Collecting Cowboy Kitsch

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Honestly? My idea of cowboys is definitely what I have seen on movies and television. The television series "Wild, Wild West," John Wayne movie "High Noon" and the ad for a popular cigarette brand said it all for me when it comes to cowboys.

Hollywood depicted cowboys as a bunch of men who were gun toting, skillful horse riders, bar room brawlers and usually were the ladies objects of affection. But in reality, they were laborers, who were overworked, underpaid and very much under appreciated, who spent more time with their horses than with the ladies.

The history of cowboys dated back after the Civil War ended. The ranch owners hired these homeless soldiers for some ranch work in the west, thus the beginning of the way of the cowboys.

Their main tasks were herding the cattle from one watering place to the next, guard against predators, watch out for straying cattle and stampedes at night. Once they reached the central location, they branded newborn calves, castrated and de-horned older cattle and chose cattle to be taken to the market.

Much of the cowboy’s equipments, attire and skills for cattle ranching were very much influence by the vaqueros of Mexico, who originally got their influence from Old Spain dating as far back as the 1500’s.

The need for cowboys or ranch hands declined when the barbed wire was invented (meaning the cattle were fenced in with private landholdings) and the growth of railroads (which is a faster option for transporting the cattle).

About 3.5 million cattle were driven in herds from Southern Texas to towns in Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. This event is considered the first gold to come from the west not from the Gold rush.

The era of the old-fashioned cowboy was brief but incredible, spanning only about thirty years but the central folklore, the true grit, admirable character and free spirit of the cowboy still lives on.

Today, rodeo shows and events are held every year for the ranching industry and cowboys at heart. The events showcase the cattle handling skills of these ranchmen, such as lasso and roping, tying steers and bull riding.

Approximately forty thousand people flock to these events annually to participate in rodeo and go shopping for cowboy and ranching related items such as saddles, Stetson hats, Rocketbuster boots, sterling in laid spurs and silver, gold carved belt buckles. Not to mention the attendance of cowboy auction shows. The cowboy industry definitely is bucking for revenues.

Western art has now become a prestigious sector of the American Art. Some western oil paintings fetched in up to seven figures in sales. Then there’s western music industry, which is a multi-million dollar business today.

I’m sure you have your own personal favorite country singers Anything related to famous cowboys whether true-to-life or not like Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy etc. would indeed be collectible.

The cowboy lifestyle is more than just the wide brimming hat, the levi’s jeans, the chuck wagon, the gun slinging etc. Despite the intrigue and notoriety, the cowboy is an icon. He represents hard work, trust and standing up for what’s right.

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Pipes

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It may well be true that smoking can damage your health, but if you collect pipes instead your health and your wallet could prosper.

The smoking pipe has, of course been with us for centuries. the american indians used it first and early forms of such pipes, carved from various stones that can be found in museums.

The principle and basic design of the pipe is so simple that it hardly seems possible for any wide variation, but in fact the pipe collector is well advised to specialize, because of the diversity available.

Meerschaum pipe smoking and Briar pipe smoking are among of the many variations of antique pipe smoking types. The clay smoking pipe and the intricately designed procelain German made smoking pipe are also among the popular ones.

Early smokers were discouraged by high taxes so the clay pipe bowl were smaller no more than 9.5mm less than half an inch in diameter. It is also angled forward more than the modern pipes, but over the years ,the bowl was made more upright until it was set at the right angle to the stem.

The very cheapest clay pipes were plain but most of the collectables are those with bowls made into shapes such as faces of humans or animals.

If you get to see a collection of clay pipes, you may notice that it consists of a bowl only. it is because the stems were brittle and break easily. Most clay pipes were dug or excavated so the remaining components are the bowls only. Stemless clay smoking pipe that is.

Ever since the pipes were first used they have been plagued with so many faults like wet bowls, in which the bottom part of the tobacco become soaked and the smoker gurgles when he takes a drag. Overdry bowls, when the dry smoke is so hot it burns the tongue or the wind causing the tobacco to burn much too quickly.

In an effort to eliminate these"faults" a whole army of inventores applied their expertise to produced literally hundreds of smoking pipes that were designed to take special filters, said to eliminate soggy bottom and a variety of "storm" guards to allow the tobacco to burn evenly.

You may be interested to know that innovations claiming to cure these faults are still being produced, leaving more examples for future collectors.

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Paperweights

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Paperweights are collected by millionaires, who pay enormous sums for selected French Baccarat, Clichy and St.Louis examples or you can rummage around many a bargain basement for some of the less expensive, but still attractive, chinese and advertising items.

