When it comes to a historical collection, John Lattimer had a doozy. A sword belonging to Ethan Allen. The bloody collar worn by Lincoln during his last moments. A portion of Napoleon’s, um, remains. Letters written by Lee Harvey Oswald. Nazi suicide paraphernalia.

Some of Lattimer’s collection was built by being in the right place at the right time. By trade, Lattimer was a urologist, but during World War II service as a medic he became an expert on gunshot wounds and battlefield surgery. Being in the right place at the right time, Lattimer was in Nuremberg after the end of the war, but in time for the Nazi war crimes trials. He was there, treating Nazis according to Geneva convention requirements, when Hermann Goering committed suicide rather than being executed. The ampule that contained the poison taken by Goering is in Lattimer’s collection. His mastery of ballistic wounds came to great use decades later, when he was asked to review the evidence in the John F Kennedy assassination. Lattimer’s collection grew with ephemera from the event, and he gained notoriety for announcing that Oswald was the only shooter, and fired the shots that killed Kennedy.

The rest of his collection contained bits and pieces from the edges of history. Every article on Lattimer and his collection drops names: Lindbergh’s goggles. Custer’s coat. W.C. Fields’ hat (at right). According to a 1994 interview in the New York Times: “I have four degrees signed by Nicholas Murray Butler,” said Dr. Lattimer, referring to the late president of the university who became his patient. “I also have his prostate in a bottle.” Lattimer’s collection also included medieval weapons, armor, and relics from pre-American history. “Eclectic” is an excellent word for Lattimer’s collection, in the fine Victorian defintion, as a positive and honorable description of a fine collection of odds and ends.

Sadly, last year Lattimer passed away, but after reaching a respectable age of 92. His collection, however, lives on and remains in his estate, in the care of his daughter Evan, seen at left. Lattimer, unfortunately, did not make preparations for his collection after his passing, as all good collectors should. Evan has been left with the task of deciding what should be kept, what should be thrown out, and what should go to museums. It’s a difficult task: her father kept poor records, and some possible tragedies have happened. She took some broken, nondescript chairs out to the curb. Too late she realized they may have come from Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated: a junk picker had already grabbed them from the yard. Lincolnania that was documented and saved will be auctioned off in November, but more than a year after Lattimer’s death, Evan is still trying to make headway. Lattimer’s drive to collect the things that interested him was a driving force in his life, and it’s too bad that the collection will suffer so in his death. Let’s hope Evan handles her father’s collection well, and his years of collecting and archiving will be one of his greater legacies.

It is the end of the year 2007, it sure went by quickly! I decided that there are some things I must commit to for the coming year – so here are my resolutions for 2008.
When Attending Auctions:
1. I will not let my paddle take over. Much like the old Anthony Hopkins Movie called “Magic,” sometimes my paddle tends to have a mind of its own. It raises up when I least expect it and stays there long after I would have wanted it to! The auctioneer is yelling “going once, going twice, going three times” and it still waves proudly in the air. I am sometimes amazed by its independence. The item is delivered and I sit there with a mystified look on my face. From now on – I am THE BOSS!
2. I will check things over very carefully during the preview. Too many times, I have won an item only to find that it has a chip or a ding, or was not quite as old as I had presumed. During the time before the auction, I will take notes and be sure to bid on only perfect pieces.

3. I will do as dear hubby says when it comes to my top price. I will make a note as to the highest amount I will bid on said item and will not go above that. I still need to convince my darn old paddle of this concept, however.
When Going to Estate Sales:
1. I will watch for them more diligently. There are several estate sale services in our area that are top-notch. I will try to attend those sales and not worry too much about the two-three other companies that I believe over-price and over-value their merchandise.

2. If I cannot be one of the first 20 people at the sale, I will wait until the afternoon or early the next day. I hate being jostled about, crowded into the rooms and being unable to make a good decision because of the numerous dealers and buyers at these sales. It is not productive at all! By attending later in the day, I have full view of the items for sale and a goodly amount of time to examine them.
3. I will always ask if there is any discount available when I buy multiple items. Even though the policy is to not offer a discount until the 2^nd day, they may be willing to consider it.
When Visiting Antique Malls:
1. I will take my time. Why is it that we tend to rush through? There is always a lot to see and since this is not just a hobby but somewhat of a livelihood, I should spend the time needed for a thorough search!
2. I will ask at the desk what their policy is on discounting and if they are receptive to ‘bids’ and calling a dealer with our best price offer. This has worked on more than one occasion and it is always a possibility. (Depends on the mall itself.)
When Viewing my Inventory:
1. I will be strong and realize that mistakes made ‘years ago’, may still be mistakes. I must be willing to donate items that are useful, but not often sellable, and to price things lower for our flea market sales. Better to let them go to a good home for a percentage of what I paid for it than gathering dust in my basement.
2. I must be forgiving. To my husband and myself – we do make purchasing mistakes, break things and pass up some incredible finds. But moving forward is the best for all concerned, and you can just admit you are ‘doggone sorry’ so many times!

