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My husband suggested that I ask the scavengers for their opinion here. I bought a box lot and it included what ended up being a full box of superfan/borderline-stalker ephemera of a Jim Nabors superfan. I had to look him up, but he played Gomer Pile on some popular older show and he also sang concerts. There are loads of signed pics, loads of stalkery candids (like him eating at a restaurant), loads of correspondence which he or his secretary actually responded to, signed menus (when they stalked the man at said restaurant and he sat down with them apparently…this was all detailed in a letter that then sent to him for an autograph!). There are even letters from a Hilton in Hawaii from the 80’s listing all the Jim Nabors concerts this lady and her mom would be attending (spoiler, like every one he was putting on) and that they’d save them their “favorite seats” down front.
My question is, do I list the stuff individually or in a big lot? Jim Nabors died last year apparently, and this super-fan appears to have died recently (found a perfunctory obit online, no family listed which is why this stuff ended up in a box lot I guess). Should I even sell the stuff that has the super-fan’s name on it like the correspondence returned and signed by Jim Nabors? Is that weird? This is unchartered territory for me lol. The amount of ephemera here fits into a large Rubbermaid tub. If I lot it up, what should I even ask? I’m thinking north of a grand, but hubby thought that’s optimistic. There is SO MUCH signed stuff tho…also, do I have to get it authenticated? I mean, there is enough in here to make it very clear that this person followed Jim Nabors and heard back from him and his secretary as correspondence regularly. He even signed stuff “glad to have you in my life” on some pics.
Edit – The stuff dates from the late 70’s/early 80’s to the mid-2000s.
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This is a tough call. Jim Nabors ephemera is the definition of long tail!
–First I would do some research to see how popular he is. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Jim+Nabors+signed&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&_sop=16
–If he has a super passionate fan base, I’d break up the lot and sell in as many pieces as possible.
–If he has a small fan base, I’d most likely just sell the whole tub for one money. $1000 with Make Offer. This is where you’d want to writeup a story of the collection so people feel it has an honest history. If you’re willing to sit on it, be interesting to see what offers roll in.
–I would go through the box just to see if there’s any exceptional kinds of memorabilia. Some items may be worth selling on their own no matter what.
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Wow.. you had to look him up.. wow. I must be getting old.
You’ve got to see him on the old Andy Griffith Mayberry Episodes. Way too funny.
I would think of that as a pipeline..
The bigger question is, how much time do you want to put into it? I enjoy the old movies and Hollywood celebrities, so it would be a lot of fun for me. Sure it’s long tail, but the really good stuff generally is. Also the quantity of listings will bring the Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) fan traffic to your store.
If he had one Superfan, I’m sure there are others.
Good Luck
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LOL!! I’m not that young (44), and my husband definitely knew who he was when I asked him. It’s possible that I just live under a pop-culture rock 😉
Do you guys think it’s OK to sell the letters and such that identify the super-fan? I think that that’s the part that has me uncertain. As a lot I guess I’d probably put it in there, but individually I’m not sure? There are just tons of autographed pics and such that I could list individually to drive traffic…yeah I agree, if he had one super-fan he probably had more than one.
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ChristineK,
It sounds very creepy and like selling the stuff would be in support of her actions. Do you know if there were ever any complaints filed against her for her superman/stalking behavior? If so, I would not sell any of it. If not and she was really just a superfan, I would offer that you only sell pictures of him with his signature and leave her out of it.
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I doubt it, since he (or his secretary) kept responding to her letters. I agree with you, sell the autographed stuff and leave her weird letters and such out of it. In some cases, he autographed those letters and sent them back, but I think I’ll just toss those.
What about authentication? Clearly I know these are real since they all came from the same lot and she clearly wrote to this guy a ton of times (and he wrote back). Also, what about the candid photos? Some are of him in some sort of concert, and some are of him just doing regular things like eating at a restaurant. Some of his autographed photos have what I assume is the super-fan and her mother in them. Should I toss those too? This is the weirdest lot of stuff I’ve ever considered listing on Ebay lol.
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Personally,
I am against selling. supporting, encouraging anything related to stalking behavior even if it was not deemed as stalking by the celebrity or their representatives. What they may not have realized or taken into consideration by signing and returning letters and/or pictures was that by supporting the behavior they could have opened up a whole can of worms which could have led to serious negative consequences which many celebrities have experienced. In my opinion, showing up into someone’s environment without invitation and/or acknowledgement and then documenting every aspect of their lives is a form of stalking (and in some cases harrassment) in my opinion.
On another note, how do you know he signed it instead of his secretary who thought she was doing something good or did not see it as a problem? Stalking and behavior similar to it is a serious problem. It is a clear violation of personal boundaries, often indicative of serious psychological issues, and can be life damaging for the person being stalked, so I personally would not want to sell or support anything related to it.
On another note, there are at least 2 channels dedicated to old shows which is creating a whole new fan base, so it is possible that the items signed by him (at least those that can be verified as signed by him) may have a fan base.
