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Monday
Nov262012

Toothpaste packets #0124

The collector:  Shakil Huq, Artist, Interior Designer - (General Manager at Media Box), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The collection: Toothpaste packets (empty)

The story behind the collection...

I always wanted to collect something really unusual and all the time I used to think about that. It was at the beginning of 2012 my daughter Tanisha gave me a toothpaste packet called 'Mr Darlie’ as a present. That packet was on my reading table for 2 to 3 days. Suddenly I noticed the outer box of the toothpaste was really rather beautiful. I thought toothpaste packets could be a collectable thing! I started searching on internet but there are none out there. I have found only one gentleman from USA who collects toothpaste tubes only. So I believe I am the only collector of toothpaste packets.

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Friday
Nov162012

Art Deco #0123

The collector:  Andy, Businessman, Midlands (UK).

The collection: Art Deco

The story behind the collection...

 

I started collecting Art deco in the 1980s, I think that period was just so decadent, beautiful, cutting edge and 'before its time'... essentially I just loved it.

It all began with a trip to a shop in Altrincham called Bazaar. I went in and thought oh my god they're so expensive but so lovely and I think I spent about £3000 in one afternoon! I bought the HMV heater and the greyhounds and some other bits and pieces and then I started progressing and getting more and more into it.

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Monday
Nov052012

London Buses #0122

red London bus

Kate Farley

The collector:  Kate Farley, artist, designer and lecturer, Birmingham (UK).

The collection: London Buses

The story behind the collection...

I refer to them as ‘my buses’, but yes they are London specific – that was the purpose of the collection. I have gathered old and battered metal toy London buses. It is almost an anti-collection as it is intentional that they are not new, not pristine and hold no value to others but the wear and tear is what I like. I don’t catalogue them and serial numbers are of no interest to me.

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Friday
Oct192012

Walkie-Talkies #0121

The collector: Eric Wrobbel, based in Los Angeles, California, is an art director, writer, and musician. He has been described by peers as a philosopher, a hedonist, strongly opinionated, and "Eric who?" He considers a creative orientation to be essential to human well-being and finds that collecting, while not literally a creative enterprise, supports and celebrates the creative efforts that went into the objects collected and inspires our creative instincts... our need to create.

The collection: Walkie-Talkies

The story behind the collection...

Over the years I’ve acquired and saved many things of interest. I long ago dignified these acquisitions with the name “collections,” which pressed me still further to acquire more. My collecting themes were unclear to me at first, but as I did it, it became clear that what interested me were things that were in my opinion historically significant and things that were well-designed or stylish. I still have every one of those collections.

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Sunday
Oct142012

Irons #0120

vintage iron

Jay RaymondThe collector: Jay Raymond, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, US. Jay is currently an author, at work on his second book. He has previously worked as a heating system mechanic, a building inspector, a teacher, a maitre'd and a handyman.

The collection: Irons.  Until 2007 I collected only streamlined irons: In the U.S. this meant irons made between 1932 and 1952.  In 2007 I sold that collection of about 180 irons.  I now collect electric irons made between 1890-1925. 

The story behind the collection...

It began with the purchase in the early 1980s of a box of ten old electric irons at a church rummage sale. Several were from the streamlined era and these caught my eye. I didn't work hard to find more until about ten years later when, on vacation far from home, I found an antique dealer with a collection of  forty streamlined irons. I bought that collection and began to seriously look for more. Two years later I found another dealer with a collection, of sixty irons: I bought that collection, too.   

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Sunday
Sep232012

iPods #0119

The collector: Nick Jarman, Berkshire, UK

The collection: Apple iPods

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Saturday
Sep222012

Whistles #0118

anonymous avatarThe collector: Retired Police Officer (UK).

The collection: Whistles.

The story behind the collection...

I collect all types of whistle but with a leaning towards police and military whistles. I've been collecting for around 12 years and have around 700 or so whistles. I am a retired police officer and I carried one of these for many years, shortly before retirement I took it out of my tunic one day looked at it and, say no more, the hobby began.

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Friday
Sep142012

Girls on Donkeys #0117

Lisa WoodThe collector: Lisa Wood, artist and jewellery designer, San Francisco.

The collection: Photo postcards of girls on donkeys.

The story behind the collection...

This collection started about 5 years ago when I came across my first photo postcard of a young girl on a donkey taken around 1910. She was clothed in a beautiful dress, a big bow in her hair and shiny black boots that buttoned up the side. I loved the juxtaposition of the girl dressed in her Sunday best on a seemingly stinky old donkey.

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