eBay My World: thehistorybank( 5918)

Our new expanded website goes live May 2009 and you can also read our bimonthly journal/newsletter/blog, PERSPECTIVE, which offers in-dpeth analysis on a variety of topics, coupled with news, notes and commentary. We can't advertise anything competitive with ebay on this site, but can say that our own website will contain a broad range of information on all the areas in which we sell on ebay. Drop in, see what you think and please share your feedback. The website is simply www and thehsitorybank dot com.....and hopefully that remains past those evil ebay censors.

The History Bank specializes in all aspects of Americana, from the Revolutionary War through the mid 20th century. Since 1979 we have worked with museums and other institutions to provide research and curatorial assistance as well to develop history and other books. In the past 25+ years we have written or produced 300 books, including the award-winning Young Readers' History of the Civil War, a 7-book series that has sold more than 400,000 copies in hardcover and softcover in the past 10+ years. We also wrote a definitive history of the World's Columbian Expo for the National Trust and are in the midst of writing TWO new Columbiana books--the history of the Midway for the U of Illinois Press and a guide to concessions and tickets for our subsidiary business. Laing Research Services. Concurrently since '79 we have grown our business selling historical items ranging from coins, medals and tokens to dug artifacts, books, documents and a broad range of ephemera.

We obviously follow ebay rules and now accept only PayPal for ebay transactions. In other aspects of our business we still accept checks and money orders.

We ship two days each week and in most cases charge a flat $3.00 shipping fee. We ALWAYS combine multiple items/auctions to save the buyer money. We're not in the business of making money by charging extra for handling or related work that's all part of our job. Postal insurance is recommended on all packages, but it is up to the buyer and our liability ends once we deliver the package to the Post Office. We take great pride in packing well to professional and, when necessary, to museum standards. One of our greatest complaints is the same as yours in many cases--people who are sloppy and take no care with their packaging....loose coins or items just dropped in a padded envelope or fragile items put in paper envelopes with no padding. You will NEVER find that from The History bank.

Norman Bolotin The History Bank PO Box 1568 Woodinville, WA 98072 Toll Free: 1-877-585-8818 Phone: 425-481-8818 Fax: 425-402-7164 norm@thehistorybank.com

One of our several areas of professional expertise is the study and sale of items from world's fairs, beginning appropriately with the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. The National Trust for Historic Preservation selected us to write the definitive history of the fair for the centennial in 1993. The book was published in hardcover and limited edition and is now headed for its 5th softcover printing (U of Illinois Press). The U of I is also publishing our history of The World's First Midway in '09. We are also writing a guide to tickets and concessions at the fair to be published by Laing Research Services. Over the years we have worked with many other Chicago Institutions: Chicago Public Library's Special Collections, Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Chicago '93 WCE Committee, and teaching a course we developed, The Business of Publishing (tm) for five years at the U of Chicago.

The History Bank specializes in virtually all aspects of American history. We sell 3D items as well as tickets, paper and numismatic material from the Civil War (and also genuine period artifacts, personal and military), world's fairs and expositions and all events related to American history from pre-colonial up through mid-20th century material. On any given week on ebay you may find us listing campaign literature from Lincoln to FDR, an original speech from Edward Everett or John Kennedy, a proof medal produced in France for Benjamin Franklin or So-Called Dollars from the 1962 Seattle or 1915 San Francisco world's fairs. A key to our sales has been, from the outset, buying and selling material we have studied, find interesting and believe should be preserved in both private collections and public institutions. All buying, cataloguing and writing is handled by the two principals of the firm, Norman Bolotin and Christine Laing, with staff handling other tasks.