DALLAS — No matter the item, an expansive collection of just about anything can garner attention and perhaps most importantly, value.
Vintage WFAA stories archived in SMU’s Jones Film Library show impressive collectors have always been newsworthy. Although some collections have held up better than others.
A 1972 story covered the 5th annual Bottle Show and Sale at Dallas Market Hall where thousands of empty, yet unique class bottles were on display and sale, many of them with a far higher sticker price than face value.
At the time, bottles were second only to stamps as the most popular item to collect and some were willing to get dirty to add to their cache. Some collectors identified a private garbage dump to search for old bottles but declined to disclose the location to keep raiders away.
A house full of homemade pencils
A blaring room of 200 music boxes.
A vault filled with 41,000 rare manuscripts.
All were among the collections covered by WFAA during the 1970s. But for the present-day hobbyist, American Collectors Insurance says coins, stamps, trading cards and vinyl records are among the most common and valued items for collectors.