[This is part of an experiment in which I cross-post here and to Facebook. Facebook will have the photos and text. Here, just text.]
This weekend, we had a great throwing-off at my house, which always makes me happy. The next day, we went shopping, which is not as insane as it sounds. And if you’re going to roam the antique stores of West Virginia, it’s good to do it after confronting your stuff. I knew what I needed, I knew what I used. And I knew that they were certain objects that I would never use, although I am drawn to them for some reason. (Egg cups. I love egg cups! And yet I have never eaten a soft-boiled egg in my life.)
I have tried hard not to be a collector of anything that prompts others to give me gifts in that genre. Years ago, my parents purchased a beautiful watermelon print for their beach cottage (now their fulltime residence), then had a neon watermelon made and, boy, did things get out of control quickly. So I will tell you about my secret collection with the understanding that no one should try to contribute to it, because a) I don’t need anymore and b) the criteria is pretty hard to understand. Even I don’t understand it, and I developed them.
But I like banks. Old ones, preferably small, preferably used in advertising. Unless they are new, tin and reference children’s literature. I prefer having lots of small banks stashed in various places rather than the Big Jar of Change That No One Can Move. And, yes, I love to cash in my coins from time to time, dividing the proceeds between charity and, well, myself.
This weekend yielded two very good additions to the bank collection, a plastic Mr. Peanut and a heavy glass robot that once was a container for children’s cough syrup. The slot in the screw-off top is too small for quarters, so my hunch is that it dates from an era when quarters were not treated lightly. (Not that I treat them lightly now.)
By the way, I also have a mild thing for Planter’s/Mr. Peanut. This weekend’s haul also included a huge glass jar that was once used as a counter display for little bags of Planters Peanuts. Yes, that blue Planters jar that Tess Monaghan uses for her bills is modeled on the one that I use, although without the cracked lid. It turns out there are a lot of people like me, enough that there’s a price guide for collectors. Perhaps I should stop now. Writing and collecting.
But first I’ll ask: What do you collect, and why? Do you use the Internet to track down items, or do you prefer to stumble on them?
I too do not like to disclose what I collect because I prefer to come upon them myself not have them bought for me. The item itself is not important, I don’t think I’ve ever used a one of them, but they each represent a cool side trip or fun little jaunt on a larger trip or vacation. I collect shot glasses, more specifically Hard Rock Cafe and Hooters shot glasses.
I don’t even remember how it got started, but I realized after I had a couple of each it would be fun to get more. And in general when I go on vacation I don’t like to do much more than chill by the pool and read, so obtaining the shot glasses was a neat way to get me out into the local scene. You’d be surprised the variety of places Hooters and Hard Rock Cafe’s pop up.
We’ve ended up in casinos, in revitalized tourist areas and sketchy downwardly mobile neighborhoods. We ended up at the Gulfcoast (to find the Original Hooters in Clearwater Florida) and at Detroit Tigers Spring Training to get one from Lakeland Florida. I saw an expressway car chase and gun fight when I went to get one at the Phoenix Hardrock Cafe. I even ended up falling in love with my wife during a particularly rough patch early on in our dating when we had to wait an extended time at the Cleveland Hardrock Cafe to get one.
I don’t have a goal of getting one from every location or anything like that, but when I go someplace I’ve never been, the first thing I do is see if they have a Hardrock Cafe or a Hooters.
Laura – I’m undergoing the great purge of ’09 myself. Some things going on eBay/half.com; some donated, and a ginormous pile o’shredding.
My favorite collectibles aren’t a specific type, but are things that catch my eye and are amusing in one way or another. Mostly I run across them, but my sister seems to have an almost psychic sense of what amuses me. Today (as part of b’day gift) I received a wonderful bumper sticker and a 12″ tall Mountie figure. I laughed like a loon for half an hour. Other small items in the gift box were just what I needed. Everything from magnets to Texas style lollies (shaped like boot, hat, Texas, longhorn). My tastes are extremely eclectic. ::g::
Decorative eggs from around the world.
Having moved from Miami to the Biscayne Bay (editing over a thousand precious books) has stopped my collecting. But I loved the shape of hearts, so i had a variety of collections. Heart-shaped wreathes, including a barbed-wire one from Santa Fe, among others, and heart-shaped designs on clothes, kitchen stuff, etc.
I preferred finding them on my own. I don’t like the internet for things that are unique because i want to touch them and check out the color first..
No collections now, because i don’t want to leave somebody else the task of removing my stuff in 30 or 40 years (which seems to multiply in my sleep anyway). I love the idea of jumping in the car and leaving it all except the computer stuff and clothes and art.
I miss collecting, because the items made me happy. I have started a small adult office toy collection (not sex toys, mind you) like the zen mini-garden and the steel balls that sway when pinged, so there is a use to these things and they aren’t merely decorative. They are stress reducers!