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Well, some things absolutely had to be him (the menus signed at the breakfast they had with him for example). All of the signatures look alike, so I doubt anyone forged his name for him. His secretary definitely responded to some of the correspondence but she signed it as such. It looks like they went to that breakfast around the time they were in Hawaii for all of those shows, and there are loads of pics of the super-fan and her mom with Jim Nabors in there too.
The weird thing is that in one of the letters, the secretary was encouraging the super-fan to move to Hawaii. I think she and Jim Nabors were very gracious people and didn’t perceive this with the weirdness that I do.
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It was a different time. They were obviously very trusting and were not expereincing many of the negative effects of stalking/obsessive behavior many celebrities do. I think it will come down to what you deem to be appropriate and makes you most comfortable.
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Yeah my friend was going through the bin with me and she was like “this lady was a groupie” and I was like “more like a superfan at best”. We both saw it differently, so maybe he and his secretary did too as they actually met this lady in person on numerous occasions. Like you said, it was a different time. Maybe this wasn’t that weird to him, maybe it just comes with the territory of being famous. Who knows.
One thing I can say for sure is that this celeb and by extension his personal secretary were very gracious people.
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It sounds like the personal correspondence is the provenance which authenticates the rest- it seems much more authentic with the letters.
If it were me, bundle it all up list it- I bet it sells fast- Singer, Actor, Celeb- maybe the Harvey Milk GLBT history Museum would be interested…But I know less than nothing about selling such things-Good Luck and I’d like to hear the outcome regardless!
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You know, I didn’t really think about it as LGBT interest, but you are right! It really could be considered as such. And yes, the letters are the provinance for authentification for sure. I googled it, and he doesn’t seem to ever have had any reported stalkers. It seems like she was just a very enthusiastic fan, and he was quite gracious in response. Stuff like this would weird ME out, but perhaps it just comes with the territory when a person is a public figure?
Would you include the signed pics of him with the fan and her mom too? That seems so personal to me, although it clearly seems like all in the pics are deceased.
It’s funny, but I have no earthly idea how these bins ended up in FL. It doesn’t seem like the superfan ever lived here, although I could be wrong.
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I wouldn’t worry too much about the stalker aspect. I imagine celebrities generally don’t write back to or have breakfast with stalkers. It sounds like the relationship was on a friendly level and possibly more.
It also sounds like all the parties involved are long deceased. I’d sell it all. How many listings you create depends on how you want to group them. I would keep the personal related items (photos and letters) together.
I think you’ve found a gold mine with great provenance. Someone somewhere is going to be very happy to buy this stuff from you.
You’ve got the Andy Griffith Connection, the Gomer Pyle connection, the singer connection and of course the gay celebrity connection.
If I’d purchased it, I’d be a very happy guy. Don’t be surprised if you get some interesting questions once you list it. people will want to know if you’d ever met him etc..
FYI- If you are uncomfortable selling any of it, just send those items to me and I’ll happily pay the postage.
Good Luck with it..
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Sorry to ask a dumb question, but was Gomer Pile on the Andy Griffith show or was it a show unto itself? What would you price the lot at? You are probably correct that he wouldn’t have breakfast with a true stalker. Maybe my friend was right that this lady was a “groupie”.
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Jim Nabors was on the early episodes of The Andy Griffths Show as Gomer Pyle then starred in a spin off called Gomer Pyle USMC.
By the late seventies he was no longer an A list celebrity and any fan was a welcome fan.
He was also known for his baritone singing voice which was in complete contrast to his speaking voice.-
Thanks Steve! I’m going through the candids, and I’m going to fully reverse course here. Every picture is from a meet-and-greet, including the breakfast. The one pic of a guy eating at breakfast isn’t even actually of him (he was wearing something else at the breakfast from this guy), but appears to be to capture the view of the ocean from the table where they were eating with him. They didn’t stalk him…he was actively meeting his older-lady fanbase at that breakfast. I think I made some assumptions that were incorrect because my gut feeling was that this was a really weird lot. I’ve never written to a celebrity or wanted to meet one badly enough to go to a meet-and-greet, so I couldn’t relate.
There are loads of other meet-and-greet pics from other places too. What I see in these pics are a couple of older women having the time of their lives, and an older celeb who is eating it up 🙂 He seemed to love to bring the older ladies up on stage…LOTS of pics of him doing that with tons of older lady fans in this lot. Maybe he had a gaggle of old lady fans who followed him to concerts?
Even though I had to google this guy to figure out who he was, I think I’m a fan now lol!! He seems to have a warm, infectious personality that is well-captured in these photos. The one downside is that all of these photos were taken back in the day when you clicked and then hoped you got a good pic. Quite a few candids are blurry, but I’m including them anyways.
I think So Cal Joe is correct that I should make several lots, but I can’t really decide how to split it up. I’d hate to sell it and have someone do that with it though because I was too lazy.
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Christine,
I just want to offer that a groupie does not follow someone into their private space and take pictures of them in their most personal moments. If this had occured with another celebrity, I think she would have received a very different response.Best Wishes in whatever you choose to do.
