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Sherlockian Collecting Reaches a New Dimension

I found myself recently at a flea market, waxing nostalgically among the aisles of mostly junk. Oddly enough at one time or another many of the items for sale were a part of my life.

Growing up I remember that my parents had a cookie jar on top of their refrigerator. It was a white dog with a blue handkerchief wrapped around its head as though it had a toothache. This was certainly a dog that didn't do anything in the nighttime. Every time the refrigerator door open and every time it closed, the dog sitting up on top would rattle. It is one of those familiar sounds that brings back visions of simpler times. There were two of the dogs at two different locations. One the price was $385 and the other was $700! There were matching salt and pepper shakers and cream pitcher and an entire litter of other kitchen items, all with their wrapped toothaches. I passed on them both.

I came around one corner to a table selling lunch boxes. There were Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Cosby Show, The Little Rascals, The Three Stoogies, and more than two hundred others. Once again, I was swept back in time. Every year my mother would buy me a new lunch box to carry my dried-out peanut butter and jelly sandwich, box of raisens, and Oreo cookies along with my ever-present weak grape Koolaid. Usually by the second week of school the thermos was shattered and all of the silver pieces would rattle all of the way home. The rest of the year I would have to buy milk at the cafeteria.

As I looked through the lunch boxes, I soon noted there was not any with a Sherlockian theme and any even close. I call these items of collecting 3-D objects. I do not specifically collect these things but all the same, I have my fair share of them.

I even found some 3-D items at the same flea market I have been pining about. There was some old Stereographic cards of Reichenbach Falls and Meirengen, Switzerland that I bought.

The very top shelves around my entire library are full of these things. I have cans of Sherlockian tea from Japan, Sherlockian tobacco from England and the United States. These items segway nicely into all of the Sherlockian cups and different pipes I have. There is one area that is full of Sherlockian figurines, dolls, Beanie Babies and such. It is like a miniature army standing ready for an invasion.

Many of these items are quite recognizable as being Sherlockian but others are not so straightforward. There are a few chunks of anthracite coal picked near Eckley Miners Village in Pennsylvania, some pieces of granite from Dartmoor, and a bag of goose feathers from London. Only real Sherlockians would understand these treasures.

A great source for 3-D Sherlockainna is to attend a Sherlockian conference. Anyone who as attended one of these Sherlockian-free-for-alls can attest to the "collectable" material that they produce. If not 3-D stuff at least there is plenty of ephemera to be had. I attended one conference and we were supposed to turn in our tickets at the door. Well because of the Sherlockian silhouette on it, nobody wanted to give his or her ticket away. But ephemera collecting is another complete subject of its own.

There are cups, coins, lapel-pins, ink pens, shot glasses, magnifying glasses, deerstalkers, puzzles, and games to name just a few things I have ended up with after attending a Sherlockian conference. In my humble opinion, nothing can replace the pleasures of collecting Sherlockian books but collecting anything related to the Master is never far behind. Many people have visited my library without really appreciating some of the rare volumes lining the shelves however, every time someone visits, one of the 3-D items always generates attention.

Joan Proubasta from Barcelona, Spain sent me a "fertility statuette" one Christmas. Holmes is in a squatting position with his pants around his knees. These statuettes are popular in Spain and are used to ensure a fertile crop in the coming year. Leave it to a Sherlockian to create a "Great Shi**er" Sherlockian for our 3-D pleasures.

Happy collecting!