Some people are collectors and some are not. It's that simple. I am a collector. What collections do I have? Well, actually, not that many. The real question is what collections have I had, since for me collecting is a process, and once I have collected a sufficient amount of something, I tend to lose interest. I usually give away or sell the collection and move on to collecting something else. My interest in collecting intersects with my interest in antiques, since it is usually antique versions of things that I collect. For example, at one time I had quite a collection of 1964-65 New York World's Fair memorabilia. Later I had a collection of antique snow domes (you know, those things you shake, with the plastic snow inside). Currently I collect (and use) antique post cards such as those from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and from insane asylums and prisons.... You name it, and there will be at least one collector of it. If there are two, there will be a newsletter. Three, a swap meet. At the antique fairs, one sees dealers with elaborate collections of the most bizarre items. Browsing through such booths is more like museumgoing than shopping. Lunch boxes, salt and pepper shakers, paperweights, marbles, campaign buttons, matchbooks, old board games, cookie jars, war medals, Barbie dolls (pictured above) -- there is just no end to it. And the prices! A mint condition Howdy Doody lunch box, with Buffalo Bob thermos, can fetch upwards of $500. The dealers look so ambivalent about parting with something upon sale.

My taste in antiques leans decidedly toward the kitsch. My dining room is filled with 1950's ceramic Lazy Susans and tri-level bridge mix servers; my living room, with 1960's fiberglass lamp shades and genuine imitation wood grain matador wall hangings. My theory is that the look combines the two definitions of success I held as a mid-1960's child: bric-a-brac-filled suburban family home and smooth high-rise bachelor pad (some friends' fathers were divorced). My wardrobe echoes this sensibility, and when not in the office I can usually be found, in summer, in fleur-de-lys-pocketed shirt-jaks and, in winter, in woolen dickies.

The Internet has been a boon to collectors and antiquers. Newsgroups and electronic mailing lists contain postings for all sorts of obscure articles. My chief collection of the moment is old post cards, so if you have something for sale, please drop me an e-mail.

Featured link:

Toaster Museum

A collection of sites....

Circa 50
Ad Access
Barbie's Dolls
Dome-O-Rama
Marble Museum
Transistor Radios
ThePostCard.com
BuyCollectibles.com
Curioscape directory
Antique Fishing Lures
Collector's Super Mall
Internet Antique Shops
Tacky Post Card Archive
Forum Antiques & Collectibles
Vintage Bicycles Resource Page
International Paperweight Society
Antiques & Collectibles Superstore
International Vintage Lighter Exchange
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
Barnes & Noble Antiques/Collecting Bookstore
Noisy Boy & Disorderly Girl Cool Antiques Links
Postcard Web Ring
Snowdome Web Ring
Collectible Toys Web Ring
Vintage Clothing Web Ring
From Another Time Web Ring
Collector's Connection Web Ring
Antiques & Collectibles Web Ring
Virtual Bubble Wrap

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