Hi Men, Am I a stove collector? I just took a look at the Optimus 199 that?s being discussed on another thread. Besides thinking the bidders to be totally insane , I?ve started to question the idea of collecting stoves. Sure, I have a modest ?collection? of 20 stoves, but am I a collector or an ?enthusiast?. As much as I would like to have shelves filled with shiny brass, monetary constraints make this impossible. After all I?ve got two children to send to college. Ebay prices have been climbing steadily over the last two years, even Coleman 502?s (very common) have seen escalating prices. Unless you have deep pockets, its getting tough to compete with the ?Campboy?s? and ?Cashflows? out there. Was their a Golden Age of Ebay, when real bargains were to be had? One of the biggest problems for me was addressed by Randy when admiring Jan?s recent haul. Even though I live in a relatively highly populated area, there are few stoves to be found in the ?wild?. When I do see one, it is usually the ubiquitous Coleman Suitcase not an Optimus 111B. When I lamented the lack of stoves in the past, Dave Gibson suggested I live in an Axe and Saw area. Maybe he?s right. Every stove I own has been out on at least a day hike. I use them for what they were designed to do, cook food and boil water. I regularly sit out on the back stoop and fire up a stove just for the joy of it. I do love the sound of a 123 purring along. I?ll wrap up this ramble with the question: Are you a stove collector, or a stove enthusiast? Regardless, there is a place for all of us at CCS. Your New York Stove Brother, Manny
I would never collect to attempt to get them all, or even as many as possible. I am just still searching for the perfect one! But stoves are not a bad thing to collect I think. Unlike stamps for example you can find a rare or beautiful stove without much money, just some luck will do.. And perhaps the best of all, stoves can improve over time, in the hands of good owner.
Enthusiast. While I'd like to collect, $$ and space preclude this. I'll get a few Fettle them, and get them useable and use them. I do enjoy having a stove or two in each basic style/size, and am unlikely to pass a really good deal, unless it is something I just "Gotta" have, I'll pass. I passed on a couple of suitcases yesterday, out Yard Sailing. One was an unusual powder blue Coleman 2 burner that looked to be factory paint. It even had the propane adapter. I also passed on a portable Coleman Grill suitcase. Hindsight tells me this could have been a good deal for when I have to use propane BBQ?s in the fire season, and is about ? the thickness of my regular Prop BBQ, (Space is at a premium in my small Samurai, (SJ410/Santana for you guys across the pond) but it needed major cleanup and I just didn?t feel like it just then. So I have a couple of Brass Primus/Optimus stoves, the Otimus 199 that started me on this new path, and my more conventional Coleman stuff in both Propane and White gas, unless the lottery come my way, I?m unlikely to go nuts on Eprey for higher pried stoves. It?s more fun to hunt them down on the streets anyway.
I don't think having a lot of money is really what would define a "collector". Although your collection might be valuable. I think part of what defines a "collector" as opposed to an enthusiast is how painful it is to part with something in your collection. (something not "dead common") I am a collector, in spirit anyway. Although I intend to use some of the semi-rare items I have acquired in recent time, it would pain me to part with even the "dead common" swedish mess kit. I guess it's a mental thing........ 8-[
I think that, in order to be a collector, there has to be some sort of defined point to the collection. An enthusiast can be enthusiastic about something without necessarily possessing it. I, on the other hand, accumulate 'stuff' at a potentially interesting (or frightening) rate of knots. Some people would suggest that my 'stuff' is utter junk, but one friend was kind of stunned at the Aladdin's cave I call my home. Just so much nice 'stuff.'
for my part i'll say Enthusiast--i have a shelf full of stoves and a few scattered around the house on display..a few have gone on canoe trips and even more-- including the "nasty smelly"..kero burners have cooked up meals car camping.. i'll even bake a biscuit or fry a mushroom over an old stove as part of the holidays fun--but i don't know zip about the deep history of the classics--which are the newer or older..which are three leggers and which folding legs..or anything about the tins they came in..it would seem to me to be a true collector you would know those things and have samples of each--in your collection-
Along the lines of what Ian S said on having a point,.... I'm incredibly new to this compared to most of you yet have always appreciated a flame. For myself, I've decided to find quality examples of the Optimus model 8 and 8R as well as the SVEA 123 models. They are after all 'brothers' and would be easy to maintain as a group(similar spare parts, etc). Having said that I do NOT consider myself a true collector. One other thing I've noted,.....E-bay, while a great resource for locating a hard to find model or pristine example (finding it faster that is),....time and patience are much bigger friends to your wallet. Consequently, I've taken Doc Mark's approach to looking EVERWHERE and doing so at every opportunity. When traveling I now look for antique shops in which to take a peek. Funny thing is,.........I remember CRINGING when my mom used to do the same.
