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Dr. Chevalier Jackson was a laryngologist who spent a good deal of his career retrieving objects that his patients swallowed or inhaled. And he kept them all. He retired with a collection of over 2,000 bizarre items that had once been inside his patients.
Jackson retrieved these objects from people’s upper torsos, generally with little or no anesthesia. He was so intent on assembling his collection that he once refused to return a swallowed quarter, even when its owner threatened his life.
“He was a fetishist, no question,” said Mary Cappello, the author of “Swallow” (New Press), a new book about Jackson and his bizarre collection. “But his obsession had the effect of saving lives. That’s kind of amazing, and lucky for us that his madness made possible forms of rescue.”
The collection is set to go on display at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia on February 18th. Link -via Bioephemera
Photo: Jonathan Clark/Guinness World Records
Somewhere in that photo above is Jean-Guy Laquerre, who holds the Guinness World Records for having the world’s largest collection of Santa Claus memorabilia.
Laquerre, a 74-year-old retired geography teacher from outside Montreal, has devoted all his time to his Santa collection, which he proudly displays between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15 as an invitation-only exhibit in his house.
"I’ve been collecting since 1988," he said. "Various people give me these items as gifts. I purchase them here and there, and then friends will give them to me."
If you want to beat Jean-Guy, you’ve got your work cut out for you: he’s got 25,189 items! Lee Speigel of Aol News has the story: Link
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I like E.T. You probably like E.T. After all, it was a cute movie about a loveable alien. But Nick Gjoka really, really, really like E.T. He got his first E.T. toy when he was four, after he saw the film – and today, he has thousands of items in his collection.
From a Vice Magazine interview:
What’s the most expensive E.T. thing you’ve bought?
The most expensive item that I paid for would be an E.T. clothes hamper. It is basically a life-size E.T. doll that opens in the back to put stuff in. Items that should have been more but I found for cheap were some candid production photos and crew items. The item that’s worth the most to me would be the E.T. toys that my grandfather gave me when I was a little kid.What’s the worst piece of E.T. merchandise you’ve seen?
There are too many bootleg items to mention! The official red light-up finger that was sold in 1982 is pretty phallic and disturbing looking.I hear you own a piece of E.T.’s foot.
I guess when I say “foot”, it’s kind of a stretch. It is really a piece of foam from the puppet’s foot. It was sent to Collegeville Costumes as a color swatch so they could get the color correct in the making of the E.T. Halloween costumes that they made in 1982. It was a plastic mask with a smock/bib plastic like top. The costume company couldn’t get the color correct so they sent a piece of the original E.T. from the film. I received it along with some correspondence letter between the producer of the film and someone at Collegeville Costumes.
Previously on Neatorama: The TMNT Fan
This mounted Hello Kitty trophy is for sale from Etsy artist datamafia. It is one of 12 Bizarre Hello Kitty Products That Sign The Coming Apocalypse collected by our own Jill Harness at Inventor’s Spot. Link
The Shaker Project is a collection of the coolest salt and pepper shakers you have ever seen. I guarantee! The shakers themselve are part of a private collection, but you can buy the poster showing them all.
Link – via Swiss Miss
This is just about the coolest thing I’ve seen today: a giant online collection of vintage educational and toy robots from the 1980s. It made me miss my old Tomy Omnibot … Link – via swissmiss
If you like that, don’t miss the Old Robot YouTube channel.
Photo: Cho Woong
I’ve always been impressed with some people’s ability to collect things – stamps, soda cans, comic books, what have you. My amazement over Cho Woong’s extensive collection of Star Wars figures is compounded by his ability to keep everything … so organized and neat! I betcha there’s a good amount of OCD (I’m kidding!) involved in this: Link [in Korean] – via Cribcandy
What do the rich and famous do with all their dough? Some of them, it turns out, collect weird things – here is a neat post about a few weird collections of the rich over at mental_floss:
Imelda Marcos
When Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda hastily fled the Philippines and Malacañan Palace when Ferdinand’s regime was overthrown, they left behind nearly all of their possessions, which were quite numerous. Imelda was first thought to own more than 6,000 individual shoes, a number which was later downgraded to a mere 1,060 pairs. She also abandoned 65 parasols, 15 mink coats, 888 purses, 508 floor-length dresses and 71 pairs of sunglasses.
Link – via i met a possum
Previously on Neatorama: 25 Strangest Collections on the Web
Photo: Lance Wilson via Love Made Visible
Love beer? Here’s something for you: a neat collection of vintage beer cans by Lance Wilson and Dan Becker. According to TheDieline blog, the duo have over 2000 beer cans from the past 70 years or so, and have uploaded photos of a small fraction of them onto Flickr.
Link [Flickr Photoset]
