As discussed, I’m a huge history nerd. To make matters ‘worse’ I am also one of those parents who prefers that kids not only learn but seek knowledge. I see collecting as one way to instill such passion in our kids (and adults too). Sure, our kids are called ‘weird’ — apparently for just not falling far enough from their weird-parent-trees. (Thanks, Wes Cowan!) But in this age of video games and passive entertainment, I’m thrilled to produce geeks & nerds.

However, instilling such passion in your children is work. It means you have to make the time, be it at home, the thrift store, or right there on the auction floor, to educate your kids… Maybe push them a little bit too. And it means you need to look past a lot of mainstream stuff (i.e. popular toys) to find gifts for your children which will delight as well as continue to quench their nerdy curiosities. That’s not always easy to do. And it’s even more difficult to find something that you can collect together.

So far we’ve bonded over games, vintage vinyl, books, and History Detectives. But there are less ‘new’ items which seem to meet all my (admittedly persnickety) needs. The Noah’s Pals animals are neat, helping with those environmental lessons, but what about history?

Historical Plush Beanie Collectible Figures

Enter the Famous Be’an Collectibles.

Made by Creation Station LLC, Famous Be’an® Collectibles are plush ‘bean stuffed’ toys like Beanie Babies — however, Famous Be’ans are famous historical beings.

Each historical figure is dressed in their appropriate period attire and includes a hang tag with an original colorful illustration and accurate historical information — in poetic verse and prose, to pique interest (we all hope!).

You’ve got your presidents, like Lincoln and JFK, and their wives, such as Mary Todd Lincoln and Jacqueline Kennedy; but there are so many other historical figures and legends too. Activists & authors, explorers & entrepreneurs, inventors and scientists, outlaws & musicians — even animals.

Plush President Lincoln & Other Famous Be'an Collectibles

Standing in front of their booth at the recent museum conference, I was giddy. So many cool plush toys — and so many possibilities for collecting with my kids!

Aside from just being cool history themed things to collect, there are many other reasons why adults will enjoy collecting Famous Be’ans with children:

• There’s a wide variety of historical figures to choose from.
• Because these collectibles are being made today, kids can put their favorite Famous Be’an on holiday lists for Santa and on birthday lists for extended family members.
• And the familiar/understandable topics means people know what the heck the kids are talking about — which means adults can more easily find and purchase the gifts as well as have actual conversations with the children about their collection. (And isn’t that part of what both collecting and gift giving are about?)

Socks The Cat As Famous Be'an

You (or grandma!) can even sign up for the Famous Be’an® Collectible of the Month Club and have a new plush collectible come to your home every month. The company allows you to specify particular areas of interest (Civil War, Native American, etc.) and if you send them a list of which Famous Be’ans you already own, they’ll make sure not to send you duplicates.

For all this ease, Famous Be’ans are real collectibles. Figures will be retired — in fact, some already are! This adds to the thrill of the hunt as you try to find ‘who’ you can while they are available — then search the secondary market for those you have missed.

The company also offers Famous Be’an bookmarks and collecting accessories, such as display cases and display stands. (And if you’re a teacher, there are even Famous Be’an lesson plan books.)

To add to the fun, there are even exclusive designs sold as souvenirs and fundraisers to museums and other organizations. That means you & your family can enjoy discovering new historical figures when you travel to historic sites and exhibits — like Socks the Cat at the Bill Clinton Museum. Now you can get the kids excited about ‘another family car trip’ *wink*

Museum Souvenir Historical Figure Plush Toys

(While some of the exclusives are listed on the website, other gems like Socks and the Headless Horseman shown here are not. Contact Creation Station for a complete list of Famous Be’ans and locations.)

Mom, Dad, hubby… anyone who knows me, if you’re reading this I’ve simply got to add Susan B. Anthony and Rosie the Riveter to my ‘feminist’ collection. Belle Starr too.

And then there’s the kids… Hunter will want Abe Lincoln, Destiny will want Blackbeard, and Allie will want Seaman the dog.

OK, I’m pretty sure that between the kids and I, we want them all. They are just too-too cool.

Part of me would like to keep the best antique shopping locations to myself, but by sharing my adventures in antiquing with you, I’m hopeful you will share your favorite places with the rest of us.

