Collectors And Their Collections

[olbriar]

My father collected antique clocks and coins and my mother antique plates. I grew up collecting. First it was baseball cards and then I helped my father going through coins and started filling penny books. The first home I rented was from the original banker of my town. He had the money and he was a big collector. He loved glass and had an amazing collection of glass paper weights. He had an unusual collection of glass canes. I bet he had over 500 glass and carved elephants. He had huge glass urns full of glass marbles. He also collected money and stamps.
He got me into collecting stamps which he had pages of every US stamp printed from the early nineteen hundreds. I bought from him 1968 back to 1937 a single of every stamp. I still have them and they have gained some value though mostly not a good investment. I spent my spare money on vinyl albums as a young adult and have a sizeable collection of sixties and seventies music... mostly rock. I do have all of the Beatle albums still factory sealed. (I played other copies I had to death) I later collected canes and have a respectable collection. I inherited half of my father's clocks though not really my collection. Collecting is fun even if not profitable.

I was curious if any of you like to collect?
I thought it might be fun to discuss collecting and your collections.

I'll start with one of my collections. As a kid, no matter where we went, my father hit ever thrift or antique store in his quest for an antique clock at a bargain. It seemed like every hole in the wall would have some keys and I started collecting them. A nickel would buy a lot of keys that nobody knew what they unlocked. So.... I have a large box of keys to nothing.

Are you a collector?

 

[Rob]

I love the idea of collecting coins but just could never get into it. Still love coins though!

Growing up I collected baseball cards. The era i collected from is now known as "the junk era" because they were mass printed and virtually worthless. There has been a resurgence in sports cards and the valuable cards are all special, signed and numbered series, often with pieces of memorabilia (jersey piece, bat shard, etc) built into them.

These days I have an obsession with looking board games at goodwill. I am trying to build a massive collection for an Airbnb and it is so fun to see all the random games from over the decades. Sometimes, but rarely, they are still in the plastic.

I also have a fun little NFT Collection!

Oh, and WAY too many plants! That might be my biggest right now. The fun part of plants is you can propagate them. MOAR PLANTS! And they make a good little gift.

 

[nickdalzell]

I don't collect, well, I do but it's a lifestyle for me. I am heavily into vintage, so that means vintage electronics, obsolete apps, vintage interior decor, radios, watches, old coins and dollar bills, but I live it. as in i don't acquire it to let it sit in some curio cabinet to gawk at or collect dust, but to actually use it. I use the old money, as it's still legal tender, I use the old watches, the clocks work, the radios work, the computers work, the apps work, the lamps work. Everything I repair and restore and use it as if the year were still 1953. I even went out of my way to get rid of those crappy battery powered tools at work to replace it all with vintage metal tools from the 50s-60s. Vintage desk fans too. The only thing missing are period correct cars in my garage.

there ain't a single thing left in my home that even uses a polarized plug anymore. My most recent aquisition is a 1960's variant of a 'comptometer' style adding machine. My next goal is getting that 100 year-old Royal typewriter for the writing desk in my kitchen before another person snags it first.

 

[olbriar]

I have, somewhere deep in my shed, a Burroughs adding machine. It was gifted to me when My Uncle closed his creamery business in the late fifties. As I understand, the adding machine kept a daily, weekly, and monthly balance. All mechanical works and weighs two tons. I'm not digging for the adding machine but it is quite similar or is the same model as this one. A cool machine!

My baseball card collection were cards from the late forties into the mid sixties. My uncle, ten years my senior, gave me his collection when he joined the service and I added cards into the sixties. I did manage to collect the entire Yankee roster one year by buying a lot of worthless gum and doing a lot of trading. I gave all of my cards to a high school friend's little brother. Sixty years later they likely have some value. I hope the kid in turn gifted the cards to another younger kid. That was what they were really good for.

