And…?
What was it?
Ooops.
A very rare wall mounted nickel plated brass kerosene lamp.
Not particularly valuable, but I have a pre-1999 Eagle Creek Continental Voyage travel backpack.
Why does this matter? The Continental Voyage is a nearly perfect travel backpack. It has a number of good bells and whistles (zip-off travel pack, coverts into a duffle, has removable braces, etc.) but it is nearly indestructable and has a lifetime warranty. Mine has gone through fifteen years and 25 countries of VERY had travel, and it’s only needed a single buckle repaired (which was covered by the warranty.)
The problem is that after 1999, Eagle Creek gave in to the infamous backpack bloat, and their travel packs started getting bigger and bigger, which isn’t actually a plus for serious travellers. Post 199 packs are considered too large and unwieldy by dedicated packers.
(apologies for all the typos above…oops!)
Hey Mr. Goob, you’re a machinist, right?
I worked in a machine shop many many years ago, and I still have a few tools kicking around. Occasionally I hand a friend a tool stamped “Starrett” and they just have no clue of what is in their hand.
Even something as humble as a steel 6" rule is a work of art when it bears the Starrett name.
I’m sure that many seasoned craftsman in other trades would be amazed at the quality of a Starrett combination square—that’s why they cost well over a hundred bucks just for the square, they are that good.
One of these days I’m going to splurge on a full combination square set, even if I use it for woodworking only the precision and quality are worth it.
I have a collection of old manual typewriters.
My pride is a Blickensderfer #5 from 1898 with DHIATENSOR keyboard.
I also have an old index typewriter (a “Mignon” from around 1900 with no keyboard – you move a special stylus over a plate with a printed alphabet on it, and it selects the letter via a pantograph-like system. Then you press a button and the letter prints on the paper).
And I would definitely give a leg to get my hands on a Hansen Writing Ball.
Perfect for what I recently heard of as the “Columbus typing method” - find a letter and land on it.
My family had a postwar Royal - one of the cubical black ones - that wrote two generations of fiction, term papers, reports and the like. I put it in the Goodwill/junk pile when I moved about 16 years ago - I’m a bit of a pack rat, and I had steeled myself into “Get Rid of This Shit” mode pretty well.
As awkward and fundamentally useless as it was, as heavy and fragile and a true white elephant despite its coal-black color… goddammit, I wish I’d kept it. Family history of an irreplaceable kind. I can stilll see the carefully-graduated wear on the keys following the ETAOINSHRDLU pattern…
sigh. <-not quite a* sob*.
I don’t really have squat, but my brother is the owner of a 1943 Union Switch and Signal M1911A1 pistol.
Rare enough as is, but what makes it really cool is that it was issued to our grandfather and carried on 25 B-17 missions over Europe between Sept. 1943 - Jan 1944, and he somehow hung onto it after the war, and kept it in his dresser drawer until he died in 1997.
Some gun collectors might maim people for a pistol with a pedigree like that. I wish we had some way to actually prove that it was my grandfather’s pistol, but I’m pretty sure those records are long gone.
I have, lying about in plain view, what appear to be masonry tools, only made out of fine wood. Next to useless since they are made of wood, of course, but lovely objects none the less.
They are, in fact, ritual objects from a Masonic temple. My hubby’s grandfather was a mason, and they came into the family through him, I’m sure.
Only one person, who’s been in my home, has correctly recognized them for what they actually are! Lots of people are drawn to them and handle them, without any idea what they might be.
I’ve got a Monsters of Rock poster from Russia. Looking at a Google image search I’ve not seen another one like it. My ex wife was Russian and her father worked at Moscow State University. The poster was hanging up on the wall in his office and I asked for it one year. There were a couple of Iron Maiden posters too that I wanted but never got. I should get the thing framed nicely.
A few interesting books and magazines, including the Codex Seraphinianus.
Casio FX-451 calculator.
Ampeg SVT bass amp made in the 1970s. 350 watts. Six 6550 tubes. Weighs 38 tons.
U.S. Civil War cannonball.
Hickock tube tester (looks like this).
[This](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/~kgAAOxyd8NSavQq/$T2eC16dHJFoFH5cOrj!(BS,vQp7cYg~~60_35.JPG) Mr. Bill poster. I bought it in 1979.
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS on DVD.
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I agree but veering a little off from true aficionado range. Or maybe it’s the people I know that wouldn’t bat an eyelash. 
I’ve recounted before that my shop is owned by my friend that took over from his grandfather. Myself I bought the tools from a now deceased master machinist. We regularly use the layout blocks he made in the '30’s as an apprentice. I’ve joked we are a living museum. Love my old tools.
A villager Amiibo.
Only rare due to Nintendo’s incompetence. It’s still in the box because I’m considering whether a silly $12 plastic figure is worth holding on to, because in-box ones are selling for like $200 right now.
There’s a couple items in the ol collection that I’m proud to show off.
