Paper advertising Victoria spring water from 1898 with portraits of queen Wilhelmina
Ephemera comes from the Greek and means “for the day”
Nowadays it is the name for collectible memorabilia that was made for a short-term use.
Ephemera are always paper based and is often written or printed items that were expected to have a short term popularity or usefulness.
It is normally not considered something you would collect, cherish or keep.
Examples of Ephemera are:
Playing cards
Postcards
Ticket stubs
Packaging of all kinds
Flyers etc.
The reason why people keep something is often an emotional one, for example you have seen a concert and you keep the program or ticket stub as a reminder of the show, or because the item looks attractive.
There is also a large group of people who collect ephemera because of its royal connection.
Thank-you cards and/or Christmas cards sent by members of the royal family are very collectable items; also royal signatures are very sought after and can be quite expensive.
In the USA collecting Ephemera is big business there even is an official Ephemera Society of America where you can join other members who collect ephemera.
Our primary area of collecting is royal memorabilia made of porcelain, ceramic, glass etc but through the years we also have gathered a collection of ephemera relating to the Dutch Royal Family.
Paper lantern from 1892 visit Queen Wilhelmina to Friesland
Wrapper for chocolate bar silver jubilee Wilhelmina 1923
Paper hat made for the exchange of thrones in 1948
Letter signed by Queen Wilhelmina from 1946 sent to a family who lost a family member in World war II