 

[PitCarver]

The Boss Lady says I'm a hoarder, OB. From some coins to petrified wood, I've got some. Stamps, yep, got them too. My favorite collection has to be my Chinese "Junk" collection which has an assortment of coins, paper currency, olive nut carvings, chopstick rests, stamps, etc.
On the plus side of this one, it's fits mostly into an unused cigar humidor.

 

[nickdalzell]

One of these days I want to get one of those old cash registers with the little 'flags' that popped up when things happened. I always loved the craftsmanship and touch of American Pride that went into one, with the artsy eagle often on each side, and the fun of whenever a customer pushed a bit too much, hitting whatever button which made the nice, red NO SALE flag pop up. Kinda pointless today with 1) I'm the mechanic, not the one who does the taking of money and 2) everything is so digital today and hardly anyone uses cash except for myself, but the novelty makes it worth it.

 

[olbriar]

^^^^ That's cool @PitCarver! I never collected anything foreign. I have a lot of smoking pipes that were made abroad but so do most US pipe smokers. I have some foreign coins that fell into my possession that my father and father-in-law came home with from WWII but I'd not call it a collection. What spawned your interest in Chinese "junk" collecting? Interesting.

 

[olbriar]

One of these days I want to get one of those old cash registers with the little 'flags' that popped up when things happened. I always loved the craftsmanship and touch of American Pride that went into one, with the artsy eagle often on each side, and the fun of whenever a customer pushed a bit too much, hitting whatever button which made the nice, red NO SALE flag pop up. Kinda pointless today with 1) I'm the mechanic, not the one who does the taking of money and 2) everything is so digital today and hardly anyone uses cash except for myself, but the novelty makes it worth it.

I get off on old mechanical things. I remember those old cash registers. They are quite collectable and some were not only functional but quite decretive. I could easily be that guy that collected them if I had the $$ and the space.

I mow for an elderly woman who has a number of old farm implements in her yard. They have metal wheels and were made to be drawn by horse or mule. Not knowing, I suspect they are all very old and each is in great shape and look as if they are ready to do more work. It's amazing how well things were once manufactured. One implement is a two row plow. The tines on the plow have sat in the weather year round for many decades and yet are shiny like they just cut the earth.

 

[Milo Williamson]

A few rarities for me of Vintage Silver Age Comic books, thanks for my father, also I have a huge collection of comic books, old Electronic Gaming Monthly's as well as a few odds and ends Video game guides stating back from the early 90s. A few collections of cartridge video games, music albums I purchased, I played a few of them til death, I can pretty much download them, a few of my father's old antique pistols we have handed over to a musuem down here, his silver metals he won through war. A few other odds and ends too.

 

[mikedt]

I used to have a cash register when I was young. One of these, with the popup prices and NO SALE.

 

[olbriar]

I understand that old comic books and playboy magazines are very collectable. Old Mad magazines and books are collectable as well.
The bottom line is a collection doesn't have to have a value to be fun. Some of the value is just the fun of collecting. I collected paper drinking cups as a kid. Every establishment had their own cups printed with their logo or name. I had a pretty good collection of various cups. They had zero value. In fact, they were trash. I eventually tossed them but they were fun to collect.

 

[nickdalzell]

The reason a lot of old farm equipment was made so well probably was because people bought it for life, especially in the depression-era. A fun bit of trivia, the infamous 'Hoyt Clagwell' tractor used in Green Acres was actually a 1920s Fordson Model B with the rear wheel spikes removed for some reason.

I got a lot of those electric "oil" lamps (some that have the switch configured to light up the top, bottom, and bottom and top at the same time) and for some reason those things go for tons at vendor malls. I'm talking about $80+. I can't imagine why, they're not worth much, are completely out of fashion (except for people like me) and aren't filled with gold or anything.

 

[olbriar]

The reason a lot of old farm equipment was made so well probably was because people bought it for life, especially in the depression-era. A fun bit of trivia, the infamous 'Hoyt Clagwell' tractor used in Green Acres was actually a 1920s Fordson Model B with the rear wheel spikes removed for some reason.