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The candids of him were him singing at his Hawaii concerts and eating at a restaurant. Maybe I was incorrect in calling them “stalkery” initially as he’s in public in every one and none are taken from a distance with a telephoto lens or anything 😉 I’m not sure that a restaurant is really personal space as he’s in public, but it isn’t something I’d do either as that feels weird to me. I guess he was unbothered if he sat down and ate with them though. Anything that looks weird to me won’t make the lot for sure though.
I’ve decided to sell it as a lot, mostly because of So Cal Joe’s post above. I think he’s correct that this is a great lot with great provinance 🙂
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ChristineK,
Honestly, it sounds to me like you’ve found a fantastic archive of super-fandom, not a stalker’s hoard. I don’t think there’s any negative karma associated with selling these items. I don’t think this person’s taste, or their actions, are somehow accruing to you. These are not KKK items. They’re not car-crash photographs. They’re not stolen underpants or telephoto shots through bedroom windows. I don’t think you’re endorsing any kind of criminal or even psychologically questionable behavior by selling them.
As for whether or not it should be split up or sold all together — I’m personally inclined to keep lots together, but you’d probably make more money over the long term selling the pieces individually. I had an Elvis scrapbook I tried to sell whole, but I eventually ended up breaking it apart (and earning more) after nobody wanted the whole thing.
Kate
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Thanks Kate! I agree with you 🙂 To think about listing the items individually is daunting…there are so many. However, I do think I’d make more, especially if I put them all up at once. As much as I want to do a lot, there is no good way to show everything in 12 photos. Also, there is the risk that someone buys it and puts in the effort to list individually. I think I’d better put in the effort and at least make smaller lots (such as candids, signed photos, ticket stubs, playbills, etc).
I think somewhere this fan is smiling knowing her “archive of super-fandom” isn’t going to landfill but will end up with people who also love Jim Nabors 🙂
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He started on the Andy Griffith show in the early 1960’s with sporadic appearances, then was spun off onto his own show. He also did the Carol Burnett show and others.
Without seeing everything and doing the research I wouldn’t know what to price it at. Personally, I’d probably break it up into groups. One group might be the items directly related to this particular collector.
Good Luck..
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Gomer was over like rover back in the day. hehehe…
Anyways, sell away. It will go to someone who appreciates it rather than in the dump. Stories like this is why I don’t really collect stuff. People dedicate their entire lives to collecting stuff, and then they die and reality sets in that it is just a pile of…well… stuff. So in a way by getting the stuff to someone who will appreciate it and remember not just Gomer, but also the fan is a way of honoring both of their lives.
Or maybe I’m just in a sentimental mood because I watched Coco on Netflix.
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So true! I’ve seen so many “collections” just tossed in curb piles around here when someone dies. I’m not really into the collectibles market in general, so unless someone else takes them, they’re going to the dump. Even the thrift stores around here don’t generally want huge collections of spoons, figurines, holiday ceramic houses, etc. They take up a lot of space and just don’t sell. I’m trying to think if I “collect” anything, and I really don’t unless you count toys that my kids are into at the moment.
I agree that selling this collection in a way honors the collector as well as Jim Nabors. She saved the stuff all these years, so I’m sure she’d be glad to know that it didn’t end up at the dump.
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One of the buyers who contacted me about the Elvis scrapbook (they only wanted a piece of it; I wanted at that point to sell the whole thing together) said it well — scrapbooks and collections are meaningful to the person who assembled them, because each piece represents an event, or a destination visited, or a particular birthday, or serves as a remembrance of the giver… but (important collections of rare objects aside), the collection isn’t inherently more interesting or valuable to anyone else, simply by being a collection.
Sure, stuff is just stuff… but I’d argue that a collection isn’t meaningless unless you’re assuming that the collector was attempting solely and unsuccessfully to maximize financial value or put together something permanent of interest to others. If we look at a collection as an attempt to surround ourselves with things that give us joy, it’s totally fine that the pieces get scattered to the wind like dandelion seeds, to bloom elsewhere, when we’re gone. I say this as a non-collector.
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If we look at a collection as an attempt to surround ourselves with things that give us joy, it’s totally fine that the pieces get scattered to the wind like dandelion seeds, to bloom elsewhere, when
In my conversations with collectors of various things over the years, most of them absolutely don’t want their stuff scattered like dandelion seeds. They see their collection as “their baby” and stress out trying to think of ways to preserve it intact.
I have some vintage arcade games and pinballs. I don’t even say I collect them anymore. I have a functional gameroom we use for parties. I’m actually wanting to get rid of everything but my wife keeps talking me out of it. It just dawned on me as I write this exactly when I lost my love for my games, and arcade collecting in general. It was after a fellow local collector died unexpectedly in his late 40’s. He had two high school age kids. His collection was scattered to the winds to pay bills and it was quite painful for his wife and brother (his brother was his best friend and also a collector). Many local collectors were affected and many friendships were permanently damaged.
Anyways…. back to topic.
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Christine- if you have a lot to photograph, you might consider 1/4 page collages?- could get you 48 items/photos displayed. there is a free iphone app for that. Its useful when 12 photos just are not enough- The salty vets here probably have a better solution. Maybe a video?
Ditto on sell it all at once-
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