MY COLLECTOR BUG

For over 30 years I have been on a collections spree. It started in Rhodesia with a membership to the Books of Rhodesia club. Once a month, a new edition was published and my Rhodesian book collection was on the go.

Today I have a full collection of all the Gold and Silver Series in my library of over 1000 books, all pertaining to Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. Included are such items as the Thomas Baines Medals and book, Livingstone Silver Plate and book, First Train to Bulawayo Medal, as well as Portfolio’s of prints by Thomas Baines and other great Rhodesian artists.

My next escapade into collecting was when I came through to South Africa. My ex came from Port Elizabeth and I was intrigued by the bottle sellers outside the local dump. In order to stabilize the sand dunes on the coast, a turn of the century remedy was to bury all the local rubbish amongst the sand. Luckily for me a R10 note gave me a boot full of bottles which formed the nucleus of my collection. Many other visits followed over the years.

I have tried my hand at digging, but as I became more selective the best way forward for me was to swap or buy. Today I have a collection of South African stoneware ginger beer bottles which comprises 80% of the known varieties. I have kept all the glass marble bottles (Codds), medicine, apothecary, and similar items from my travels. This all is displayed in a special room, which my kids call “David’s Museum.”

My late Father, who had a ceramics factory in Bulawayo, instilled in me a love for fine pieces of china.

When the bottle collecting became sparse as I had so much, I decided my days were not over, and started a ceramic plate collection. My start was to accumulate English Wedgwood and Royal Doulton plates with a southern africa theme.Wedgwood Kruger series as well as Doulton Africa series are prominent. Over the years I have Rhodesia Railways, Blue Train, Kariba Dam opening and Rhodes Centenary plates amongst other pieces in my collection.

So out with the Gym room and in with Plate room. I still troll the local Antique shops and markets on a weekly basis. Also auction houses have become a major source of rare pieces. Ebay and suchlike are also good places to peruse.

I do a lot of websites, the biggest with over 7000 pages is My Family Tree, but one I would like to showcase is - https://fishe23.wixsite.com/mysite which is only one specifically on a collection of mine.

I hope you found this interesting.

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