PS Getting rid of 1,000 books was heart-breaking, i couldn’t believe how little value they had on resale, and now i use the library except for a few special authors (and you know who you are!) I have one Sapion vertical bookcase and insist that everything must fit on it. I am resisting the Kindle, although if start traveling heavily again, it will become necessity. Darn Evelyn Woods, I was a big admirer of President Kennedy and his biographies talked about her technique and i learned to read very very fast.
I love pitchers — ceramic, pewter, fine china, glazed terra cotta, any kind of pitcher in any shape, plain or decorated. I adore those little white cream pitchers some restaurants use, and I can’t see one without wanting to swipe it. It would look so cute, like a baby among my grownup pitchers.
I also can’t resist anything having to do with pandas. And our house is overloaded with books, but books are a necessity of life, not a hobby.
A lot of pottery, so much I have no room for it anymore. Carnival prizes: horrible things painted by those who won them–the more disgusting the better (this is my husband’t thing), paperback books, roosters, election memorabilia, stuff from the fifties, vases. And I have handed down this awful hobby to my daughter.
I collect Gene Kelly printed movie memorabilia, but only in languages other than English – lobby cards in Spanish, handbills in French, movie magazines in Japanese, trading cards in Flemish, posters in German and so on. I love the translations and the artwork, which is often specific to a particular country. Just Gene Kelly movies, too, though I was sorely tempted once by a Spanish poster of Laurel and Hardy (Gordo y Flaco!) dressed as Foreign Legionnaires.
My only other collection is a series of “Man from UNCLE” paperback books published by Ace in the 1960′s. I came across a handful of them in a used book store, bought them just to pass the time on the road and now it’s a habit to check for them every time I’m in a used book or thrift store. It’s not for literary value, for some are truly dreadful, but more just to have something to search for – the “vacilando” that Steinbeck wrote about in “Travels with Charley.”
Dachshund stuff. I’ve had a dachshund since I was 6 (not the same one) and have over my lifetime accumulated a truly frightening horde of dachshund shaped stuff. I have finally gotten discriminating in my aquisitions — now the dachshund has to have the just right look and only I can tell what the right look is for me. Tacky stuff is fine (how tasteful can dachshund stuff be anyway?) as long as the true essence of dachshundness is there.
I prefer stumble across the dachshunds. Searching for them never seems to work. Serendipityness is evidently required.
Alas, I do not get to see the Mr. Peanut pictures; Facebook apparently does not want us to be friends. I’m beginning to think that we are in parallel Facebook universes-I have been successful in finding and being found by other FB friends.
As to your collections, Laura, I have a Lincoln Bank Bottle from Lincoln Foods of Lawrence, MA from the early 50′s that you might like. It came filled with syrup and after you used it up, you put a slotted top on it (that came with it) with a design of Abe that says Lincoln Bottle Bank. I got it from my grandmother many many years ago. I love it, but I don’t collect banks. I do have lots of odd singular things that I enjoy having.
I do collect ladie’s compacts, mainly from the 20′s, 30′s and 40′s. I have about 200 of them (none in precious metals) and I love that you can hold a part of history in the palm of your hand. I have compacts from different locations/countries and in different styles. I have one that look like a little leather book. I have one that has a watch in it and one that has a wiper built in to clear off the powder as you open it up. Compacts used to be very affordable to collect. Not really any more with everyone being able to check prices on the internet. So I haven’t added to the collection in a while.
I also have pottery pieces that I enjoy. Most are unmarked (and were cheap from flea markets), but I do have a McCoy pinecone blue vase that I love, even with the big chip on it.
I try not to really collect anything else because I, too, am starting to cut down on things. In fact, I just gave away a signed Kurt Vonnegut first edition to my brother-in-law. He loved it and I didn’t need it any more. It felt good to send it to a new home.
–Marjorie
Refrigerator magnets.
As BQ says above – when we travel, I look for one magnet to commemorate the trip; cheesey is fine – in fact, the cheaper the better. We have a little Paul Bunyan one from when we went to the Dells, and a very cute Minnie Mouse from WDW, and a few Lincoln-related ones, from the defunct Ft Wayne Lincoln Museum, and the superb Springfield museum, and from Gettysburg, etc etc.
And each of them work for us each day, holding all sorts of things on the fridge door
I’ve got a reindeer motif going for Christmas decor.
Books by my fav authors, of course.
By far, my biggest collection is “stuff that I could use someday”. Old packaging material, fabric, various applicators….you know, junk. I’m convinced that if I throw it away, I’ll wish I had it the next time I’m trying to be creative.
i used to collect some very typical things: stamps, coins, baseball cards. I enjoyed them very much, learnt a lot, and they had actual monetary value. Then they got stolen, after my father sent them to me when I asked not to. I lost 30+ years’ worth of items. I no longer collect them, because i am still mad about losing some very rare items that i spent an awful lot of time on, and some things not as valuable as Michael Jordan rookie card and so on, but that i had hunted for with my grandparents (my grandmother got me started on plate blocks).
