Status Update on the Copycat Collector!

It's been 2 1/2 years since I gave you an update on the State of the Collections, and since I want to keep this blog available for future possible contributions, I thought today might be a good time to share some thoughts, and my (our) current status.

My last update was in July, 2016, shortly after my husband Bruce and I relocated to Utah after I was downsized from my job in New York. We left our little one-bedroom apartment in New Jersey, moved temporarily into my brother's spacious home in Utah, and got all of our belongings out of storage, where they had been since we closed our California home in the winter of 2012-2013- not long after I completed my year of collection blogging here on the Copycat Collector.

Although we kept a lot of things, the majority of our furniture, collections, and junk were sold or liquidated.

Priorities change. Now, we are living in a small town home in a small town in Utah County, Utah, and this is probably where we will stay. The joy I used to get adding to my collections just isn't there anymore. The biggest reason, is that I don't have anywhere to put them. In California, we had a 3800 sf home, with tons of cupboards, closets, and shelves for display. Our house was full, but not junky. But if I had even a tenth of my old stuff out here, we would look like we needed to be evicted by the health department; and frankly, my darling husband wouldn't stand for it. As it is, when I do come home occasionally with something "new", he rolls his eyes. I get it.

Another reason, is that the things that used to light up my eyes, just don't any more. There isn't much that I want to buy. I spend far less time and money at antique malls and thrift stores as I used to. So, in a lot of ways, that's a win-win: more money for me to keep, and more treasures for others to find.

A few "new" additions to my collections: a few dolls online friends have sent me in the past few months since I started sharing my toy designs on Instagram- mixed in with some oldies!

Although the plan was always to sell my collection leftovers, in reality, I have hardly sold anything since that initial downsizing in 2012-13. Most of my unwanted stuff is stored in boxes waiting until I "get around to it".

But the good news, for collecting fans, is that I still have some things around me that bring me happiness that I can share. Most are still on display, while others are readily available in boxes in closets. Luckily for hubby, most of that junk is in my studio, which is packed pretty full.

My ephemera collection is still with me. It's small, lightweight, stores flat, and I keep it in a nice decorative box in my studio closet. I still have a lot of my vintage photo collection: same reason as the ephemera. You can see those here and here and here. (There are more, but you get the idea). I still have the majority of my children's vintage school books and readers. You can see some of them tucked into this shelf in my current studio below: (If you search for the term "school" in the search bar of this blog, you will find dozens of my various school book collections.

My studio is where much of what's left of my collections lie, including my vintage readers

I still have my green pottery, my Franciscanware, my Depression glass.  I kept most of my autoharps.  In boxes still lie my vast collection of children's and other old magazines.

As far as my toy collection, that's been mostly sold. I have some precious treasures remaining, but most of them had to go. It was just time.

A few of my vintage toys including dolls, typewriters, vintage hankies and some other treasures

The one collection that has in fact grown, is my cache of vintage Valentines. They are inexpensive, store flat, and look so adorable on display. Here are some of them out on my shelves at the moment:

This fun display includes a few of the new ones I got this year

So now, as I have been perusing my former life as a collector, I'd like to conclude with a couple of links that featured photos and details about my 2011-2012 collections. It actually makes me hyperventilate a little... wow, I sure did have a lot of stuff!
Here's the first part.
Here's the second part.
Feel free to browse through my year's worth of collections. I warn you: it will take awhile. If you're looking at this site on your desktop rather than the mobile view, you can see some of my highlight collections on the right side of this blog.

Now I've got that out of my system! Happy collecting!

COLLECTION #238: Vintage American Book Company Readers

These mostly 1960s edition readers were produced by the American Book Company, under the name Betts Basic Readers. The original edition (of which I have one: Down Singing River), was published in 1949. The others were all published in 1958 and 1965. The fun little mottled covers with their fanciful modern illustration by Oscar Liebman are a delightful addition to my school book collection.

Although the illustrations in these books are not my absolute favorites of my school books, the stories in these readers are wonderful. The word adventure in the title of several of the books is perfect: there is lots of adventure to be found here! Stories of children from different parts of the USA, different times in history, and different places in the world, all have a definite adventurous tone. Conflict resolution, creativity, excitement, and appreciation for different cultures and times are the centerpiece of all of these stories.

COLLECTION #177: Vintage Singer Prose and Poetry Readers

These cute readers, published by the Singer Co. in 1960, are a fun addition to my vintage school book collection. Modern, whimsical, and colorful, the emphasis is on stories and poetry.

I have all seven books (in ascending order of difficulty): Story Wagon, Story Time, Story Train, Story Carnival, Along the Sunshine Trail, Across the Blue Bridge, and Aboard the Story Rocket.

I hope you like looking at the fun covers, and illustrations!

COLLECTION #152: Houghton Mifflin Vintage Readers

Here is my collection of some of the 1957, 1962 Reading for Meaning series of school readers by Houghton Mifflin Company. These sweet little books have charming illustrators, some of which are done by favorite Corinne Malvern. I have two of the pre-primers, and 6 of the possible 9 readers.  I also have a second copy each of the pre-primers (not shown) with different artwork on the covers.

Adorable illustrations by Corinne Malvern in The Big Show