Collectors revel in thrill of the hunt

Vinyl records coat the interior of JW Collectibles like wallpaper — shades of red, green and blue, hues of yellow and orange.

Big Band Dixieland is placed near Julie London’s “Around Midnight.” The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ Safari” is a next-door neighbor to the Beatles’ “Love Songs” — and rightfully so.

To owner Patrick Everett, these albums are more than just a collection — they’re an accumulation of more than 10 years worth of memories, of stories.

Starting a collection

“I found it in a private collection of a record store owner,” Everett said of Hank Williams’ “Moanin’ the Blues” album. “He sold it to me, and now it’s hanging on the wall.”

Everett began as a small collector — combing music stores for classics his father listened to when he was growing up.

But as Everett’s collection grew, he began running ads in newspapers and posting signs on bulletin boards, acquiring more and more albums.

“My collection went from being just a little novice, part-time thing, to me collecting huge quantities of music,” he said.

Through his collection, Everett gained an appreciation for all types of music — jazz, big band, easy listening. You name it, Everett probably likes it.

Historical value

Dysart, who collects a variety of dolls, says being a collector provides her with insight into history.

“For each one of these, there’s history,” she said. “History of our country, history of how we treat our children.”

Dysart, Ottawa, said some of her dolls are from before the 1900s. Others are from the early 1900s.

Dysart found her collection of about 100 dolls in various places — auctions, garage sales, antique stores, online. Many of them were given to her as gifts.

“I haven’t bought many in the last couple of years,” she said.

Dysart started collecting because her mother was a collector. And her grandmother before that, and her great-grandmother before that.

“It’s sort of like a family thing, but we all collect different types of dolls,” she said.

Dysart says dolls can be worth large sums of money — some worth $500,000. Despite this, she says it’s not about the value for her. At least not the money value. Many of Dysart’s dolls have been repaired, which she says decreased their monetery worth.

“Many of my dolls came to me in unrepairable condition, and I restored them,” she said. “All the repairs devalue them. Historically, I’ve got a tremendous amount of historical value in terms of the history of our country, history of toys, history of children.”

Catching the bug

Gaeddert, who has a collection of more than 900 tobacco tins and cigar boxes, can’t really remember why he started collecting.

“I felt the tins were colorful and pretty, so I decided to get into it,” he said. “I picked up a few and got the bug.”

In addition to the tins and cigar boxes, Gaeddert says he has about 600 or 700 other items — tobacco cutters, cigarette lighters with logos.

He picks the objects up at antique malls and flea markets and puts them on display in his basement.

“The hunt is what’s fun,” he said. “Finding something new that I don’t have that I can afford.”

Gaeddert said he can’t even begin to collect every possible tin — there are just too many of them. Some of them can be worth thousands of dollars, but those are really difficult to track down, he said.

“You’ve got to find the right people,” he said. “They are that rare.”

Despite this, Gaeddert said sometimes he stumbles upon tins that are worth more money than you might think. He uses books to help determine the value of some of his items.

“I don’t know anyone else who collects that,” he said. “It’s just evolved over the years.”

A sentimental collection

Roberts’ collection of serving trays reminds him of his father, who owned a Coca-Cola bottling plant. They remind him of the more than six years he spent working for Coke himself.

“I have more memories than anything,” Roberts said. “They been passed down to me.”

In addition to the trays, Roberts said he has some personal memorabilia — bottles, an old clock, a photo of the old bottling plant.

“It’s just kind of sentimental type of stuff,” Roberts said.

Roberts said he plans to pass the collection of items down to his children.

Sharing the joy

“I’m trying to get young people interested in this stuff,” he said. “It’s a hobby.”

Everett says he’ll sell anything that can be collected — baseball cards, video games, DVDs, Star Wars memorabilia, comic books.

Everett will purchase collections from others, too.

“I believe in fairness,” he said. “I’m not in it to make a quick buck. I’ll purchase anything with collectibility value to it.”

In addition to records and comic books, Everett says he has a wide variety of DVDs and video games — stacks of gaming consoles and equipment, shelves of movies and DVDs.

“I’m sort of proud of this,” he said.

Courtney Servaes can be e-mailed at cservaes@ottawaherald.com.

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