that one collector was forceful and scooped up the entire set. He paid US$273 and costs. His high was $26 each for several cards and a low of $6.99 for a rather poor image, which proves he did want a set.

There were a few excellent views of Marble Cove documenting the log booms which often choked the cove. Also interesting are the houses on shore and MC 3 is a blowup of one square inch, which is sharp enough to reveal this old property in detail.

Another great shot was made beside the tracks which serviced the old docks on the West Side. A dramatic image is made when the centre foreground is enlarged SJ W 3 to make the Saint John waterfront loom over two men walking north, and as you pan right you get:

A view of a shack which probably sheltered the operator of the rail track switching gear. SJ W 5 Almost certainly this is at the foot of Rodney Street, near the Ferry Dock.

I am always on the lookout for better images of the bandstand at King Square because my grandfather often played there with the City Cornet Band. My mother hangs a framed photo of the old iron and tin gazebo in her home, for the same reason. K Sq 3 is detail I've not seen so clearly before - the original ladder in place to receive the bandsmen.

I hope the buyer has as much fun with these photos as I have. There are even a few of the Portland foreshore, photographed from the West Side, but none directly applicable to the LOST VALLEY theme of these Blog. Still it is such an interesting trove that I thought I would share my thoughts here. I have recently had some interesting email exchanges with more Saint John expatriates, and I will try to share their stories here soon.