Last weekend we went antique hunting. It’s what we do often. While garage sales, flea markets and estate sales are choice places to shop, they are mostly warm weather events and in cold weather we prefer indoor auctions and antique stores and malls. Wifey had scheduled Saturday for our first outdoor auction of the season, but with temperatures in the 30’s, no sun and a chance of rain, we decided to go to plan ‘B’, and explore new territory. Since we had plans for the evening I did not want to travel a great distance, but felt we should check out a place we had not hit before, and believe me there aren’t many.

Our choice was an antique shop in Volo, IL., The Volo Auto Museum and Antique Mall, located at US 12 and state road 120, a place I had passed by years before while on my real job but did not stop.

Leaving early for our drive that took a bit over an hour, we arrived just as they were opening the doors at 10:00 am. We were greeted at the door by one of their many friendly personnel that explained the layout, offered us a shopping basket to carry our finds and gave us a note card to write down case numbers we wanted opened.

We found these amenities almost unnecessary as help was always nearby to assist, answer questions, open locked cases, and carry our purchases to the check-out counter. Watching what our interests were, they even pointed out ‘like’ items in other booths. But no fear, these were not overbearing hoverer’s, just efficient staff.

We knew we were in for a long day; this mall is filled with great dealers, good variety, quality items, and price ranges to insure great hunting for all. We found some super items.

I spotted this item early in our hunt. It’s a convention badge marked S.N.P.J. Lodge 38 (Kenosha, Wisconsin)and when I brought it to the counter, one of the staff members gave a call to her hubby and got us the name of the group it was from. (What dedication to customer service.)

Too small to use, without starving while making a full meal, we assume this waffle iron is a salesman’s sample. It’s marked Stover Junior #8.

Featuring a Mother Of Pearl front face, this large shiny metal compact signed Volupte’, came in a black cloth carry bag with Lucite comb in a pocket, and unused powder puff.

Now, who can live without this aluminum napkin holder, Not Wifey. Great design work.

I spotted this woodworker’s plane, small in size but not unusual, till I inspected the material carefully. To my surprise the body is black thermoformed plastic called Bakelite.

Too wonderful to pass up, this copper inkwell and pen holder features a cast nude figure holding an urn. Splashes of ink on the base confirm its age. Wifey wants to stick a candle in the urn and display it on the mantle (there is no room on her desk.)

To my embarrassment, I missed this item when I went through a booth, but wifey spotted it with ease.

It’s an old waffle iron with ceramic top. In need of cleaning but the top is very nice. To explain another reason why we will be back often, a member of the staff searched diligently for an electrical cord she felt was with the item.

Now please do not fret, with the items mentioned above and an arm load of other gems, carried to our car by another helper, we still left tons of antiques and collectibles for your shopping pleasure.

Map

In business since 1964, this well run mall is directed by managers Lisa, Marilyn and owner Carolyn. If you’re in the area, (50 miles West of Chicago) this place is worth a visit. Check with Marilyn or Carolyn at 815-344-6062, if you need directions , want to confirm holiday openings or have questions. Their hours are 10 to 5, 7 days a week.

Whenever I see those colored aluminum tumblers, I have to smile. It brings back fond memories of my dear sister. She would always serve beverages in those. She swore that they kept drinks colder. She was probably right about that but forgot to mention that metallic taste! Oh, well.

They used to be reasonably priced. Most aluminum was not expensive to begin with and they were not that desirable.That’s why a recent visit to an antique shop was a bit of a surprise. A set with a red pitcher and 6 glasses of varying colors was priced at $45.00. There was also a set of iced tea stirs, with the spoon at the end. Still in their original box, which always adds to the value, but with a tag that read $32, I was amazed.

Admittedly, there are some items that do have a lot of flair. Hand forged pieces such as those from the Wendell August Forge, Rodney Kent, Continental and Bueuilum have some pretty unique patterns and shapes. Those with glass inserts are still functional and would probably be fun to use on a casual buffet table. These bring back memories of the ‘all-important’ casserole dishes that were popular in the 1950s and 60s. Women were joining the workforce more regularly and they liked to have a quick meal for the hungry family.

I have seen hammered aluminum baskets, butter containers, serving dishes, salt and pepper shakers, platters, match safes, cigarette cases, napkin holders, canister sets and on and on. I once had an extremely large platter with unusual ‘sea-weed’ handles and a fish motif. Sold it at a flea market a few years back. Wonder what that would be worth today. I also had an aluminum bracelet, purchased at a thrift shop. I think I recall giving it to a curious granddaughter to play with. What was I thinking? This mirror will stay in my collection of silver mirrors, if only as an oddity.