I collect a certain category of book, and, of course, books in general, artwork by specific artists, and not much else. I did have a pretty amasing collection of turn of the century cigarette lighters but my mother threw them all away. they are thrower-outers. i also pursue some other things, but don’t consider it ‘collecting’ per se.
//karen
I like finding regional or local books of “true” ghost stories… especially self-published or from tiny local presses, although I’ve noticed that university presses will put these out, too, if they are sufficiently steeped in “folklore.” Thrift stores seem to be a good spot to find these. By the way, Laura, Heavy Glass Robot should have been the name of a great garage band from the 60s that everyone has forgotten.
I collect Barber quarters. (a holdover from my coin collecting youth)
Also underground comics, particularly anything by R.Crumb. I also have a poster for the 1976 Smoke-in Central Park by the guy who created the Furry Freak Brothers. “A Jay a Day Keeps the Blues Away”.
And, similar to BQ above, we collect MLB team shot glasses.
Laura: I just looked at the pictures and I hate to tell you, but that’s no robot! That’s a space commander! His eyes all-too-human eyes are peering through his space helmet. I notice that he was cherry flavored in his day, which makes me think it all the more gruesome – or is it sacramental? Children were drinking thick red fluid FROM HIS BODY!
I collect Christmas ornaments whenever I travel. I love putting them on the tree and remembering where I got them. I also a a collection of stoneware crocks in different sizes. Most of them are Red Wing. I’ve had to limit that collection though. Now I won’t let myself get one unless it has advertising on it.
Karen’s remark that “i also pursue some other things, but don’t consider it ‘collecting’ per se.” intrigued me.
She makes an excellent point: we should define the difference between conciously managing a collection, on the one hand, or simply accumulating stuff, on the other. Internet links leap to mind – way back in the day, I had dozens of them, but over the years I have culled my list of links down to maybe 8 or 10 sites; it’s rare to add or delete one, and if I see one that I don’t go to anymore, then it gets deleted – which is oddly liberating!
A lot of the same stuff as above. Sock monkeys, Those bottlecap peanut chip holder guys people made in the 60s/70s, old aquarium ‘furniture’ esp. made in Japan or Germany. Hager, Royale Hager, Chalk carnival prizes, Turner prints, Ugly plastic bead/safety pin crafts in the shape of baskets, bowls, etc, Miller Studio chalk wall hangings, Bakelite bracelets, found toys like plastic soldiers, matchbox cars, jacks, marbles, found money…over the years I’ve probably found more than $500 in coins and the odd bills here and there. Biggest find was $40 in a parking lot, promptly went in and spent it at a bookstore. Otherwise I throw it in a big metal Chupa Chups tin, count it and roll it in paper tubes every month.
Bakelite bracelets! I was stalking one on eBay recently and it went for more than $600! (Not to me.)
Bakelite for $600. I have one I bought in Fells Point maybe 25 years ago, for probably $25, that I wear several times a month. Now I may hesitate to take it out of the drawer for fear of damaging it!
One day I looked around at all of the books I had been collecting since the 70′s and realized in a flash that if I were to die that afternoon, no one would give a crap about any of it; they were only important to me. I started purging the shelves. Every time I see one of those hoarding shows, I feel compelled to reassess everything I “collect” to determine if it is a legitimate part of something or only indecision.
Rather than buy or receive more stuff at this point in my life, I prefer something that can be consumed: a meal, time together, a joint activity, a visit, a good laugh.
Oh, I do like those wheat-back pennies, but only from 1950 or earlier; they take up very little space. I don’t know if they have value. I only know that they remind of a time in life when a penny was worth something.
If I collected anything, it would be pottery and teapots. I have a few teapots but just don’t have the room to have more. But I love ceramic teapots and also love pottery.
There was a store in NYC called “The Mad Monk.” I used to buy beautiful, original pottery there and have some wonderful pieces, but the store closed so that was the end of that.
Books: I used to collect fiction by my favorite authors but due to economizing, rediscovered the public library.
Cleaned out a few years ago and brought tons of books and donated them to the library.
Am satisfied with what I have. Maybe I’ll collect books published by the new Felony and Mayhem press, but that’s it.
Kathy D.
about Mr. Peanut- When I was a kid and a teen(the 50s and 60′s), someone would portray Mr. Peanut outside the big Planter’s peanut store in Atlantic City. One summer in high school, it was my friend Howard. Not sure how this is important
I collect nothing anymore- I used to collect Wedgewood Peater Rabbit china(I have two eggs cups in this pattern and used one the other day). I also used to help my daughter with her snowglobe collection -esp the old plastic cheesy sort- and now there are 250 of them, she doesn’t collect them anymore and is a senior in college in Wisconsin but the snow globes are here.