Collecting oddities

Some samples of Bill Dennis's thimble collection

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

A collection as defined by Merriam Webster online is a group of interesting or beautiful objects brought together by a person or group of persons in order to show or study them or as a hobby.

The reasons are plenty; one collects things and objects to satisfy a want or a longing. We look and search; we sometimes barter and buy to complete a set. It could also be a process of sorting and research to amass that “big collection. “

For boys, it could mean collecting those rare baseball, basketball and football cards, vintage comic books and lately, retro video game cartridges and video game machines.

The ancient saying “one person's garbage is another person's treasure” comes to mind whenever we gather stuff or items that other people consider as disposable or, yes, garbage.

We remember Bert of Sesame Street proudly showing off his bottle cap or paper clip collection to his bored flatmate Ernie and while a lot of people can relate to Ernie, not a few can also connect with Bert's love and pride for his collection, eclectic though it may be.

Everybody collects at one time or another. Remember those high school days when we collect stamps and coins as an assignment given by the teacher? Books, shirts, shoes, tags, matches, thimbles, cups and caps, all about anything to be collected and can be collected.

It was a fad in the past and still continues now. I can share my collection of books and handcrafted figurine angels now housed at Tagoloan town in Misamis Oriental, the Philippines.

My first collection were books. It is easy to acquire, and I usually spend my allowance on books at National Book Store or at book stores.

Yes, one can borrow from the library but if you want to take those books home, you buy and collect them in a library which you can pass on to your loved ones.

Collecting figurine angels gives me a sense of serenity. Now that I'm in the US, these garage and yard sales and flea markets revived that inner spark of buying and collecting something for oneself.

One collector whom I knew is my brother-in– law William “Bill” Dennis of Hamlet, North Carolina. He has this 30-year-old home collection of of more than 2,000 thimbles which his wife Cheryle helps maintain in pristine condition.

A thimble protects one's finger from being pierced during sewing. Some of the thimbles came from all over the US and around the world.

Some of the thimble designs include a doll, cup or cap, flower, toy and a Santa Claus. A lot of them are souvenirs from some states. Corporations, organizations and groups also manufactured and designed thimbles as giveaways.

There are even election campaign thimbles in all sizes, shapes and colors. Bill's brothers and friends contributed to raising his thimble collection during their travels abroad.

To Bill, me and other collectors, a collection is a tangible, beautiful reminder of the past and I could only wholeheartedly agree to sustaining it as a hobby.