I do have one rather unique item in my possession. I may just put it to good use one of these days. It is an aluminum belt! Very geometric in its design. With all of the attention in the fashion world in large, clunky, over-sized belts, this one may just fit right in.

Still a relatively inexpensive collectible and aluminum can be functional too. The ones that are ‘unsigned’ are more reasonable and unless you need pieces with overly ornate patterns, you can probably pick them up for under $10. They seem to have a long life, if you treat them well. Who knows, they may come back into style for the next generation. We understand they are still being made today!

If you’ve got a favorite aluminum collectible, we’d love to hear about it! And if you want to join others who collect, there are various hammered aluminum collectors clubs to check out!

PC World magazine has come out with a list of the Most Collectible PCs — 18 of the world’s coolest, oldest computers that an average person might hope to own. I’ve actually owned a number of them (although some, as they admit in the article, are mostly unownable), so here’s my take on their list:

1. Altair 8800 — while not the rarest of the pre-GUI computers, it’s not something you’ll run across at a rummage sale. Believe me, I’ve been looking. I haven’t had the pleasure of owning one (they are on the rare side), but of the early computers on the list this is the one that a computer collector might actually have a chance of owning someday. Many were made, but they’ve been considered desirable for quite a while, and few are on the market. Oh, wait — there’s a full system right now, with terminal, drives, and the whole shebang, on eBay…starting price, $3,000, BIN $6,000.
2. Xerox Alto – Their note that these machines were never on the market should discourage the general collector. These are museum pieces more than they are collector’s items, as the earliest example of the mouse-driver, graphic user interface we know today. Xerox couldn’t make them cheap or interesting enough to customers, but both Apple and Microsoft took the ideas and made their own buggier, cost-effective versions. If you have one of these in your collection, you’re a very, very lucky person.
3. Apple I — While these were on the market for a short time, you’re unlikely to find them. Coveted by only collectors with the deepest pockets, these are the earliest computer from the company that really revolutionized home computing.
4. Apple II — if you’re at least twenty-five, you probably are familiar both with this computer and the phrase: “Broke an axle. Lose one day.” As a staple of both computer labs and home desktops for the late 70s and early 80s, these abound in the market, but the supply is shrinking as they go bad and are cannibalized for their surviving brethren. I’ve owned many, many of these, mostly reselling them on eBay. The last one I had, I played Oregon Trail for, like, three hours until I had to go pretend I was a grownup again. I’ve got one in the basement right now.
5. Commodore 64 — like the Apple][, these were common at rummage sales until the early 2000s, but are becoming less available as they’ve made it into collector’s hands or are ending up in the trash. At the time these were out, my friends could have been divided up into Apple, Commodore, PC, or Miscellaneous. I, sadly, was in the “Miscellaneous” category with my TRS-80 III. While I haven’t owned the early version of the Commodore in PC World’s article, I’ve had the later ones that look more like the Apples of the time. If you’re starting a computer collection, this is a good one to get: it’s ubiquitous, it’s common — but not too common — and they turn up on eBay on a regular basis. Another plus: easy storage.
6. Cray-1 Supercomputer — come on, now, they just wanted a reason to use their favorite file-photo of this monster of the computer world. The article doesn’t even cover up the fact that it doesn’t expect a collector to ever own one.
7. The IBM PC — IF you find one of these in good condition, you’re a lucky one. Apples seemed to be cared for better than the IBM PC, its direct competition at the time, but the PC, with its mostly-metal case and business market, don’t seem to fare well. I’ve never encountered them, although I’ve met many of its descendents, because they were mostly run into the ground, and I’m sure businesses took them to the dump by the pallet when the upgrades were done. There’s a nice example on eBay right now, with a top bid of $61 (although shipping should keep the bidding relatively low).
8. Imsai 8080 — like the Altair in many ways, this is an early, recognizable computer (it was even in Wargames), and appears (in a cursory search of eBay) to either be more common or less desirable. While the Altair is the crowning jewel, the Imsai shouldn’t be overlooked for a computer collection — it’s not the kind of machine that’ll be around for very long.
