[78-L] $1,000 for a business card?

[Cary Ginell]

The description by Paul Solarsky, who has some amazing records on auction, also makes this find seem plausible.
 
Background: This was found by a collector about 20 years ago in a long-closed antique shop in Grenada, MS. The antique dealer had various paper items including this card and some Rodgers family letters that he had obtained from the Rodgers estate. None of the letters had Jimmie Rodgers or his wife's signature so the collector did not buy them-only this card.
Jimmie Rodgers was an aggressive and obviously successful self-promoter. And many performers of the day from Jelly Roll Morton to Paul Whiteman to unknown bands gave out business cards as a basic form of promotion. The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers were his group before he was recorded by Victor at the "Big Bang" of Country Music at Bristol, Tennessee in August, 1927. This card was likely made in April to August 1927 when the group had an engagement at Asheville's Radio Station WWNC, played for an extended run at a prestigious Blue Ridge resort and various other dates. 
I have spoken to Nolan Porterfield, author of the Rodgers biography, as well as the Rodgers Museum in Meridian, MS. And two additional long-time experts concerning Jimmie Rodgers-None have seen or heard of this card. The museum does display a later business card identifying Rodgers as a Victor Artist and giving his address as a hotel in San Antonio, Texas.
The card itself is obviously old card stock, printed in standard raised lettering. It looks, feels and smells old. I feel it is authentic and an important piece of Country Music history especially in that it predates Rodger's recording career and therefore received far less distribution than any later business card. 
This card would be the cornerstone of any Country Music Collection.
 
Cary Ginell
 

> From: soundthink at live.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:24:28 -0700
> Subject: Re: [78-L] $1,000 for a business card?
> 
> 
> After Rodgers' first Victor session, he had business cards printed up that proclaimed him to be "National Radio Artist" and "Victor Record Artist," the former claim despite the fact that his radio appearances had been limited to WWNC. You'll note that the business card not only uses that phrase, but shows that the group was from Asheville, N.C., where the group made its base at that time. Only a Rodgers aficionado would have known this about him and I don't see an eBay crook going to such lengths to falsify something as obscure as this. As for the fonts, why does that make the authenticity of the card questionable? They look perfectly reasonable for the time period. 
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
> 
> > From: soundthink at live.com
> > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:13:07 -0700
> > Subject: Re: [78-L] $1,000 for a business card?
> > 
> > 
> > Actually, they did. They appeared on WWNC in Asheville, North Carolina as early as May 1927. It was not unusual for acts like this to aggrandize their status in show business to encourage further hires. Nolan Porterfield documents this portion of Rodgers' career in his marvelous biography of Rodgers. As for the misspelling, this could have simply been a typo that they had no control over and had to accept the cards from the printer this way. They could have dictated the words they wanted on the card by telephone and the printer simply misspelled it, since "Rodgers" with a "D" was a little unusual, especially inlight of Will Rogers' popularity at the time. I believe the card is authentic. 
> > 
> > Cary Ginell
> > 
> > 
> > > Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:04:36 +0200
> > > From: ekluwer at gmail.com
> > > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > > Subject: Re: [78-L] $1,000 for a business card?
> > > 
> > > And "Radio Artists"?? I doubt that this little obscure group appeared ever
> > > on radio especially so early (pre August 1927)..
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Bill McClung <bmcclung78 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > It's the fonts that make it questionable. And was P.O. Box the usual term?
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 4:34 PM, Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > This is the group that split up before the Bristol session of August
> > > > 1927,
> > > > > with Jimmie Rodgers going off to be a solo artist and the remaining
> > > > members
> > > > > becoming the Tenneva Ramblers.
> > > > >
> > > > > And somebody has even bid on it!
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > http://www.ebay.com/itm/JIMMY-RODGERS-ENTERTAINERS-BUSINESS-CARD-1927-Ashboro-NC-Teneva-RamblersOriginal-/330721725741?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item4d008d0d2d
> > > > >
> > > > > Cary Ginell
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