Penticton residents have a chance to own rare collectible pieces from the city’s history thanks to 4th Meridian Auctions and a local collector.

The shop and showroom, based in the Cannery Trade Centre, recently acquired memorabilia from Penticton’s early days, with items dating back to the early 1900s.

According to René Mehrer and Leanne Nash, owners and managers of 4th Meridian, the items were supplied on consignment by a local collector who decided to let the pieces go to another keen collector.

“The collector is just getting older and decided to let the pieces go. He has a huge collection of vintage Penticton paraphernalia,” said Mehrer. “So he’ll get a portion of the proceeds from the auction. Most people, when they bring us stuff, they want them to go to people who will enjoy them.”

The items are being auctioned online at www.4thmeridian.ca where bidders can view pictures of all items and read a detailed description for each piece. They can also be viewed in-person at the store, but bids need to be placed online.

Two pieces being auctioned together are vintage poster ads from 1963, one for the Penticton Chamber of Commerce and the other for the Red Cross. Both posters are in excellent condition and the starting bid is $51.

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“We are also auctioning the original drawings for the mascots Pete and Penny for Peachfest, so they’re from 1972,” said Mehrer. “They are signed by E. Pohlmann, the artist, and were used for years and years.”

Both drawings are being auctioned together with the starting bid at $101. The collector also contributed the original manuscript of ‘The Ogopogo Vigil’ by F.M. Buckland from 1948.

“Inside, there are handdrawn maps of the Okanagan back in the day,” said Mehrer. “We get some really cool stuff. Like this book contains all the Indigenous pictographs from the area.”

Another item on consignment is an Okanagan Company Telephone Directory from 1914, with a starting bid at $200.

“It’s really interesting, it lists whether it’s an office or a residence. And the telephone numbers are things like ’13D’ or ’18E’. And you can see all the Penticton businesses from back then that are no more,” said Mehrer. “It’s just cool because there’s no listings from Naramata. I guess no one had a telephone back then. And there’s only three listings for Oyama. And OBC Icecream bought a lot of ad space, they’re on like every third page.”

Mehrer said the starting prices for the items were set by the original collector. Often seller will price items after doing research into their value.

The online auction will end March 28 at 8 p.m.

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