First, I have a Hutch Pro-Racer BMX bike. The chrome is in great shape, the decals are original. I think this is from 1984 or 85. It has a period-correct Redline Flight crank (single pinch bolt), UKAI rims and GT flipflop hubs. I’ve had it since about 1995. At that time, I put a new fork (can’t remember why, though) and a front brake on it. I figure it is worth a good thousand bucks, pretty decent for a 30 year old kids’ bike and, so, I barely ride it anymore. I used it to commute to school when I lived in Milwaukee, so foolish.
Next, I’m fairly active in the commercial and military radio collectors’ community and have some sweet gear.
For starters, I have three Motorola/Mobat/Elbit Micom-2 HF radios. The link shows model 3 versions but mine are the same save for some cosmetic differences in the display head. Two are the -ES and one is the -ET (remote head) versions. All have embedded MIL-STD 188-141A 2GAutomatic Link Establishment, DSP, SelCall and BITE. One of the hardest-to-find used accessories for these are the automatic antenna tuners (ATU) and I have two different ones. These fully automatic tuners with memory are powered AND controlled by signals and voltages on the feedline coax. Ony one connection and you’re ready to go. One is the FAD1410 WIMA and the other is the F2265.
Another nice radio is my Barrett 2050. Made in Australia, this rugged performer is often used in wilderness areas. I was also able to aquire the matching AC power supply & required cables. I would love to get ALE enabled on this bad boy as well as an autotuner. It does have DSP, SelCall, BITE.
Anyone of the above could easily be the top of a hobbyist’s collection but I’ve got one better. The plum of the radio collection would be the Marconi/Selenia/Selex CNR-2000 manpack radio. Covering 1.6-60MHz TX (RX down to 500kHz, if I recall), this thing is so loaded, it’s heard to know where to start. ALE, DSP, all sorts of crazy digital modes (voice & data), integrated GPS, a remote control head, internal autotuner. I have acquired some choice accessories for this like the vehicle mount kit seen in the link, a handset and remote speaker, the factory camo backpack, the battery box, a collection of batteries and chargers. I don’t have the original whip antenna, drat.
Actually, even the batteries this thing takes are impressive. The BB-2590 has two independant 15 Amp-hour, 14.4 volt sections with a ‘gas gauge’ LCD for each in a 3 pound package. I managed to scrounge one of these SPC with 2590 adapters. All in all, it is a really nice setup, if I do say so myself.
Less significantly, there’s also a nice bunch of Motorola Astro / P25 radios in the collection. No APX-series but some Astro Sabers and some XTS5000s.
Lastly, and this isn’t to show up the OP, I also have a Fender Rhodes Mark I Stage piano. When I got it almost 25 years ago, it actually came with one of the original speakers shown here in the middle pic:
http://www.fenderrhodes.com/pianos/amp.html
As mentioned in the text, mine has the vibrato knob which seems to be pretty uncommon. It was years before I realized there were supposed to be a pair of amps and the pulsing was supposed to be panning.
The piano itself came almost complete with the four legs, the travel case upper and the pedal. However, I never did get the pedal rod or the diagonal braces. Sadly, I haven’t seen the pedal in about 20 years. I have hopes that it is somewhere in my parents basement where the piano has been almost continually since I got it. It left for a few weeks when I tried out for a band in high school but hasn’t moved since. I played it about a year ago. It needs some TLC but still sounds great.
I recently learned to play most of King Harvest’s Dancing in the Moonlight which will sound great on the real thing.
I must admit, I can seldom tell the difference between the sound of a Rhodes and the similar Wurlitzer pianos.
This might be a bit off-point because I’m not sure if there actually are any aficionados for what I’ve got. My computer desk is a slightly dinged up but nice looking older (has a spot for your inkwell and pens), wooden thing. I think it’s be pretty unremarkable except that it’s made by Hill-Rom. They’re a pretty large manufacturer of hospital beds and institutional looking hospital furniture. The company was formed in the late 20s to provide hospitals with furniture that was homelike instead of institutional. From what I can tell, my desk is from very early in their history.
That was what I was thinking when I chose the “Rhodes sound” examples… I was sure one of those examples was probably a Wurlitzer and someone was going to call me on it. Glad to hear you are another happy Rhodes owner.
And those radios are truly boss, even though I wouldn’t know a thing about them–way beyond any knowledge I have of radio gear. Now, if someone had a National NCX3, my first radio as a ham at 13, then I would be amazed, though solely from nostalgia.
Every self-respecting science nerd has a copy of the Chemical Rubber Company’s Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Many of them are quite old, from the '50s or '60s, handed down over the generations from teacher to student. I have a copy of the 19th edition, from 1934.
Probably the most obscure thing in my collection is a bust of Space Ghost signed by George Lowe the voice actor for Space.Ghost Coast to Coast.
I have quite a few Chinese snuff bottles, but I’m not sure only an aficionado would appreciate them.