In retrospect, it has been a most enjoyable year. Visited some wonderful places and found some delightful bargains. Many for our home, many others for sale. Writing the blog for Collector’s Quest has been an incentive to look them over more carefully and share our knowledge and thrill of the hunt with others. I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous new year!
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My mom and dad taught me everything about collecting. Since I spent the holiday weekend with them, I thought why not interview them?

Mom began her own appreciation for the hunt in the mid 1960s. As a kid, I didn’t have much choice in attending sales with her. I remember my sister and I walking with mom and my aunt, going from sale to sale in our neighborhood. The adult women searched for the coveted costume jewelry, while my sister and I spent nickels on kitschy ceramic poodles and other animal figurines.

Dad had not gone along then. In fact, dad claims he never went to yard sales before my mom. You might say, as mom does, that “life began with her”. Dad did, however, know the trill of finding treasure. One of his childhood buddies lived near the city dump at 35th & Lincoln (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), and he remembers the boys liberating a few items that had mistakenly been left to die there. So it wasn’t difficult for mom to get dad into the game. Soon in addition to those weekday walks of the neighborhood Saturday morning car tours of town took place.

Back then mom & dad searched for items to furnish our home. It wasn’t just a practical streak that compelled them to search for used furniture bargains, but a love of design and a flair for the unique. Our home became a mix of old and new, borrowed and blue; always filled with creative and interesting decor. For example, grandpa’s old fishing lures displayed on an old fishing net in the three-season room, and the vintage umbrellas held in an old railroad company’s train commode base.

Not only did they mix and match, but they would take ideas from vintage magazines and recreate them in our modern ranch house. Money saved on thrifty rummage store buys was put to use to purchase ‘used’ stained glass windows or hire an artist to paint tiles with the pattern from a set of dishes. With all this attention to detail my parents taught me all about interior design; long before I new the word ‘eclectic’ I knew the look.

And with every hunting trip I learned valuable lessons. Mom taught me how to clean up items and to take care of them. Dad told me how to figure out not only how old they were, but how they were made — and just what that item meant at the time. Mom taught me how to inspect glassware by running not just my eyes over it but my fingertips as well. You had to do so carefully, so as not get cut (she was a mom first and foremost!), but while your eyes might be fooled into mistaking a chip for a sparkle, your fingers wouldn’t be so easily fooled. Dad taught me to have the confidence to approach strangers, negotiate prices, how and when to walk away from ‘the table’ — even as a child. I learned how to handle money, how to value craftsmanship, how to look at old things with appreciative eyes — or at least creative ones.

But one particular sale changed everything.

It was the early 70s, and at a sale, dad found an old 8 legged library table. It was in need of some TLC, but he couldn’t believe the price written on the masking tape stuck to the table top: 10 cents. Dad asked if that was the price, or if the tag was there for some other item which had been sitting there but sold. The lady said, “If you want to put the work into it, for 10 cents it’s yours.” Mom & dad decided they would, and they did. They cleaned it up, used some left over stain they had at the house, and soon a real-looker of a table emerged. They in turn sold it for a whopping $45 — which may not sound like much, but their rent at that time was $50 a month. That was not only an excellent return on a 10 cent investment, but a profitable endeavor!

This success lead to more buying for the sake of selling. First with yard sales of our own. (I say ‘our’ own because my sister and I participated as well. We got rid of our old toys and unwanted kids’ junk, making more money for ourselves to spend at other people’s yard sales.) Mom and dad did well enough with each sale to continue them for a few years, but by the late 70s mom & dad were no longer content with yard sales. There was more money to be made where there were more people, and so they began selling at flea markets.