I agree but i also have to say that to be a true collector one must also have a sound knowledge of the workings and histroy of each item in ones collection. And by history i don't mean just the history of that item but of the manufacture, patents, and all aspects of the reasons behind the production. On that note i guess i am more of an enthusiast than a true collector. but thats okay by me as i enjoy the sport of gathering. lance
welll?....dunno, guess seeings how more have left my colection than are pressent (a long experimentation cycle ) I wld hazard a guess saying I'm an enthusiest. Either way, I like 'em! they are fun, handsome and one heluva conversation pc at almost any camp.
Enthusiast. I'm with Dave Gibson, I have no desire to really know what makes the difference between a Coleman 413C or a 413G, I just want an example of the "type" or two. I like using my stoves and I LOVE refurbishing a nasty one, clean it up and get it going. I like the romance of the old days with the Coleman hissing away, the red tank with lots of paint worn off, the smell of coffee and wet pine needles in the north woods and the red and black flannel shirt with good leather boots. My favorites are an old Canadian made Coleman 421 and a U.S. made 425 with the copper colored round tank that I brought back to life.
I'm an enthusiastic collector.... 8) I'd say "collector" even if I stopped at somewhere between 50 and 60, and haven't bought another for quite a long time. Small-time collector, to be sure. But stoves are the only thing that I ever really got the collecting "bug" for; haunting eBay, getting up in the middle of the night to snipe, feeling the pressing desire to have a particular model, etc. etc. So I figure that must be "collecting", because I've never felt that particular charge to accumulate a class of small, esoteric items, before or since. Nor have I displayed other items in the way I display stoves in my office, for instance. By the way "Camp boy" has been out there all along; at least he was there when I started in '01, as I recall. There have always been some big-spenders.
I'm a headcase with a pile of stoves scattered around the garage and basement. Truly I do not know what sort of label to put onto the hobby. I don't polish my stoves nor do I have any on display, but I do admire those who do just that. Someday perhaps. LIke many when I first got the bug I jumped on a bunch via ebay. Now that I have quite a few stoves, I'll only pick one up if the price is right. Prices seem to have popped up a bit in the past two years, it makes me appreciate my 199 and 99 that much more. I wonder if a cycle will swing the other direction and stove prices come back to earth - perhpas not likely since the stoves everyone wants are no longer being made and relatively scarce to start with.
I or we as a group are sometimes called (on other forums) "Stovies" or "A Stovie" and that about sums me up, not so much a collector, more a user these days although a user who seems to end up with more stoves even after my big clear out last year. There are a handful of stoves I set my sights on when I started this hobby, 8, 123, 5, 111, 111T, and of course Trangia 25 and 27 any others I acquired were by good luck and lots of cheap bids, although the Nova's and Omnifuels were planned later on So, I'm a 'stovie' and proud of it
Well, I own about 12 pairs of socks, but I'm neither a sock collector nor enthusiast, just an owner and a user. my sock fettling skills are limited to a deep cleanse in the washing machine , correct pairing after drying and random storage in a drawer, occasionally, but mostly just in a heap in a corner of the bedroom) I'm a happy sockie !
I own more stoves than I need - even if I define "need" quite loosly. And I want a few more, so I don't acquire stoves on a "need to have" basis. On the other hand, I'm only interested in user stoves, and keeping a stove unlit is no option unless it's so old and fragile I consider it unsafe. I like the stoves to be in good condition and look reasonably well, but they don't have to be in original condition and a missing sticker or a "wrong" colour doesn't bother me the least. All this puts me firmly in the user or enthusiast category I believe Knut
And searching is half the fun. Is there a Stovie out there without at least one of these? If there was ever a "starter" stove, this is it. That's the spirit, Richard. Thanks for the insightful responses. Collector or Enthusiast, we are all Stovies. 8) Cheers, Manny
i agree, but let me put a few personal touches on those statements. if someone i know, or someone at a show or camping, sees me using a vintage stove and asks about it, i usually start rambling about how i have a few different stoves blah blah blah, and then they often reply; "oh, so you collect these things." so i guess in that respect, to an outside observer, i am a collector. however, in my eyes, i am an enthusiast who wants to use the stoves he has, rather than looking at them on the shelf, unless they are unsafe of course. stoves are interesting to me, and the fact that i can work on something that is messed up, and get back to a functioning device that i can take out camping and actually use, is a really rewarding thing. i do not consider myself a collector. i envision a collector as one who has to get every model available, will go to great lengths and expense to acquire that one special stove to complement their collection, and may even want different versions of the same stove to document changes throughout production. they may also expand out in to collection the advertising, manuals, literature, etc as a bolster to their display. yeah, that's it, i think of a collector as one who displays, more than uses. i know there are plenty of people who do both though, and i do like seeing the pics of properly restored stoves, to get a better idea of what mine are supposed to look like and what parts they are supposed to have. i also consider a collector as one who spends many hours finely detailing their stoves to factory fresh, "showroom" condition so they look good in the display. i have bought a few stoves that i really liked on eBarf, and i sorta geek out on some minute details, but that is few and far between. i tend to "collect" and use the ones that happen to come in to my world by means of flea markets, yard sales, or other good twists of fate.
