Oldest Thing In My Collection: Brian B

A week or two ago I asked my fellow UTGP bloggers to post the oldest thing that they had in their collection.

Looks like I get to go first!

Most collectors collect more than one thing.  I try to limit mine to Batman, View Master reels and a few other things here and there but Batman is by far the main subject that I collect besides bills.

To be married and collect something it helps immensely if your spouse collects something as well.  They sort of understand when you try to explain that you "need " or "must have" an action figure and you are a 47 years old man and a Pastor of a Church.  

If your spouse doesn't collect something I imagine that you get knowing looks from your spouse as you watch Hoarders and receive comments like "I think I'm going to call Mike and Frank from the American Pickers to come look at all your junk!".

You are getting this long introduction to prepare you for the first picture of this post.

Yes this is a blog about collecting Batman and this is a table with bowls on it.

My wife does not collect like I do but she does like bowls.

I am very fortunate that it isn't shoes,  jewelry or that she just loves to shop in general.  She doesn't like to shop.  She often sends me which is okay because that means and extra trip down the toy aisle for me.

She has found something else that she likes and has begun to collect it though. 

Fire-King Jadeite.

Her Grandfather had a mug like the one above and she loves to hunt for these green treasures when we go out antiquing.

There are many fake Jadeites out there so she knows to look for this brand before she buys it.

This is where our two collections meet.  Fire-King and Batman.

We go to flea markets (Look for a future post on these adventures) and antique stores and have a good time hunting and remembering life as it was when we were kids by the items that we see.

Batman Fire-King mugs.

Who would have thought that Batman and Fire-King had a connection?

There it is all official and everything on the bottom of the mug.

I have searched and tried to find some history on these but to no avail.  I thought for sure that they would be in Batman Collected by Chip Kidd but I didn't see them in it.

Mine, like many things in my collection, were a gift.

Growing up I had many cool Batman toys.  Several of them were hand me downs from my older cousins.  I had a Batman poster and a Batman parachuter passed down from them that I fondly remember and wish I still had. 

 In 1989 Batman came back to many of us.  I never left him but all of a sudden Bat-items were available everywhere.  So I picked up this and that here and there because it was literally everywhere.

My Uncle George knew I liked Batman and being a collector of things himself he had picked up something at a yard sale or auction and gave it to me.  It was a Batman Fire-King mug.

I thanked him for thinking of me and I kept it on a shelf to keep my change in for a long time.

Somewhere along the line it broke or got misplaced but my wife saw one at a store and replaced it for me.

These are from the 1960's but I don't know exactly when.  I have other items from then but I would count this as my oldest Batman collectable.

I had the lone blue Batman mug for quite a few years but I kept my eye out for the Robin one that I needed to complete my set.

I could never find it and when I saw it on Ebay it always went higher than I had bid.

Then along comes Under The Giant Penny.

I have some shots here and there of my collection as a whole on this site or WMDS.  I think all Batman collectors like to see other collections and how they are displayed don't' they?  I do. Well a visitor to the site looked through my collection pretty good.  He noticed that I was missing the Robin mug that goes with the Batman mug.

I get contacted one day from this visitor and he generously sends me one to complete my set!

Thanks BatFan!  You can check out his blog HERE

I'm not done though.

My wife finds another mug!

This one is black.

It seems like it is from the same time frame as the other mugs but.....

It is not a Fire-King brand.  It is a Westfield brand.

I did find it in a Batman collection book though.

It is in Les Daniles book: Batman The Complete History.

Well at least an add for it is.

Whew!  That is a lot of typing for me.  I am gonna go drink some milk in one of my cool Batman mugs now!

Thanks for reading and thanks Bat-Fans everywhere for being so cool!

I look forward to seeing the other guys oldest thing in their collection now.

Brian B