I got a lot of those electric "oil" lamps (some that have the switch configured to light up the top, bottom, and bottom and top at the same time) and for some reason those things go for tons at vendor malls. I'm talking about $80+. I can't imagine why, they're not worth much, are completely out of fashion (except for people like me) and aren't filled with gold or anything.

You are likely correct about the farm equipment being a lifetime investment. My father and mother had their house full of antiques. It was their thing to collect old and obsolete but functional things. It was all sold by my step mother after my father's death and before she was forced to abandon his home. There was some neat old stuff I'd have loved to have. Spinning wheel, tea cart, butter churn, two man tree saw, hall tree, floor lamp, etc. Speaking of farm implements made me think of this item. A hand operated corn planter. You stick it into the furrow and separate the handles that dropped on corn seed. I have no idea the age but it was in great shape after planting countless rows of corn and then laying idle for decades. Quite similar to this.

The floor lamp I mentioned above was also switched by a foot activated switch similar to the lamps you described. The bottom globe and the top could each be turned on or both be on. The bottom globe was part of the base and served as a night light. I looked for a similar lamp on the net but fell short. I imagine the lamps you bought are collectable or at least have a following making them command the prices you are seeing.

 

[nickdalzell]

These are table lamps. They look like something from out of the old West, like something you'd see in an episode of Bonanza except electric. Similar lamps can be seen in early episodes of Leave it to Beaver, including wall-mounted models.

Unless there's a new trend for 'Grandmom's interior design' I can't imagine them being in demand enough to command such high prices, unless there is something else special about them to warrant it...From where I am located, the most popular trend in interior design today is 'hospital chic' with tons of those overly bluish white LEDs in 5000k, which always succeed in giving me both eye strain and headaches. Another trend is the return to 'mid-century modern' aka the modern design of the mid 1950s, with furniture styles and some modern but retro-styled table lamps, but not any return to the 1930s-40s electric oil lamp era.

let's face it, most vendors at those places have no clue what's worth a thing, or even the defnition of 'vintage'. I mean, this Dell I'm using was in a booth of 2010-12 tech, priced $50, and listed as 'vintage laptop computer, win7 pro, 150gb hdd'. Now for myself, a 'vintage' computer would be something as old as say, an early IBM System/30, although not likely to fit in a booth. But a 2010 dell latitude? hardly. Thing has SATA for crying out loud.

A lot of time, the word 'vintage' often adds price needlessly to something that's not even that old. I get a bit shocked when I come across a booth with tons of Fisher-Price toys I grew up with (especially the phonograph) with them listed as 'vintage'. I'm not a senior yet!

 

[olbriar]

Are you talking they are electric lamps that look like old oil lamps?

If so, I don't know that I've ever seen one.

 

[nickdalzell]

not exactly that style, but the type with glass globes but with the 'wick adjustment' key being used as a switch. often has two lamps, one on the top end and another inside where the 'oil' would go, with the switch turning the bottom on, then top only then bottom and top at once, then off. i'd take a photo and post them but my phone uses stupid MTP and Linux has no clue what to do with itself when I plug it in to the computer. but some variation of this.

 

[olbriar]

They sound neat Nick. I don't know that I'm familiar with the lame but it sounds cool. Perhaps it is their rarity that is causing the high price. I had a reclaimed light that was shaped like the upper part of an oil lamp that I salvaged from a throw away pole lamp years ago. I mounted it on my headboard so that I had good light to read in bed.

Speaking of oil lamps, I have three. Not a collection but they are old. They come in pretty handy when there is a power outage. They are old lamps but put out a decent light. Not the light that we are spoiled to but decent light that is always on the ready.
No batteries necessary.

