Most of what we write about on this blog — comics, cards, coins — could come from anywhere. This post is different. This one is about the stuff that could only come from here.
Our shop sits on Main Street in Robersonville, in the middle of Martin County, and some of the items we get most excited about are the ones tied to this exact patch of Eastern North Carolina. Old photographs of Williamston's Main Street. A Robersonville High yearbook. A license tag off a truck that hauled tobacco out of Everetts. These things matter to collectors, to local historians, and to us personally — and yes, they're worth money. Here's what to look for.
Old Photographs and Postcards
Real photo postcards and original photographs showing town scenes are at the top of our list: storefronts, train depots, tobacco warehouses and auctions, churches, schools, mills, parades, ball teams, and Main Street views. Anything identified — a town name, a business name, a date written on the back — is worth more. Martin County material (Williamston, Robersonville, Everetts, Hamilton, Oak City, Jamesville, Parmele, Bear Grass) and Pitt County material (Greenville, Farmville, Ayden, Bethel, Winterville, Grifton) is what we hunt hardest for, but we're interested in old photos from all over Eastern North Carolina.
Yearbooks
High school and college yearbooks from this region, the older the better. Yearbooks from schools that no longer exist are especially sought after — they're often the only surviving record of those students, teams, and buildings. Don't assume a musty yearbook is trash. Somebody out there is looking for that exact school and that exact year.
Class Rings
Old class rings turn up in every jewelry box, and they have two kinds of value: the gold itself, and the local history. A gold class ring from a long-closed Eastern NC high school can interest both the gold buyer and the local collector. Bring them in either way — we buy gold, and we know which schools matter.
Old License Tags
North Carolina license plates, the older the better. Early plates, low-number plates, unusual types (dealer, truck, trailer), and complete year runs all have collectors. That stack of old tags nailed to the shed wall or tossed in a bucket in the barn? Bring the whole bucket.
Local Advertising and Paper
Anything with an Eastern NC business name on it: calendars from the local hardware store, thermometers from the corner filling station, feed sacks, bottles from local bottlers, matchbooks, letterheads, invoices, tobacco warehouse receipts and flyers, church and school programs, and old maps. Tobacco-related paper and advertising from this region is a category all its own — this was tobacco country, and collectors know it. (Got actual signs? We wrote a whole guide to old advertising signs too.)
This is also the category where we most often tell people: even if you're not sure it's worth anything, let us look. Local history has a way of hiding in shoe boxes and Bible pages. Some of the best pieces we've bought came from someone who almost threw the box away.
Bring your finds to the shop at 101 S Main Street in Robersonville — if we make a deal, you walk out with payment in hand the same day. Cleaning out a whole house full of family papers and photos? We make house calls across Eastern North Carolina, we go through everything together, we make one fair offer with no cherry-picking, and we pay you on the spot.