The best known type of paperweights is the domed "Millefiore" variety that was first made by the glassworkers on the island of mMrano, near Venice using techniques adapted from Egyptian glassmakers.

The Murano paperweights originated early in the 19th century and were made until around 1850. Leading exponents of these early types include Bigaglia and Franchini.

The French became interested in the Millefiore paperweights and the three factories started producing superb paperweights that now fetch the highest prices, for a period of fifteen years.they were not at all Millefiore, the French produced dazzling flowers, fruit, mushroom and insects.

England produced good quality paperweights through Bacchus, Whitefriars and others, while at the same time the best ever American paperweights were being made by Mount Washington, New England glass, Gillinder and others .The American paperweights in particular or rather some of them are now the second most expensive after the French.

The history of paperweights does not end there .Green bottle weights were produced by Kilner of Wakefield, Nailsea until the end of the 2nd world war.

So the question remains what paperweights will make a good investment? many modern paperweights will soon rival the high quality the French made from centuries ago. So the newer approach is to buy paperweights with more character and less price.

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Tin Boxes

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Although at first it may seem strange that packaging items should become collectibles. The whole idea becomes more understandable when you consider that packaging is invariably designed to attract to have mass appeal.

The earliest tins that are available are hand made dating from the middle of the 19th century. They had intricately decorated papaer covers and were hardly ever found in good condition, yet they still fetch good prices.

The real price for the tin box collector is a genuine "Huntley and Palmer' this company is best known for its biscuits, but it was Thomas Huntley who really started the ball rolling. The west country stagecoach used to pass his reading shop, and he conceived the bright idea of selling his biscuits in air-tight tins made by his brother joseph. Gradually the designs become more and more elaborated.

The prices of tin boxes are continually rising. beacuse prices are high, it's obviously not a good idea to purchase from shops or stalls. There must simply millions of such boxes lying around in homes and old junk shops. Sometimes they surface at jumble sales or flea markets.

The first shaped tins were produced towards the end of the 19th century. While the really intricate shapes do not date back much further than 1600. But the real heyday of the tin box, for my money, is the period between the wars, when the most unusual shapes were develop.

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Barometers

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Weather forecasting has always held a certain fascination, and collecting forecasting instruments such as weather vanes or barometers is an international pursuit.

The barometer is scientific instrument in which the basic principle has remained virtually unaltered through centuries. Its packaging has undergone changes over the years. These alterations in style quite often reflect develpoments in cabinet making and the popularity of certain period designs.

The barometer works on the principle of measuring atmospheric pressure by a column of mercury or a metal drum. it was invented by the italian Evangelista Torricelli(1698-1747) who was a pupil of Galileo.

Early models were called stick barometers. These are long columns or strips of wood housing the mercury tube, with a graduated card behind the tube. several kinds of wood were popular for making stick barometers, but the earliest examples were in walnut.

There's the wheel barometer who was invented by Robert Hooke(1635-1703). Then there's the modern aneroid barometer and several variations came after that.

Barometers that were made from the periods of art nouveau and art deco are recommended. Also collectibles with an advertising motiff or legend on the dial.

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Medals

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When a dubious salesman is trying to sell you a well worn out medal. I'll bet he's going to say that there are two collectible types of medals. One that is in mint condition and one that has frayed ribbon and such.

It is advisable that if you collect medals, it should be in pristine condition.

Medals were issued first to certain officers for distinguished services during the civil war, but the first general issue of medals to British forces was the 1816 Waterloo medals.

Because medal collecting is quite popular, it is also riddled with fake copies. like for instance a medal with many bars, which on the aesthetic point of view is desirable but you have to know , do the bars belong to that particular decoration?

The name or the number of the recipient might be substituted. so it is really essential that you go buy and read a book about medal collecting, subscribe to medal collecting magazine, join an organization and get yourself acquainted to military history, before you start collecting.

Most of the British war and campaign medals, up to the second world war, bear the name, number, rank and the regiment or unit of the receiver.With the assistance of the public record office, regimental units and museums you can build up a dossier of the holder of a particular medal .

This way you can make a medal appreciate in value. If you are all bent in such research you can beaver away on several medals at the same time, creating individual files for each.

The depth of your research depends on you. It could be anything from a record of the action in which the medal was won to a comprehensive life story of the holder.

Experienced medal collectors advocate on specializing on a particular period, specific regiment or medal type and concentrate on these.

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Personalities

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If you have a thing about a well know personality, why not turn it into a collectible theme? Such as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles or a fabricated one such as Mickey Mouse or Popeye.