9. Kenback 1 — Like the Cray, one of those holy grails that even collectors with the deepest pockets can’t hope to ever own. 14, according to the article, are known to exist, leaving 26. Got one in your attic? You might get that new car after all.
10. Kim-1 — unlike the Kenback or the Apple, this early example of the buy-the-board computer project sold well, and while no doubt many tinkerers zapped them to high heaven and tossed them in the trash, they’re still around. One’s on eBay today, top bid $510.
11. Apple Lisa — Often talked about, traded somewhat regularly (one, as you might guess, is on eBay right now, but it’s a Mk.2), and always kicked around as a product failure, the Lisa, like the Altair, is a computer that a collector should be able to get their hands on, to separate their collection from the amateurs. If the checkbook is thick enough, of course.
12. Mark-8 — teetering on the fine line between Holy Grail and accessible, these computers number only in the low hundreds today, and demand a pretty penny. While looking a little underpowered compared to its thunder-stealer the Altair, we all know that rarity drives price and desire more than commonness.
13. Micral N — It seems that PC World’s writer really liked the early minicomputers, what with their lack of mouses and talking paperclips. Another in the Altair ilk, this one hailed from Europe, and is less likely to turn up at a North Dakota rummage sale.
14. PDP-8 — while the writer tries to call this a “PC”, the PDP line of computers were anything but. DEC’s PDP line of computers were for business and research use more than anything a home user would ever use. As they say in the article, the PDPs remained a common business machine until the 1990s, around the time PCs were really taking hold and the ’server’ concept of computer operation overtook the mainframe. If you can’t find a PDP-8, I’d recommend any of them — the PDP-11 and it’s successors, the VAX series, are on the quirky edge of computer history, are all relatively rare (but not too rare), and the later of them are still relatively usable (especially the VAX, which was a common server in the early internet times). If you do happen to acquire one, though, bring a forklift.
15. Commodore PET — A good one for starting a collection, these aren’t overly rare, don’t cost an arm and a leg, and are a easily recognizable artifact of early home computing. There’s one on eBay right now, and several have closed in the last 90 days, so you might get your hands on one without too much trouble.
16. Scelbi-8H — and we thought the single-board computers were done! Since this is the last of these, you should look back and memorize the common characteristics of these machines: lights and switches on the front, a few interfaces on the back, well-worn case screws from where the experimenter had to open the case over and over. What you should take away from this list isn’t any particular model or maker of these ancient home computers — all of them are valuable to some extent.
17. TRS-80 I — I picked one of these up at a rummage sale a few years ago, and I considered keeping it for a little while. The guy who bought it was a software developer, who learned how to program on one of these when he was a kid — I was happy to sell it to him. The Model I wasn’t the powerhouse of the TRS-80 line; that was the III (my first computer, which I still have), thus making the Model I a rarer and more desirable computer. As far as the origins of the modern PC goes, I’d call the I the first reall home computer by today’s standards: a mix of business and games, separate keyboard and monitor, lots of expansion ability. The III was a common computer in colleges prior to the Apple II’s presence; there was still one hooked up to the NDSU online card catalog well into the 1990s.
18. TRS-80 100 — I owned one of these as well. In around 1999, I picked one up at a thrift shop, and dialed in to an internet-connected shell account without any problem. The first real ‘laptop’ computer, the 100 ran on AAs, had an adequate screen, and they keyboard was a useful size. In fact, it was more powerful and useful than my last celphone, although a little bigger. These are quite common, and can be bought for a reasonable price. As with all battery-operated items, make sure there’s no battery corrosion before getting it.

Of course, like any average blogger, I have my opinions on what was left off of the list. As I’ve noted, I think they went too far with the early kit-computers; if there are rarer ones than the Altair, then leave the Altair off the list like they did with other minis and home computers. If I were creating a list of ‘most collectible,’ meaning desirable to a collector of computers, I’d like to add to their list:

