Dear Lee,

We are celebrating this month. It marks the beginning of the thirtieth year of our newsletter. The first issue, in September 1974, had eight pages and was called Ralph and Terry Kovel on Antiques. We defined an “antique” as anything sold at an antique shop, and that is what we continue to cover. The first issue had many features that remain: Letter to Lee (Lee is our son-he was starting his first job; Kim, our daughter, was in college), Buyer’s Price Guide, Collector’s Gallery, Dictionary of Marks, Reproductions, and sale reports. By November of that first year, we decided to expand the newsletter to 12 pages. We changed the name to Kovels on Antiques and Collectables in 1977, then updated the spelling to Collectibles with an “i” in 1981, when the word finally received general acceptance. Design changes were made each year, but the cover banner and a new logo were introduced in September 1990. Our biggest changes were the addition of one color in August 1992, then full color in October 1996. We have gone from typewriter to word processor to computer, and from film to digital photos. Our research sources now include our 18,000 books and the Internet, as well as experts who over the years have become our friends.

Our first issue explained that a newsletter was needed because “new and different items are interesting the collector.” Those “new and different” items, we said, included “Depression glass, art pottery, Mission furniture, Renaissance Gothic Victorian [furniture], 19th-century bottles, lithographed tin containers, Fiesta ware, advertising antiques, and comic books. Today many of these are very expensive. So now collectors are looking at newer, less expensive collectibles like California pottery, ’50s furniture, soda bottles with applied color labels, and modern commemorative tins. We still report the newest trends and prices for all kinds of antiques and collectibles, and we continue to tell you about record prices, blockbuster sales, and price-influencing events. This year we plan to run a special feature every month: a look at an article from the past 29 years, with comments on how prices and collector interest have changed. We have included our first Buyer’s Price Guide in this issue. Look at the last entry-it proves that even experts make mistakes.