If you follow your fancy, you might be able to collect really something interesting.

This form of collecting will involve you in a historical research. such as tracing copies of your subject's birth certificate(or in case of a fabricated personality) it's point of invention and its inventor.

This type of collection is also similar to that of period collecting because of the much important use of the library. Check out the archives of newspaper in microfilms and make copious research about the highlights of your hero's career.

You'll have to obtain pictures of the birthplace or if applicable where he died. You will have to encapsulate a lifetime in your collection. it's a tall order but it could pay dividends.

If you dig deeper, you'll be able to produce something far superior to the records and photographs that masquerade as an average personality collection.


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Decanter

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Decanters have their own problems and this often provide you with a bargain.there's a decanter with an odd glass stopper, or no stopper at all.

Stoppers are prone to get lost or broken and it's quite possible to obtain spare ones. You might have to browse around before you can fine a decent match. But an odd or missing stopper enables you to beat the seller down to a bargain price.

Another potential bargain is the antique decanter whose stopper is stuck. cracked and chipped decanters should be avoided but if you find one that's heavily stained buy it if its dirt cheap. This one can be usually alleviated with an acid treatment.

Jim Beam collectible decanters have been around a long time. They have been the most popular ones for the quality of design and workmanship.

Decanters are sometimes made of fine china, glass , crystal and porcelain.The value of secanters are determined by age, scarcity and subject.

Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Ezra Brooks, Wild Turkey, Lionstone, Kontinental,Mc cormick, Michter's ,Mount hope, Old commonwealth and Ski country are the distilliries that makes the biggest supply of decorative collectible decanters.

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Records

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Records are one of the collectibles that can be enjoyed in their original manner. in my previous post i touched on the subject of gramophones, and today it is only appropriate that we discuss records for they go hand in hand.

The earliest records were Thomas Edison's tinfoil cylinder and which was replaced by waxy material until 1910.

The first circular records were vulcanised rubber discs with their galvano-plastic coating, which were patented along with beliner's gramophone in 1887.

What should you collect? well as with most things, it is really best to specialize. if you select something from the period of 1920 onwards, it would prove to be a valuable collection. specifically the swing records of the year between world wars.

If you like modern jazz you might like to collect records of Ella fitzgerald, Dizzie Gillespie, Stan Getz and the like. They are a must from the forties.

Then there are the crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Vic Damone, Perry Como. Their records must surely appreciate in value.

How about records of Mario Lanza? The early rock n roll years. If you can discover a pile of early rock and roll records, i'll bet you can make your pile.

Although, re -recording is now so common and the sound quality of these copies are so good( and not to mention cd, ipod that music is easily available), that the age of the record, i mean the record itself is now of interest only to the true collector and this reduces the possibilities of records as an investment.

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Gramophones (The Record Player)

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This type of collectibles are for people with deep pockets because gramophones ( british ) or phonographs( american ) don't come cheap.

It is generally accepted that thomas edison was first when he patented his first phonograph using a tinfoil later a wax cylinder in 1877. In 1887, emile berliner patented a gramophone that used disc shaped records.

In the early 1900 to 1930's superb models of gramophones were american made, next british and then the rest continental europe specifically France, Germany and Italy.

Other people collect the "hornless" version of the gramophone. It wasn't really hornless, for the horn was inverted and placed inside the body. When closed down, it made a compact portable case.

There are even models that were housed in wooden cabinets. If you happen to come across any with jazzy art deco designs don't let it slip by , snap it up. Any gramophone whether humongous in size as long as it is mechanically sound and really have a nice woodwork will surely be a collector's item.

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Period Collecting

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Does this seem familiar to you? Grateful dead albums, tie dye t-shirts, macrame belts, puka beads, Peter, Paul and Mary's puff the magic dragon and Carole King's "tapestry" album.

Yes they are all a part of the sixties. I'm talking about about collecting anything and everything in a specific era or period in history. It might be the 40's,50's,60's or the swinging 20's or let's say the edwardian era.

If you want to build up a collection that will really keep u busy and immerse in a particular period in history try delving into period collecting.

There are many ways to go about this. one, go to a newspaper library and get access to their stack of microfilms. Scroll down headlines and any specific items of note in a particular decade like style and fashion, music, films, the bestseller book of the day or any specific events like the mods versus rockers clashes in the sixties.

When it comes to music, sheet music and records are both collectable items.. They must be of course, tunes that were popular in that period of time. How about maintenance manuals for cars introduced at that time. The picture above shows the mod fashion in the sixties...take note of the mini-skirt.

