Jim and everyone who gets one of the washers, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, ironers, vacuums, coffee makers, etc. of his or her dreams, I am very happy for you. When I would be asked which was my favorite machine, I always said, the one I just received, because I love them all. Somehow, I think that as we gain more members, our positive force for attracting the appliances we want grows stronger. You can't have this many interconnected people obsessing over things from more than a half century ago without causing some ripple in the time-space continuum. Also, we are in more places and thus closer to more hidden appliances which we pull to us like powerful magnets.
Do you realize that we, with the help of the Internet have created a whole new category of collecting and on a scale unimagined even 25 years ago? We did not have the comfort of falling into an established category of collecting like so many who chose stamps, coins, candlesticks, etc. We are the people who gave these heretofore utilitarian objects that were junked at the end of their usefulness, worth and have done a lot to establish our own self worth. We have caused other people to notice our collectibles and help us find them. We are the ones who have researched and documented appliances for ourselves and others; putting together in one place knowledge that had to be mined from scattered and obscure primary sources. We also have an important collection of oral history, first hand accounts of these appliances when they were new and in use. This is the group that receives the notices that people are making available something we might want. We are the ones the museums and motion picture production companies turn to when they need authentic properties. I would say not bad, not bad at all, for the group teased and worse for our special interest that we seem to have had from earliest childhood. We have accomplished at lot and are quite an accomplishment ourselves.
Tom
