A love of history, artifacts capture area man’s heart

As Dewayne Coleman began planning for retirement, the Army veteran who worked 35 years at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, wanted something to keep him busy, motivated and active.

History and Poplar Bluff are two of his favorite topics, so Coleman began collecting items featuring the history of the area.

“I like history. I am a history buff,” Coleman said.

A postcard in Dewayne Coleman’s collection features an aerial view of Poplar Bluff.

He likes it so much he, his wife Trudy, and other family members recently vacationed in the historic Eastern communities of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown.

Combining a love of history and his hometown with being an auction buff helps him find the things he likes to collect.

As with many history enthusiasts, Coleman spends times studying, researching and talking with others about his special interests. He’s joined a lot of Facebook groups specializing in things he enjoys, often having opportunities to visit with experts. While referring to many of the items he collects as “smalls,” he explained postcards, stamps and coins have been among the top three collecting hobbies in the U.S. for decades.

Coleman said, he is “big into smalls, like postcards, Civil War and military items, pins, tokens and old sporting things.”

“I buy things that interest me,” he said, as he displays a William McKinley campaign stick pin, toy clicker, an official toy sheriff badge and early lodge pins.

As Coleman began gathering postcards, especially from Poplar Bluff and the region, he also started an educational journey learning about them.

Private mailing cards originated in the late 1800s, predating the postcards which became official in the 1900s. The early 1900s were the golden age of postcards and the best early postcards were printed in Germany and England, he said.

The first postcards had undivided backs and in 1907, the divided back cards appeared. Early cards had no borders, but by 1915, cards with white borders became available. A different era arrived between 1930-44 or later when printers offered cards which were textured to look like linen and then chrome cards, which are less valuable, Coleman said.

While all cards are collectible, old St. Louis postcards are easier to find, but they have less value since so many are available. Since fewer cards from Poplar Bluff, Broseley, Dexter and Van Buren are available, they are more valuable, he said.

Postcards also served as greeting cards for Christmas, Easter and Halloween, with the Halloween cards being the most desired collectibles, Coleman said

The more desirable Christmas cards were the ones printed before the red Santa became popular, he said. Highly collectible are the bundle of switch cards and pull-out souvenir cards.

“You learn everyday, finding things you don’t know about from friends and exhibitors along with a bit of history,” he said.

Coleman said, in the 1920s and 1930s a lot of real photo postcards were produced. Some can be quite valuable and have a lot of interest. Collecting is all about rarity, which makes it more valuable.

Some items including letters, trade cards and Victorian trade cards were not supposed to survive, but have. Coleman said, they are very collectible.

Coleman has a card printed for the Clark thread company where spools could be attached and it became a toy car. Another collectible is the Cabinet card, which was a style of photograph which was widely used for photographic portraiture after 1870. It consisted of a thin photograph mounted on a card.

His collection includes a book of plat maps for the towns through which Butler County Railroad traveled, including the town of Fagus, Missouri.

There are also late 1800s baseball cards, a signed baseball from the 1920s, but to read the signature it must be placed under a black light.

He also has fan cards from the 1932 World Series, which was a four-game sweep by the American League champions New York Yankees over the National League champions Chicago Cubs and the 1932 World Series between the Chicago Cub and the New York Yankees.

At one time, Coleman had two of the filled in score sheets. While both are valuable, by far its most noteworthy moment was Babe Ruth’s “called shot” home run, in his 10th and last World Series. The second card was from that game and had been filled in during the event. Coleman sold it.

Smiling he admits he has “to stay focused. The older I get, the more I’m set in my ways. I do this instead of honey do’s.”