Rinker on Collectibles

RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1800

Who Would You Like to Meet?

On Friday, May 24, 2021, I participated in a Zoom conference call that included Ted Hake and William “Billy” Schroeder. I had not seen Ted in over a decade and lost count of the last time Billy and I interacted. In case you do not recognize the names, let me introduce them.

Ted Hake is the King of Collectibles. He is the founding father of the collectibles segment of the antiques and collectibles marketplace. Ted founded Hake’s Americana and Collectibles, the first catalog auction to apply a traditional antiques auction approach to 20th century collectibles. Ted’s initial focus was on advertising memorabilia, comic character and other related memorabilia, Disneyania, movie and television collectibles, and political items (his first love). Hake’s Americana and Collectibles was based in York, Pennsylvania.

I first met Ted around 1973, shortly after I became the Executive Director of the Historical Society of York County. I was building my Hopalong Cassidy collection and actively purchased Hoppy items from Ted’s auction. We became friends. During the early 1970s, Ted published the first trade newspaper devoted exclusively to 20th century collectibles.

[Author’s Aside: The modern collectibles movement grew from a series of discussions and dreams between five individuals who lived in the greater York area in mid-1970s – George Theophiles (posters), Ronny Lieberman (books), Jim Stambaugh (photographs), Ted Hake, and myself. The primary focus of our discussion was how to grow the collecting community for 20th century and contemporary objects. To say we were successful is an understatement. We made collectibles King of the Hill.]

Friends though we were, Ted and I argued from the mid-1980s through the early 2000s over the long-term fate of specific segments within the collectibles market. The arguments always were friendly. He remains my friend; and, I always acknowledge his GIANT stature in the trade.

Billy Schroeder succeeded his father as the head of Schroeder Publishing. Schroeder Publishing’s Collector Books division was the leading publisher of collectibles reference books focusing on middle market collecting categories. Collector Books was the “People Publisher.” They published specialized reference books that became the standard go-to books in dozens of collecting categories.

When E. G. Warman died, there were several bidders for Warman Publishing. Schroeder Publishing was one. It lost the competition. The winner hired me to edit “Warman’s Antiques and Their Prices,” the beginning of my author and editing career in the antiques and collectibles field. Schroeder Publishing countered by issuing its own antiques and collectibles price guide under the editorships of Bob and Susan Huxford.

Collector Books took a priced picture approach to its publishing efforts. My titles along with those I recruited for Chilton Books, who acquired Warman Publishing and Wallace-Homestead, were more text and information driven. Today, Collector Books titles remain collecting checklists for new and even established collectors. The pricing information is outdated, the pictures are not.

Collector Books sold its books through a direct mail approach, sending one to two titles lists per month to individuals on its mailing list. It was a sad day when I learned that Schroeder Publishing, failing to find a buyer for its Collector Books division, announced it would no longer publish new antiques and collectibles titles. Schroeder Publishing continues to publish quilting titles and is active in promoting quilting through the United States.

Ted Hake, Billy Schroeder, and I are among the last individuals who lived during the Golden Age of Collecting, the 1960s through the 1990s. It was a time when everything and anything was collected and collections numbering in the thousands were assembled. HBO or some media company would be well advised to put Ted, Billy, and me in a room and film a documentary on collecting’s Golden Age.

During my career, I have been extremely fortunate to have met and interacted with what I call The Gatekeepers of the antiques and collectibles trade. Previously, I called The Gatekeepers the White Knights. No matter how one refers to them, they were the individuals within a specific collecting category that provided the enthusiasm, leadership, and research that attracted hundreds and often thousands to their favorite topic. Richard O’Brien for toys and toys soldiers, Gene Florence for Depression glass, and Ruth Webb Lee for early American and pattern glass are examples. I honored Gatekeepers in the past through a series of “Forgotten Giant” columns. Their absence in today’s antiques and collectibles marketplace is a serious loss.

There were antiques and collectibles Gatekeepers at the national level. Many were publishers such as Ed Babka (“Antique Trader”) and Sam Pennington (“Maine Antique Digest”). Others were periodical editors. Kyle Husfloen (“Antique Trader”) quickly comes to mind. Others were columnists.

The ability to “talk shop” with so many of the trade’s Gatekeepers provided me with a broad perspective of the antiques and collectibles field. I am not a shy person. If I wanted to meet and talk with someone, I sought them out. Being a bit pushy and aggressive is an essential characteristic necessary for success in the trade.

There are two groups of individuals I have not meet. The first consists of my predecessors, those antiques and collectibles pioneers that retired or died before I became involved in the field. I know them only through their articles and books. All were antique focused, leaders of the traditional segment that dominated the market focus through the early 1970s. In a few instances, I did have a phone conversation with one or two of them. A phone conversation is a small substitute for a face-to-face meeting. Many of the names that follow will evoke an “I never heard of that person” response. Check them out.

Antiques and collectibles authors include Dorothy Hammond, Marion T. Hartung, Ruth Webb Lee, and Wallace Nutting. I did speak with Hammond and Hartung briefly on the phone. If we had met, I would have asked them to describe what collecting was like in the 1930s through the 1950s and how they decided to organize a specific collecting category (Hammond – reproductions; Hartung – carnival glass).

Most identify Wallace Nutting with decorative photograph prints. He also was a major reproducer of early American furniture. In order to reproduce it, he had to see and handle the period pieces.

Henry Francis duPont, whose private collection became the foundation for the Winterthur Museum, is on my list. I studied with the Winterthur fellows during the Spring semester of 1963 while attending the University of Delaware. I met and interacted with Joseph Downes, Charles Montgomery, and other experts who assisted Henry Francis duPont in assembling his collection.

Some of the earliest articles about collecting were written for popular magazines of the first decades of the 20th century. W. C. Cowan wrote for “House Beautiful” and Elsie De Wolfe for “Good Housekeeping.” No one (perhaps a few scholars) read their articles. There still is merit in what they offered.

Alice Winchester, editor of “The Magazine Antiques,” and antiques dealers Roger Bacon, Ginsburg and Levy, and Israel Sacks still were alive when I first entered the field. I do not understand why I never took the initiative to meet them.

The second group of individuals that I have not met personally are the new young group of antiques and collectibles writers. I worked hard to interact with the generation of authors and writers that came after me. These new writers are the second and third generation. Age and time work against a person. My ego also was involved. I assumed these young writers would be interested enough to reach out to me. None have.

If you could pick two individuals from within the antiques and collectibles community who you have never met and spend a day with them, who would you pick? Share your choices and why you chose them with me via email to harrylrinker@aol.com.

LANDMARK COLUMN: This is column#1800. I never thought I would make it this far. I have not missed a deadline in over 34 and 1/2 years. Column #1800 is not the final “Rinker on Collectibles” column, albeit that column is much closer than I would like.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Selected letters will be answered in this column. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI 49512. You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

back to columns page