Since we lived in Wisconsin, weather dictated the ability to have sales, be they in our yard or at a flea market. Having temporary sales meant less regular money as well as lots of work to both set up and take down a sale, so in 1981 they got their first booth in an antique mall. Happy with the results, they increased the number of booth spaces to five, in four different antique malls. In May of 2000, mom started selling on eBay. All of this was still considered a part-time or hobby business, but in 2001 mom took the plunge and became an antique dealer full time. Mom recently opened her own online store, No Egrets Antiques. From all of this I learned more about the business of being a generalist antiques dealer and that you can make a living doing what you love — if you pay attention to the details.

Through it all mom & dad remain in love with the hunt. If it’s challenging to find rare items, it’s even more so to buy them at ‘wholesale prices’ in order to make a profit at retail. And they still love collecting for their home.

When asked if in their pursuit of antiques and collectibles as dealers they found themselves buying ‘more’ or ‘less’ for themselves, Dad says “More” and Mom says “Less.” But since dad recently put up the additional shelf for the teapots, coffee and cocoa pots; the number of antique sterling mirrors has increased; and mom sure hasn’t stopped collecting vintage costume jewelry; it’s rather clear that dad is right. They buy more.

Next week, the interview continues…

All images copyright No Egrets Antiques.

Jeff Harris is an artist inspired by the comic books he collects and the film noir genre he loves to watch…

How you see or define your collection:
A vast well of inspiration and comfort. Especially with a comic book collection nowadays, I don’t really collect for the quick buck like many did in the 90’s and lost their shirts doing so. Mostly my collection reflects my interests and creative influences.

Do you have any photos to share with us?
Sure. Some of these books were lost for almost 14 years. They were recently found deep in Dad’s garage.

When & how did you start your collection?
Actually in the late 70’s. When I first started reading comics, I used to cut up the books into paper dolls and create stories from the existing characters. And when I started to draw more, I cut up the books a lot less. Plus, there were many books I’d love reread.

When did you acknowledge it as a ‘collection’?
When I started to buy boxes for them in the early 80’s. And when the Virginia State Troopers at a weigh station nearly had me arrested in ‘92, during my move from Maine to Arizona. The U-Haul truck had half of it filled with my comic collection and had also the words “Under 21,000 lbs” on the cab. My paperwork from U-Haul said that I had unlimited lbs on it. The truck was weighed at 29,000 lbs. So some state trooper, possibly deprived of his donut, was going to take the word of the truck cab over my U-Haul paperwork. Fortunately before I was carted off the hoosegow, one sane superior officer finally arrived at work and let me go. This also meant that I had to avoid every weigh between Virginia and AZ. A normal 3 day driving trip turned into 5 in every backroad imaginable.

Has it affected you financially? If so, how?
For the extreme example, see above. But for every day life, I do budget myself. Of course, it’s not like the old days where one could buy an week’s shipment easily. I stick to my favorites and leave room to try some new stuff though. But nowadays, I do budget myself very carefully in that department.

What is the most drastic thing you have done to pursue your collection?
Definitely what I mentioned earlier in the first question was probably the closest thing that I had to do to keep from losing my comic collection and being arrested at the same time. Never really had to do anything drastic to pursue something. Maybe except when I would get in trouble as a kid, Mom would ground me and forbid me from buying any new comics at the time. Still would though and sneak them in my backpack or something like that.

How has it affected your daily life?
In a lot of ways. But the most important one is that it was the main reason I wanted to be an artist in the first place. It also helped take me all over the country and keep me sane at the same time. The collection provides reference of what to do and what not to do. It also helped me get in touch with many of the creative people behind the books, which helped further myself as an artist.

You can see Jeff’s artwork at his website, www.studiohadra.com.

For more comic books, see the following websites:

The Sol and Penny Davidson collection Sol Davidson’s doctoral dissertation, Culture and the Comic Strips, earned him the first PhD in comics in 1959. There was no institutional support for Comics Studies at the time, but Dr. Davidson’s interest in comics has never flagged and The University of Florida offers this unique set of comic books, anthologies, newspaper sections, magazines and rareities slowly accumulated by the Davidsons.

Michigan State University’s Comic Art Collection With over 200,000 items, the collection is mostly comic books, but also included are over 1,000 books of collected newspaper comic strips, and several thousand books and periodicals about comics.

Comics Guaranty Corp The leading third-party grading service for comic books, the site includes registry, census data, message boards and gallery.

Images © Jeff Harris