1. The original Macintosh. How could you have a computer collection without an original Mac? The key here is original — the one-piece design lasted in Macs throughout the 1980s, so while the computers looked a lot alike, there’s only one 1984 Macintosh.
2. The Texas Instruments TI-99 — Another of the early home PCs, like the TRS-80s, AppleIIs, and Commodores, Texas Instrument’s entry into the home computing market was a moderate success and many kids’ first experience with computers. They dropped out of the running too early, but left behind this compact little cartridge-based computer.
3. The Tandy CoCo — leave off the 100, and put in the CoCo. Tandy had a bad reputation for their computers being too toy-like, but they were excellent at bridging the gap to turn videogame users into computer users. The CoCo, short for “Color Computer” was one of the early steps from the green-text-on-a-screen to the full-color computing we know today. Working CoCos aren’t as common as you might think (they were owned by the ‘oops, spilled Mountain Dew on it” crowd), but they should be in any good computer collection.
4. The Compaq Portable — This beast crossed a bunch of lines: it was a portable (but not laptop) computer that resembled (in both size and weight) a portable sewing machine. It was also the first IBM clone, which leads to the fact that everyone has a IBM-compatible clone, but rarely bought them from IBM. And, lastly, it was more impressive for its accomplishments than its usefulness — I have one, and I can’t imagine actually bringing it anyplace. As a portable goes, it was far from portable; as a computer goes, it wasn’t as powerful as its peers, and its tiny screen was a hindrance. Still, they represent a huge step in how computing moved forward, and deserves a collector’s attention.

Clearly, I’m a collector, but as a general rule of thumb I adamantly avoid anything that has the word ‘collectible’ in its description. Such items that proudly declare how desirable they are will very likely to be exactly the opposite of what they claim to be. You won’t find any of that junk in my collection. No one tells me what to buy. Except for Batman. And sometimes The Flash. And that one time with The Mighty Thor.

‘Collectible’ is a word that we’re smacked with on an almost daily basis, but so rarely relating to things that are truly collectible. It’s a word that preys upon that quiet dream we all have of buying something small and, because of some bizarre natural disaster or international coup or clerical mistake, having the item suddenly be worth a fortune. The Barenaked Ladies referenced this phenomenon in their song ‘Same Thing’, and it’s a theme that runs through most of collecting - that dichotomy between loving what you have and the profit that could be made from it.

“I’m in a comic store / looking for some mistakenly priced comic I can make a fortune on.”

You might love comics (which had their ‘holy lord we’re so collectible’ boom in the 1990s, which was an unmitigated, worthless, holofoil disaster), but you’d part with one for a good chunk of change. Alas, in this eBay culture we now live in, mispriced items are increasingly rare to come by. With two clicks, you can pretty much get a rough estimate on anything you own, just short of your own internal organs. That takes three clicks and some anesthesia.

My consciousness, and dubiousness, of the word ‘collectible’ was formed at a young age in a grocery store. A 12-pack of Pepsi with some Nascar designs on it was none-too-politely informing me that it was amazingly collectible from its noble perch on the bottom shelf. Not the sodas inside, and not even the cans, but the battered box that was dragged across the grocery store floor. Was this to be collected by Nascar fans, or just people with a dirty cardboard fetish? Surely the latter, as I couldn’t imagine anyone putting a flimsy cardboard box with Nascar stuff on it within a dust-free display case, inviting over the neighbours and beaming about its acquisition. And in this corner, here’s a milk jug that I drew Abraham Lincoln’s face on in crayon. It’s worth $20,000. I even glued on my own hair for a beard.

I’m reminded about what ‘collectible’ means every month when the BudK catalogue comes in the mail. For those of you unfamiliar with BudK, they sell pseudo-swords and other assorted violent implements of overcompensation. Of course, there aren’t actual mythical swords of legend with spells cast on the by wizards, or unique items by any stretch of the imagination, but from a distance (and by the catalogue’s descriptions), they might look pretty or threatening, or pretty threatening. For a scant 29 dollars, who can argue with the implied promise of knightly violence? The point is that they slap the word ‘collectible’ on just about every item, relating everything to ‘completing your collection’ or ‘dominating your collection’. This, to me, is an indication that these are likely not items of quality but quantity, and you should be as forewarned. Also, the classy t-shirt featuring a ribcage made of skulls was a pretty clear signal. It’s pretty much a universal rule that anything within 100 pages of a ribcage made of skulls is rendered worthless by virtue of proximity.

The best bet for happening upon something truly collectible (and by some reasoning, investable) for an affordable price is driveway-style tag sales, as anyone selling things from their driveway are not likely as familiar with the online auction and might just have some secret treasure for you. The real secret, if you collect as a form of investing, is to buy things that you really like. Chances are that someone else out there will also decide to like the same things, and when demand exceeds supply, you stand to make a healthy profit.

So before you go investing in Home Shopping Network porcelain birds, make sure you really dig them first.