We had a wonderful Father’s Day celebration at our home and invited a few folks who had not been here before. So, they got the 25 cent tour (we gave them credit toward the cost of their drinks – Ha!) One of the ladies asked me about my mermaid collection and how it started. I was perplexed, I had not thought of this as a collection. But as hubby says, more than three…

So I wracked my brain to recall my first mermaid item. Then it hit me! My mother-in-law gave me a pin about 25 years ago. It’s sterling and has an abalone center and detailing around the rim. When you look closely, you’ll see a fish and there she is, a mermaid! I think she is charming and wear her often.

Another time we were traveling with friends to North Carolina and stopped at an art fair. The ‘artiste’ had a lot of sea-worthy items and this mermaid pin in metal was a must-have item.

A vacation in Florida netted me a pair of silver earrings and matching ring. They are a lot of fun as well.

Then I came across this lovely Bing & Grondahl plate. It shows a mermaid perched on a rock with a sailboat in the water. Marked Den Lille on the back. This is Danish for “Little Mermaid” and was from a story by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1837! It’s the lovely fairy tale of a mermaid who wants to give up the sea, gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. It sure has a familiar ring to it – ahhh, that’s because Walt Disney made it into the movie with Ariel as the star!

A short time later I found this little mermaid on a rock (at a yard sale) and you must admit, they truly complement each other.

We took an “antiquing” trip to Illinois recently and hit a few rummage sales. That’s where I found this beautiful figurine It has the look of expensive glass and ivory, but it is a simple plastic but so nicely done. She sits next to my shell collection in the sun-room, the light shining through the ‘waves’ at her back.

And just a few days ago, I came across this little ‘treasure chest’, actually a trinket box, made of medal and featuring an anchor and heart and mermaid on the front. How cool is that?

Before writing this article, I checked Wikipedia and found out a lot more about the enchanting sirens of the sea. Said to be a legendary aquatic creature with the head and torso of human female and the tail of the fish; the male version is called a merman. The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria circa 1000 B.C. The story goes that Atargatis, the mother of Assyrian Queen Semiramis, was a goddess who loved a mortal shepherd and in the process killed him! Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid-human above the waist, fish below. There are numerous other stories from one in the Arabian Knights to some in British folklore. Makes for fascinating reading.

They say they are mythical, but some of us, who still await a viewing of a unicorn, are not sure. What I AM sure about is that they would be friendly, not vengeful as some are thought to be. You can find fantastic paintings on the subject, such as this one by John William Waterhouse entitled “A Mermaid” Maybe I should drop a hint for the next ‘gift-giving-occasion! Probably won’t get the original, but a print would be lovely!

Mermaids are such charming creatures, very sexual! I’ll continue to reel in more mermaid collectibles whenever possible and that’s no “tall tail.” Love to hear about your mermaid collection!

The most notable thing about July 4th, besides that whole ‘independence of a nation’ thing, and the subsequent ’let’s blow things up in the sky’ thing, is the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, legendary home of the hot dog itself. Surely, there is no better way to celebrate the power of America than to make a spectacle of our unabashed gluttony and chronic obesity! We, after all, have the Constitutional Right to heart disease.

Still, year after year, Japanese competitor Takeru Kobayashi takes home the Golden Hot Dog, or whatever they give the winner. Kobayashi’s record was only recently beaten by American eating machine Joey Chestnut at a qualifier event in Arizona, eating 59.5 dogs in just 12 minutes - 6 more hot dogs that Kobayashi’s previous record. Kobayashi had almost backed out of the competition, citing a painful jaw disorder, but only recently decided to compete after all, fighting through the pain and limited jaw mobility for the questionable title of World’s Greatest Wiener Eater. God bless America.

That isn’t all that Coney Island is known for, though. Annually, on the first Saturday of summer, the Mermaid Parade marches around Astroland Park and has been doing so since 1983. Never mind that this is the last summer that Astroland will be operational, to be replaced by ‘Coney Island Park’ in a few years time - the Mermaid Parade endures, and there’s no finer place to see scantily-clad (and sometimes plain ol’ un-clad) mermaids of all varieties! This year’s parade even saw a Mighty Thor, symbolic of Thor Industries, the company that’s tearing down the park to make way for a new one. Of course, the charm of the amusement park lies solely in the uncleaned funnel cake grease traps and the busted lights on the ferris wheels, but Thor Industries doesn’t seem to see that.

Each year since its inception, the Mermaid Parade has created an event poster. While some of these are available on the Coney Island website for purchase, earlier posters can fetch large prices at auction. Coney Island still has copies of their very first Mermaid poster for sale at $100, and more recent posters for $20 each, but those posters that have gone out of print can become pricey, when they can be found at all. Additionally, Parade programs have also proven to be collectible by those looking to scoop up a piece of amusement history. This year also saw the release of a Parade pin by the Hard Rock Cafe, already reaching prices around $15.

Amusement parks have always generated a great number of highly collectible items, though not so much the flammable plush dolls that you might win at the ping pong ball toss. The collectability of amusement parks comes in the form of sideshow posters, postcards, tokens, keychains, plates, paper cups, parts of the rides, and any other souvenir item branded with said amusement park’s name. There are perhaps no more historically notable amusement parks than Coney Island and Astroland, so pay a visit this summer before everything changes dramatically! If nothing else, that funnel cake will stick with you for a while.