Model planes and fancy glassware: Axios readers show off prized collections
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Photo: Courtesy of Cathy Swope
People are born either minimalists — or collectors, says Twin Cities homeowner Cathy Swope, who's amassed dozens of cookbooks, jigsaw puzzles and vintage lamps, among other items.
The big picture: We received a flood of responses from Axios Local readers about their nostalgic and beautiful collections.
The intrigue: Research suggests you can improve your well-being when you join a hobby group or engage in social elements of your hobby, like attending car shows.
Bri's thought bubble: Some of my most vivid memories with my grandma are of us standing in front of a vintage curio cabinet, filled with opalescent perfume bottles. I loved hearing stories about where they came from and which ones she liked best.
- She told me the perfume bottle collection would be passed down to me one day because she treasured sharing those stories with me.
- Now, I'm the proud owner of dozens of little glass bottles that hold hundreds of generations-old happy memories.
- When I display that collection one day, I hope people will ask me where each piece came from.
Here's a collection of those Axios Local collections:
🔑 Jonathan Shane Sellstrom in Northwest D.C. has been collecting key chains since he was a kid.
- His prized keychain is a gold one engraved by Frank Sinatra.
- "He gifted it to a family friend who once dated a relative of his. When they broke up, the family friend decided that I should have it for my collection," Sellstrom tells us.
⌚️ Chicago homeowner Pat Kavanaugh restores and collects vintage watches, displaying them in a gold-trimmed case.
- His collection exceeded 1,500 watches at its peak in 2008, says Kavanaugh, who's been working at his hobby since 1989.
✈️ Virginia resident Clay Doherty is a self-proclaimed "AvGeek." He was head of protocol at USAID during the Obama administration and now has a consulting firm.
- Doherty has the entire collection of Air Force One used by Harry Truman to the current 747 models used by President Biden.
- His prized possession is the model of the BOAC DC-4, the plane used by the late Queen Elizabeth II when her father died and she became queen. "If you saw 'The Crown,' this is the plane that brought her back to British soil as sovereign," Doherty says.
🎬 "X-Men" superfan Chad Eldred's Twin Cities loft is loaded with memorabilia from the classic animated series.
- "As an adult, I'm collecting pieces that I didn't have the means to own (or really even appreciate) as a child, so I'll sometimes find myself just sitting in my loft and letting myself take in the nostalgia and joy of being surrounded by characters and stories that meant so much to me," Eldred says.
🖼 Christopher Wolf, a fourth-generation Washingtonian, has 101 paintings from his great-grandfather Max Weyl (1837–1914), a jeweler turned artist who was known for his landscapes of Rock Creek Park and the DMV.
☕️ In St. Paul, Minn., Michael Turbak built a kitchen shelf to display his wife's collection of coffee mugs with people's names on them.
- There's a cup of Joe waiting for Ruth, Donna, Charles and Paula, among many others.
