RHome staffers are like most of you — always on the lookout for that additional piece for our personal collections. And we're willing to go most anywhere to find it, from antiquarian bookshops to thrift shops, from eBay to Saks Fifth Avenue.
A New Chapter
Susan Winiecki grew up in West Seneca, N.Y., but never had visited nearby East Aurora, N.Y., until 1995, when she became obsessed with the Arts and Crafts movement and the Roycrofters, who had established an arts community there in 1897. Working under the motto, "Not How Cheap, But How Good," the Roycrofters made furniture, copper goods, leather goods and hand-illuminated books with leather and suede covers until 1938. Winiecki received her first Roycroft Printing Shop book with handmade, watermarked paper and hand-colored cartouches from her husband, Andrew, in 1997. She has since collected seven more. Illustrators of Roycroft books and magazines included W.W. Denslow, the illustrator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Roycroft books printed prior to 1915 were usually hand-numbered and contained the signature of Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard.
A Sea of Memories
Court Squires began collecting snow globes on trips as a compact way to maintain memories. She's not fond of knickknacks or scrapbooks, but she says viewing the watery worlds is a great way to remember where she's been.
After making several moves, she also began collecting snow globes from all the places she has lived. The first was a Boston snow globe — which she ironically bought in the Cleveland Saks Fifth Avenue. "I went to college in Boston, so it has great meaning for me every time I shake it up and reminisce about working downtown or going to class along the Charles River," Squires says. A favorite in her 12-piece collection is an inexpensive, colorful San Francisco globe she purchased in the city's Chinatown while visiting friends. Although she has several former residences represented in the collection — including a pastel-infused Naples, Fla. snow globe — she's still on the hunt for the elusive Columbus, Ohio, snow globe.
Trunks Full
Sarah K. McDonald's obsession with elephants began in a college Tibetan Buddhism class, where she learned that the night before the Buddha was born, his mother dreamed of a white elephant, a symbol of fertility. "I also like the fact that although lions are considered kings of the jungle, it's really the hefty elephants that are most feared and revered," she says. McDonald's 40-plus pachyderm collection includes a pair of vintage elephant planters, elephant napkin rings and an elephant-shaped watering can. Great finds include a Tibetan rice-sifting box with a painted elephant on one side and a miniature version of an elephant teapot that matches two larger ones from her deceased grandmother's teapot collection. Although McDonald's family bemoans her constant search for elephant wares, they also fuel the fire. A pair of elephant lamps — she has two pairs — were a recent gift from her mother.