 

[nickdalzell]

i wanted to get actual oil lamps for emergencies or power outage during storms, but unfortunately nobody sells lamp oil anymore around here. The only store that still sold the lamp oil (and lamps, too) was K-Mart, and we all know what happened to them. i instead got some vintage flashlights (Ray-o-vac "hunter" and another that's steel) that use batteries that are still available (unlike the infamous 'b' battery for old portable tube radios that's unobtainium today) to use instead. I do not know if oil lamps would even run on kerosene, which is available, as the lamp oil K-Mart sold was quite different, but I'm not about to risk blowing one of those up to test the theory either.

I'm also impressed by mechanical watches. the amount of fine craftsmanship that goes into one of those makes a quartz watch look pathetic in comparison. I got a few of those, and know how to take all the little parts out and put them back and end up with a running watch in the end. If my Galaxy Watch (2018) wasn't so useful now, they'd get more use. They're not collectible, they're like the kind of watch you'd get at a five and dime back in the 50s, but they work.

 

[olbriar]

I collected my lamps over time here and there. I don't remember where I bought the oil and a couple of new wicks. It might have been a hardware store like ace. They still make and sell hurricane lamps which are basically the same thing. I see Amazon has them and what they are calling chamber oil lamps as well. If you are interested, they have a lot of buying options available. They aren't great light but they are excellent in an emergency situation and the fuel lasts forever and is very slow to evaporate out of the lamps.

 

[nickdalzell]

the only 'hurricane lantern' sold around here runs on batteries and has stupid LEDs inside it. It ain't fooling anyone.

I try to avoid buying anything online. I outright despise made in china and that's 99% of what Amazon carries, and there's no country of origin listed there, and i like the experience of going into a store and seeing what I'm getting and not putting my faith in an internet picture being legit. Been burned by too many bad eBay lies in the early 2000s.

ACE hardware is still a thing? ours became a Winn-Dixie in the late 1980s, was abandoned for two decades after, then became a Planet Fitness.

 

[olbriar]

Ace is going strong here. They just built a new store in my town but there are a number of them in the city. Their prices are higher than Lowes and Home Depot but they carry quality goods and I enjoy the smaller footprint of their stores.

 

[nickdalzell]

ours was the size of a grocery store at the time, had enough sq ft to become a Winn-Dixie when it EOL'd.

we had a smaller locally owned store called Kuester's, which was well-known and everyone knew the owner. It sadly EOL'd when he died in the 1990s, and the store front remains restored with the original signage, maybe to remember? It had an apartment upstairs that his daughter stays in today, so who knows? It's odd to see a dead Keuster's Do-it Center with all the front signs intact but otherwise an empty shell.

Sebree, KY, which passes for a Mayberry here, has a Do-it center of their own, so maybe they got lamp oil. I tend to frequently shop in that little town as it reminds me of Owensboro back in 1978.

 

[mikedt]

Oil lamps? Sure we don't mean kerosene/paraffin lamps?

Rub the oil lamp, and a genie might appear.

 

[mikedt]

I try to avoid buying anything online. I outright despise made in china and that's 99% of what Amazon carries, and there's no country of origin listed there, and i like the experience of going into a store and seeing what I'm getting and not putting my faith in an internet picture being legit. Been burned by too many bad eBay lies in the early 2000s.

I know a few people of that opinion, but it's a bit unavoidable around these parts. Probably the only thing I bought in the last two years that wasn't made in China, is my Samsung phone.

 

[PitCarver]

^^^^ That's cool @PitCarver! I never collected anything foreign. I have a lot of smoking pipes that were made abroad but so do most US pipe smokers. I have some foreign coins that fell into my possession that my father and father-in-law came home with from WWII but I'd not call it a collection. What spawned your interest in Chinese "junk" collecting? Interesting.

Probably because I started carving peach pits, OB. I saw a couple of Chinese olive pit boats and things kinda grew from there into the pieces that I have.

This is why I go by PitCarver.