Featured Unusual Collections: What Have You Seen?

What is the most unusual collection you've personally seen?

About ten years ago when my parents were moving we placed an advertisement in the local newspaper to sell their lawn mower, a large 1980's era John Deere riding mower that was a little worse for wear but still ran great. A day after the ad hit the papers we get a call from an older gentleman and his wife wanting to take a look at it. They come out and inspect it and ultimately purchase it along with a John Deere plow and wagon. The older gentleman loading it up into his trailer is like a child in a candy store, carefully securing and tarping his new acquisition. He goes on to whip out his cell phone and shows us his collection of lawn mowers. He has a large pole barn full of them, I'd estimate at least 50 of them of all kinds of makes and models.

Feel free to share your stories!

 

Hi,
Weirdest thing I saw was a friend who has a collection of ceramic prophylactic holders. At the time they were reused, cleaned and stored in these ceramic boxes and dresser decorations they looked like the Staffordshire figurines.
greg

 

I have seen a huge collection of tractors that took up something like a half acre of ground when they were finally displayed to be sold.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a collection of iron flies, where the wings lift up to become trinket holders. There were hundreds of them, and although a few had advertising, most were just plain iron. Even the auctioneer was bored with them by the time the last box rolled around.

 

That is the neatest thing, the rare collections of things that would never have occurred to you or many others:

The colored glass insulators used for electrical poles.
Hotel brand ashtrays.
Liquor measuring cups.
Old decorated tin boxes of all kinds.
Rocks (rough).
A store or other company's branded paraphernalia, bags, boxes, etc.

I can see that more than half of what I listed were probably 'free' items. Must be a message there, more collectors out there than we think.

 

I went to a yard sale that had a collection of maybe 150 invalid cups. At the time I had no idea that people collected them.

Then once I bought an old insect sprayer with a glass jar to hold the powder. It was $4 and the sister who was with me thought I was nuts! A week later I put it out at the flea and it was snapped up within a half hour for $18 by someone who has a collection of them

 

Old sewing needle packages. The ends of old fruit crates with the labels on them.
When I was a little kid, I collected labels from cat food cans.(LOL) That didn't last, but some folks do collect old tin cans.

 

A house filled to the rafters with clown items. Everything under the sun with a clown on it.
I am not a fan of clowns except maybe Bozo.

 

Clownfarts too? Oh, that collection is in Washington DC; forget I asked.

 

I went to an estate sale where it was chickens. Everything,even the switch plates,were chickens.The poor dear was truly one tracked mind!

 

I've collected iron wheels since I was a kid, I never purchase them, only found wheels (abandoned machines and the like) . There's about another 30 around the property. The heaviest one I have I brought on a plane from Denver to Boston, the pre-911 security guy told me it was from an irrigation valve and was impressed that I would lug it all the way back to Mass.

 

@anundverkaufen
What an original idea, love it. Years of labor and memories, attached to each one. Thanks for showing it.

 

You did not say that....... even in Canada, we know, we know. LOL

 

There's at least one guy in the world who collects airplane vomit-bags.

 

Wow! That is impressive. Nicely displayed.

TY for showing us.

 

Very nice display! do you not worry about people taking them? around here they would be gone overnight.

 

I have a few outdoor collections, nobody has ever taken anything unless I put a free sign on it.
Here's one of my sheds with a bouy collection.

 

Anund, it looks like some of those "lobster shacks" in Maine! As a New Englander, I have to love it!

 

I was going to say, here on Cape Cod that would fit right in

 

There's At least a few hundred pots at a time in the water just off our beach. Every time we have a storm the pots end up on our beach. The owners of the pots are allowed to come on the property to retrieve them but they never do.

 

those bouys look wonderful all together!