COLLECTING

Once there was a junior high principal who loved coins. He was forever nosing through the lunchroom change searching for treasures to add to his collection. Every year, the teachers would ask him what he wanted for Christmas and he’d reply “Well, I like coins.” No one knew where or how to buy coins so every year they bought him a basket of fruit. He was never happy.

Don’t do that to your collector. He or she will appreciate the extra trouble you took to find a personal gift – and what could be more personal than something for a collection? Consider crossing collectible lines if you have to – a collector of civil war sabers would love to have an Abraham Lincoln autograph (or Robert E. Lee, depending upon his point of view). And most people, whether they actively collect or not, like anything that’s old. Here are some places to look for special gifts.



Autographs. This is a “can’t miss” gift. The only shop in town devoted exclusively to the sale of autographs is The Quill and Pen, 2527 Fairmount. In fact, here the autograph is only the beginning, for each is accompanied by a photograph of the subject, mounted in a handsome frame. Rex Beasley, who’s been at this for 26 years, furnishes guarantee papers with each purchase.

It’s interesting to note how pricing patterns have developed. A presentation centered on Ulysses S. Grant’s mere signature costs $180. A short handwritten letter goes for $300, but had General Grant discussed battle strategy instead of the price of corn meal, it would have brought $600. The good guys of World War II are popular, especially George Patton, at $250, but bad guys like Benito Mussolini bring only $135. Patton even outranks earlier warriors like Sergeant York ($85), John J. Pershing ($175) and the Duke of Wellington ($190).

Leading men like Clark Gable are worth $190, while heavies like Boris Karloff bring only $65. Writers aren’t worth much – James Fenimore Cooper, Jack London, Emile Zola, Charles Dickens, and Washington Irving are all available for less than $200 – unless you count writers of music, like Brahms, who’s worth $390.

Teddy Roosevelt is a popular president at $300, with F.D.R. holding at $125. Expect to pay $1,200 to $1,500 for Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. The locals like Sam Houston and Santa Anna bring $200 to $300. Folk heroes Buffalo Bill, P.T. Barnum, Will Rogers and Vince Lombardi merit $100 to $200.



Glassware and Porcelain. For something more traditional, Wayne’s Apartment, upstairs at 2727 Routh, has a nice selection of cut glass from the Brilliant Period for $45 to $275, also rare Amberina and signed Cameo. The Collectors next door has English Blue Willow plates, pitchers and platters for $15 to $50. Wallace House at 2619 McKinney has a whole wall lined with old plates, platters and serving bowls. All are decorative and most have popular floral designs – ideal gifts, many for only $15 to $20. Beck and Mallies in the Quadrangle has an eight piece set of porcelain plates for $225 from the royal kitchen of Russian Czar Paul I, who was the head man back just before Napoleon became a neighborhood nuisance.



Leaded Glass. You don’t have to have a hole in the side of your house to use a leaded or stained glass window. You can buy them with short chain hangers to insert on the inside of your present windows. The best prices are at The Uncommon Market, 2701 Fair-mount, $25 to $175, with most around $70. Also try Turn of the Century in the same block, or the Register at 3306 McKinney which has a better selection of larger pieces.



Tins and Advertising. You may remember the old Bright and Early ads painted on Texas barns. Unless your collector friend owns the King Ranch, you don’t have to get a barn side, but at the American House, 3102 Monticello, you can buy an empty four pound Bright and Early coffee can for $22.50. If the object of your affection has a roll-top desk, a George Washington Cut Pug can is perfect at $10.

The best selection of old tins in Dallas County is at the Cracker Barrel, in the 800 block of East Main, Grand Prairie. You can find anything here that you could have found in a country store in 1920. Also try Fischer’s on I 20 East (exit at Collins Road).

The Register and The Uncommon Market have nice advertising signs, with one fascinating sign at the latter proudly announcing that The Great Victorina Troupe will soon be in town, graphically illustrating how Mr. Victorina will shoot a gun barrel while it is down his throat, in addition to some other dangerous things. The proprietor says that he later ran across an identical poster except that the name “Carmen” was pasted over Victorina’s, probably for the second show. The Uncommon Market also has a framed 1901 calendar, and for bar adornment an ad for Campbell and Company Pale and Mild Ales.

Coins. Sadly, many coin dealers are caught up in the commodity craze, dealing in bulk gold and silver, and can tell you more about the price of pork bellies than about the Lafayette Silver Dollar. Whitehurst Stamp and Coin Shop, at 1601 Elm, and the downtown Sanger-Harris coin department have not succumbed to this temptation, and can ably assist you. Also, Mike Follet at One Main Place always has a nice selection of gold coins, which fluctuate in price daily depending upon the morning line in Zurich. Expect to pay about $250 for a U.S. twenty dollar piece and $200 for a Mexican fifty peso. Uncirculated commemorative half dollars such as Stone Mountain, Columbian Exposition and Texas Centennial are available for $25 to $50.

Sculptures. If you want to make a real commitment, consider the Boehm birds at Manheim Galleries, 2520 Fair-mount, $150 to $15,000. These porcelain classics are so lifelike your first inclination is to hurriedly close the door behind you to prevent escape. This is the art of Edward Marshall Boehm (and Boehm-trained craftsmen since his death in 1969) and will make a treasured gift for Boehm collectors and non-collectors alike. This is tall cotton – Queen Elizabeth and the Pope have several Boehms, and it was a Boehm bird that President Nixon gave to Mao Tse-Tung on the occasion of his state visit.

The Old World (in the Quadrangle and at Six Flags Mall) has a beautiful selection of collectible birds and animals in a broad price spectrum. English country Staffordshire figurines from the mid-1800’s are available at the Collectors for $100 to $200. The Heirloom House, at 2521 Fairmount, also has a nice selection of Stafford-shires.

Silver. Perhaps the finest is the elegantly elaborate silver on copper Sheffield collection at Dallas Galleries, 8414 Preston Road, including a wine cooler for $1,150, a 1790’s coffee urn for $1,200, an 1800 entree dish and stand for $775, a pair of 1815 candlesticks for $275. Also Victorian pieces from varied artisans, less expensive than the Sheffield.

Beck and Mallies has a wide assortment – from an old baby cup at $27.50 to a set of signed Martele by Gorham for $3,200. They have a lovely three-tray serving dish engraved “Presented to the Right Honorable Viscount and Viscountess Massareene and Ferrard for the occasion of their Silver Wedding by the servants of Antrim Castle, October 4, 1895.”

Radio programs. The world’s first funky antique – what you see is brand new but what you hear is pure yesterday. Available on LP’s at the Melody Shops for $5.98 for about an hour of listening – another “can’t miss.”

Remember Lamont Cranston? The Pine Ridge Jot-em-down store? World War II commercials urging you to save tin foil? Tom Mix singing the virtues of hot Ralston to his little straight shooters?

For early afternoon there’s Ma Perkins, Just Plain Bill and Portia FacesLife. For the after school crowd, tryJack Armstrong, Captain Midnight,Gene Autry and The Shadow. And forevening listening there’s Amos ’n’Andy, Inner Sanctum, Duffy’s Tavern, Eddie Cantor and the Lux RadioTheater. Dozens of others.