You can probably think of many more collectibles just as long you remain to select your favorite period.

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Buttons

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Collecting buttons have been a big business.There are numerous organizations and several magazines published about button collecting.

If you read up all you can about the subject, you will know that there are still plenty of scope to explore. You can join an organization and specialize in a fairly narrow field, so that you will know exactly what to buy and what to sell.

Buying buttons from specialist shops is a rather costly procedure. If you are resourceful enough you will be surprise an interesting button may come up like in an old box of odds and ends, or on old clothes in a jumble sale or flea market.Or you could use the buy and swap method with other collectors as well.

It is advisable to specialize like say for example, collecting only pewter buttons(like the ones in the picture).But what should you collect? here are a few examples to choose from.

Pewter buttons- are flat faced and engraved and the convex shape developed later.it is often coloured with lacquer or gilding.

Livery buttons- are one of the great collectible subjects. these were worn by the employees of great households and were embossed with a coat of arms.These are virtually all in metal.

Uniform buttons-worn on the uniforms of the forces, police, fire brigade, postal workers, etc. You could cover the entire field or just specialize in one area like the police.

Sporting buttons-these are engraved or marked with sporting events.

Wooden buttons-in the 19th century many buttons were made from wood including apple, beech, ebony, rosewood, walnut even irish bog oak.

Ceramic buttons-these can be very beautiful. they were made in earthenware, porcelain or china.

If i were to start collecting buttons i would choose to collect political campaign buttons. It is interesting to accumulate something that is also a part of history of a certain country.

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Ephemera

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The word ephemera is a collector's jargon covers a wide range of subject matter including items that never meant to be collected in the first place.Here are the basic examples:

Bills- an invoice or statement of charges.from an aesthetic point of view, bill headings can be very attractive.

In the early 1900's bill headings were considered exotic,showing steel engravings combined with copperplate handwriting.

Virtually every businessman or tradesman in those days had an engraving of some sort for his trade on his bill headings. very early bills are mostly handwritten. one , in the british museum, details the payment for workers on one of the pyramids.

Apart from the embellishments,such bills are interesting is that it can give you the idea into the costs and services in different parts of the world.

Calendars-the collection of calendars reached its popularity beginning with marilyn monroe sprawled in red satin in the 1950's. different types of calendars like circular dials,calendar medallions or calendars on a glazed ceramic plates are also collected.

Menus- in similar ways to bills and invoices. They tell us what people ate and what it cost them and it was quite conveniently dated.

Menus from the last century were interesting because in the background they embellished it with topical compositions like in the times of war, it was common that menu headings pictured battle scenes.

Other ephemera items are travel, sports,concert tickets. and of course posters...such as shown here. Its a cloth poster of an early airline ad.

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Collecting Cigarette Lighters

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We can only guess how cavemen made thier fires, methods of making light date back to antiquity. Some people collect all forms of lighting such as matches and candles. Let's delve more on collecting cigarette lighters after all they been around since the 1900's. Collectors are not all over themselves just to acquire the items. They are all over the place, jumble sales, flea markets everywhere.

To make the collection more interesting is to accumulate lighters showing the development from birth. If not, you could collect to a theme. For example you could only collect unusual or odd designs.

You could collect petrol, butane or modern electronic lighters. Other themes might include commemoratives, lighters that are marked for coronations, jubilees or specific designs such as art deco or art noveau.

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Storage and Display

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To make the greatest impact your collection should be stored and displayed in an approriate and creative manner. If you collect buttons, it's nice if you will sew them in a white or black wool cloth not the thinner sheets so that it won't crease easily and then hang it on the wall. Cigarette cards, music labels, photorgraphs and share certificates are best displayed under a glass and framed.

For big bulky items such as gramaphones, iron stands, typewriters and sewing machines you'll need plenty of room, but if you are really an avid collector of these you dont mind to be sleeping in a mat, just to make room if your prized collections

Chinaware, jelly moulds could be shown in an open shelved unit but for more expensive ware a glassed cabinet preferably with locking doors is a must.

Display your collection in the context of your surroundings, like if you collect shakers and decanters of course you display it in your homebar, jelly moulds,baking pans,salt and pepper shakers(just to name a few) in the kitchen etc.

Finally if you have very precious collection like jewelries that you don't want it to be handled too much, why don't you just take photographs and display these on an album?

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The Psychology Behind The Hobby Of Collecting

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This is where i write about the hobby of collecting.Why do people collect things? What's the enjoyment that u derive from the act of collecting? Is it the satisfaction of accumulation? The interest of the specific object or for investment?

let's explore.....